On the boards for nearly a decade, the proposed San Francisco Overlook Project would build 34 dwelling units, 12 duplexes and 10 townhouses ranging from 16 to 40 feet in height, on the northwest slope of Mount Sutro near the north end of Crestmont Drive.
Hoping to get started with demolition in early 2014 and be ready for occupancy by mid-2015, the project sponsors still need Planning’s approval with a hearing on the Project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) scheduled for March 7.
Of the 124 written comments received from the public on the EIR and to which the Planning Department has responded, 74 were submitted via a form letter provided by the Crestmont – Mt. Sutro – Forest Knolls Neighborhood Preservation Coalition which seems to oppose the development (“God forbid this move forward,” “when is the earliest the trees will be destroyed?”).
I’m surprised that this site has been vacant for so long. The NIMBY’s figure that only their houses should be allowed to border the Sutro Open Space, and none others. I also really enjoyed their complaints about parking, when the study showed that only 75% of spaces were taken during peak hours. Some people don’t know how good they have it.
It is pretty cool how Planning organized the responses to the DEIR (see page 15). There you can get a quick idea of the number of actual unique objections vs. those who are just saying “ditto”. You can also quickly individuals who responded multiple times with slightly different names by the way that they have collated the responses.
It takes a lot of work organize and analyze feedback like this and turn it into useful information.
One extra piece of analysis that would be helpful would be to map the addresses of the responders. That would really highlight the literal NIMBYs from other people who don’t have a conflict of interest.
Hope it goes ahead, I’m all for neighborhood preservation, but this project fits.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/development/2013/03/mount-sutro-housing-development-approved