BILL ANALYSIS
SB 792
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 19, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 792 (Leno) - As Amended: July 13, 2009
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:4-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes a transfer of public trust lands in the
Candlestick Point and Hunters Point areas of the City of San
Francisco. The bill also authorizes a reconfiguration of the
Candlestick State Recreation Area (SRA) to the overall benefit
of the SRA. The bill states the purpose of the transfer and
reconfiguration as facilitating productive reuse of lands in
these areas of the city. Specifically, this bill:
1)Declares that the project to develop Candlestick Point and
Hunters Point will further important state interests,
including redevelopment, elimination of blight, affordable
housing, new tax revenues, job creation, and enhanced public
access to the SRA.
2)Authorizes a public trust land exchange and boundary
settlement within the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's
(SFRDA) project area, subject to the approval of the State
Lands Commission (SLC).
3)Conditions SLC exchange of public trust land upon several
factors, including that all remedial action necessary to
protect human health and the environment has been completed as
determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Toxics Substances Control (DTSC), and the
regional water quality control board.
4)Authorizes the Director of the Department of Parks and
Recreation (DPR) to convey to the city or SFRDA certain
portions of Candlestick Point SRA.
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5)Conditions the conveyance of SRA lands upon several factors,
including that the state receive compensation equivalent to
the fair market value of any state property interests
conveyed, that any agreement provide an overall benefit to the
SRA, and that wildlife habitat is not adversely affected.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Exchange of state assets-land presently within the existing
boundaries of the SRA and potentially worth millions of
dollars-for other land or compensation equal to the land's
fair market value.
2)Potential sales and income tax revenue, possibly in the
millions of dollars, to the extent this bill, and the project
it facilitates, results in greater economic activity in
California than would otherwise occur
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author contends this bill will facilitate both
redevelopment in the Hunters Point and Candlestick Point areas
and consolidation and enhancement of public waterfront lands.
According to the author, the existing configuration of trust
and nontrust lands within the project area prevents the public
trust from being realized. This is because a substantial
portion of the trust lands sits atop land reclaimed from San
Francisco Bay and no longer provides access to navigable
waters. In addition, much of the public trust land is laid
out in a grid pattern to accommodate once-planned streets, a
configuration that is not useful for public trust purposes.
Conversely, some lands within the project area are next to the
waterfront and would have high value as public trust lands.
The author claims that after the proposed land exchange the
entire waterfront within the former Hunters Point shipyard and
at Candlestick Point, as well as certain interior lands that
have high public trust values, will be subject to the public
trust.
2)Background.
a) Land Use in Hunters and Candlestick Points. For over 30
years, the U.S. Navy relied on the Hunters Point Naval
Shipyard for the modification, maintenance, and repair of
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ships. The Navy closed the shipyard in 1974, removing
much-needed jobs from the Bayview Hunters Point
neighborhood and remaining as a lasting source of blight.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Navy was authorized to convey the
shipyard to the city. In 2004, the Navy conveyed a portion
of the shipyard to SFRDA and has agreed to transfer the
remainder to the agency following hazardous materials
remediation. (The shipyards are contaminated with toxic
and radioactive materials.)
Candlestick Point sits just south of the defunct shipyard,
across a small slough. The point hosts Candlestick
Stadium-playing field of the San Francisco 49ers football
team-as well as Candlestick SRA-a roughly 150-acre
shoreline park, 80 acres of which is used for parking on
game day, that is part of the state park system. The
stadium is nearing the end of its useful life. According
to DRR, the SRA is underutilized and needs renovation.
Candlestick Point also includes public trust lands
previously submerged under the Bay. The lands since have
been reclaimed or filled and no longer sit next to or under
water. These lands are generally laid out in a grid
pattern, consistent with their once-intended use public
roadways but incompatible with public benefit use today.
b) San Francisco Votes to Redevelop Candlestick and Hunters
Points. The city has long planned to redevelop the 790
acres occupied by the defunct shipyards, the aging stadium,
and the land in between. In June 2008, San Francisco
voters approved, 61 % to 39 %, a conceptual plan for a
major housing and commercial development at the Hunters
Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point. (By a similar
margin, San Francisco voters simultaneously rejected
Measure F, which would have required at least half the new
housing in the development area be affordable.)
c) Big Plans by the Bay. The city now plans to allow
Lennar Homes to undertake a massive mixed-use development
in the area, which will include about 10,000 new housing
units, more than 30 % of which will be offered at or below
market price, and millions of square feet of commercial and
residential space. The city estimates the project will
generate more than 9,000 permanent jobs and 30,000
construction jobs, and the city is trying to direct jobs to
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the under-served surrounding community. The project would
also include redevelopment of the Candlestick SRA.
To realize the project, the city and developer hope to
reconfigure the SRA, which would include the exchange of
about 20 acres of state park land for equivalent lands or
for fair-market compensation, and to exchange disjointed
public trust lands within the project area for lands
outside the project area. The result would be a smaller
SRA but one with capital for upgrades and maintenance, as
well as consolidated public trust lands along the
waterfront.
3)Public Trust Lands. Tide and submerged lands and the beds of
lakes, streams, and other navigable waterways are held in
trust by the state for the benefit of the people of California
and are to be used to promote the public's interest in water
or water-dependent activities such as commerce, navigation,
fisheries, environmental preservation and recreation. The
State Lands Commission is the steward and manager of the
state's public trust lands. Actions of the SLC are subject to
the California Environmental Quality Act.
Existing law allows the SLC to lease trust lands, enter into
boundary agreements, and exchange public trust lands for
non-trust lands and lift the trust from public trust lands.
The SLC must be provided equal value in any such exchange. The
Legislature retains the authority to modify uses permitted on
public trust lands.
4)State Park Lands. The Public Park Preservation Act generally
requires parks agencies, including DPR, to receive either
additional land or compensation when a park is transferred to
a non-park purpose. The amount of additional land or
compensation is generally required to be equal to the cost of
acquiring substitute park land of comparable characteristics
and of substantially equal size located in an area that could
be used by the same persons who used the existing park land.
The transferor is also entitled to the costs of placing
substitute facilities on the new park land.
5)Other Legislation.
a) SB 679, (Wolk, 2009) prohibits land that has been
acquired for the state park system from being disposed of
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or used for purposes incompatible with park purposes unless
the State Parks and Recreation Commission certifies that
substitute land has been provided that meets the certain
criteria. SB 679 is set to be heard by this committee on
August 19, 2009.
b) SB 372 (Kehoe, 2009) prohibits modifications or
adjustments to boundaries or uses of a state park that are
incompatible with state park purposes and that
significantly reduce the public use, or material, cultural,
or historic significance of the park, or the removal of a
state park unit from the state park system. SB 372
provides for an exception to this prohibition if the State
Park and Recreation Commission recommends the change and
the change is approved by an act of the Legislature. SB
372 passed this committee 10-5 and passed the Assembly on a
vote of 21 to 16.
6)Supporters -including the City of San Francisco, numerous
community groups, and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who
represents District 10 (the district that includes the project
area and nearby neighborhoods)-argue that the proposed land
exchange will consolidate public trusts lands so as make those
lands useful consistent with the public trust, provide
resources for the improvement of Candlestick SRA, and allow
redevelopment of an area sorely needing jobs, affordable
housing, and open space.
7)Opponents -including several community groups, some residents
living next to the project site, and certain
environmentalists-argue it is inappropriate to sell parkland
for the benefit of private real estate development, which will
reduce the amount of parkland available to residents and harm
wildlife habitat. Opponents also express concern about the
redevelopment of contaminated land in the shipyard, the effect
of the project on the health of residents of the neighborhoods
next to the project, the lack of local involvement in project
planning and development, the geological instability of the
land to be developed.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081