Workshop to be held about Treasure Island

Will plan place transit first or be business as usual?

Treasure Island has the potential to become a model of transit-first development.

The 2,800 units of housing planned for Treasure Island (and adjoining Yerba Buena Island) could be compactly situated around attractive, convenient, and dependable ferry and bus links to the San Francisco waterfront. The amount of parking could be restricted, and its costs could be separated from housing costs. Visitors drawn to the island by the extensive Bayshore park, including wildlife habitat created by a water-treatment wetland, could also enjoy restaurants and hotels easily accessed by public transit.

But unless the developer's recent land-use concepts are substantially revised, Treasure Island will instead be one more Bay Area development that depends on the automobile. The plans provide for three to four separate residential neighborhoods spread across the island, isolated from the retail and commercial uses, which would be concentrated at the southern end of the island. Ferry service for at least 20 years is planned only from the San Francisco waterfront, but the terminal is to be located at the southeastern corner of the island rather than on the western shore that faces the rest of the city.

The Sierra Club is joining with Arc Ecology, the Treasure Island Wetlands Project, the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters, and others to host a workshop to review current plans for Treasure Island and to explore changes that could bring sustainable, transit-oriented redevelopment. Participants will include transportation activists, urban designers, compact-growth advocates, and land-use planners.

The workshop will be held in early November, but time, date, and location are not yet determined. They will be posted on the Sierra Club San Francisco Group's web site: http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/SFGroup/; or they can be obtained from Eve Bach at Arc Ecology, (415) 495-1786.

Eve Bach, Arc Ecology