Here’s what CPMC is proposing:

Cathedral Hill: A 20 story, 331-foot-tall hospital over the entire block between Van Ness and Franklin, Geary and Post. It would have 620 beds at full development, replacing acute care now provided at the Pacific and California campuses. There would be a drive-through between Post and Geary, mid-block, for patient drop off and access to underground parking. Emergency entrance would be on Franklin. A nine-story medical office building and underground parking across Van Ness and along Geary would replace five existing two- and three-story buildings. A tunnel under Van Ness would connect the two structures. Development would be in the 2007-2012 period.

Pacific Campus: The hospital at 2333 Buchanan would be renovated for ambulatory care. The Stanford Building, which sits between the hospital and the medical office building at Sacramento and Clay, would be demolished and replaced by an extension of the ambulatory care center, 126 feet tall, over underground parking. The Gerbode Research Building, at Webster and Clay, and buildings above it on the closed portion of Clay Street, would be replaced by an 11-story parking garage. The Stern Building and a surface parking lot at Clay and Buchanan would be the site of an 89-foot tall research building. The existing, 30-foot tall parking garage on Clay below Webster would be replaced by a new medical office building, 72 feet tall. Work would be in stages between 2013 and 2017.

California Campus: This will become the administrative center of the CPMC system and would provide skilled nursing space. The Marshall Hale building at 3698 California Street and the 3773 Sacramento Street parking garage would be replaced with a six-story, 201-unit assisted living residence, occupied in 2017.

Davies Campus: This campus plans to focus on neurosciences and related areas of rehabilitation and skilled nursing, and continuing emergency room services. After 2020, a parking garage at Castro and 14^th streets would be replaced by a new three-story medical office building over underground parking.

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11 Story Parking Garage at Webster and Clay
Courtesy of Don Langley, New Fillmore, August 2006

An 11-story parking garage at Webster and Clay, an 89-foot high research building at Buchanan and Clay on what is now a surface parking lot, a72-foot tall medical office building with parking on Clay Street and a 126-foot tall ambulatory care center in the center of CPMC’s Pacific Campus have been proposed by the hospital as it revamps its facilities.

The plans are predicated on construction of a new acute care facility on Cathedral Hill, where CPMC proposes a 20-story, 331-foot hospital on one side of Van Ness Avenue and an additional medical office building on the other. The hospital building on the Pacific Campus would then be converted to providing ambulatory care.

The plans, CPMC’s Preferred Alternative, are subject to an environmental impact report (EIR) which will include other alternatives, including “no build.” What that EIR should cover was the subject of a hearing called by the Planning Department July 18. The catalyst for the major project is new California seismic standard for acute care hospitals. Upgrading CPMC’s primary acute care facilities, at the Pacific and California campuses, is economically unfeasible.

More than 100 neighbors of both campuses turned out to protest. While everybody managed to keep tempers under control, the depth of emotion was clear.

Beyond the height and bulk concerns, neighbors protested over and over that CPMC would exacerbate traffic gridlock and worsen parking problems all around Cathedral Hill and the Pacific Campus. They expressed concern about demolition and construction dust, noise and traffic interruption. They pointed out problems with shadows and wind creation. And they questioned the need for the facilities.

On the Pacific Campus, demolition and construction would span 4½ years, from 2013 into 2017, except for the medical office building on Clay, which would be built between 2022 and 2025.

Lubor Mrazek, CPMC’s director for the Institutional Master Plan, conceded at a meeting with neighbors at the Pacific Campus a few nights earlier that the plans presented were, as one resident put it, the “worst case scenario.” He also acknowledged that an expanded research building at the Pacific Campus is not required by California seismic standards that take effect in 2013.

Ralph Romberg, a resident of Clay Street, asked, “If the anticipated traffic requires an 11-story garage, how could the narrow residential streets around it handle those cars? They can’t handle present traffic.” That structure, looming over the Webster Street Historic District, would abut the backyard fences of houses on the 2300 block of Washington Street. Next to it, the proposed research building would extend to Buchanan. At the corner of Buchanan and Clay it would stand 89 feet tall on what is now a surface parking lot.

Ian Berke, who lives near the Pacific Campus, said, “This complex has no business in this neighborhood. We should be looking at mitigation of the current hospital.”

Gabrielle Bravo, who lives just above the Pacific Campus on Clay Street, said recent construction there has caused her child to develop asthma. She also noted that she had to have a car towed from her driveway in order to get to the meeting. Double parking and blocking of driveways has become routine on that block.

On the same theme, retired Judge Ollie-Marie Victoire, who lives at Daniel Burnham Court, across the street from the Van Ness site, said her unit would be uninhabitable during demolition of the Cathedral Hill Hotel and construction of the new hospital, due to the effects of dust and noise on her ill husband.

Among the traffic concerns at Cathedral Hill were the fact that Franklin Street, where ambulances would enter the proposed hospital, is often impassable and that Franklin’s intersections with Post and Geary have a high accident rate. Gough Street’s congestion was also noted.

One speaker noted that Cathedral Hill is densely populated by seniors. One of those seniors testified he drives to the post office to mail a letter because he is afraid to cross Gough to a mailbox. Bertie Campbell-War, president of the Cathedral Hill Neighbors Association, said the gridlock and road rage would be even worse with the construction.

Several speakers testified that at both campuses the proposed buildings would create windy micro-climates.

Of the 28 speakers, only two said that the proposed hospital on Van Ness would improve the neighborhood. Susan Colton, a 30-year resident of the area, said the Bell Market at Post and Franklin wouldn’t have closed if the hospital were in place. “If you live near a street like Van Ness you have to expect it to grow,” she said.

Other speakers, including Sue Hestor, attorney for the Cathedral Hill Neighbors Association, asked that the EIR look at the whole city’s medical needs including the facilities and locations of the three other major providers – Kaiser, Catholic Healthcare West and UCSF. “We need a [Planning] code-complying alternative, meaning no exceptions,” Hestor said.

CPMC’s plans include building and renovation at its California and Davies campuses. There were no speakers regarding the California Street plans. A single person objected to a proposed medical office building at Davies, scheduled for construction starting in 2022.

Written comments will be accepted until the close of business on Monday, August 14. They should be added to the San Francisco Planning Department, Attn.: Paul Maltzer, 1660 Mission Street, Fifth Floor, San Francisco CA 94103.

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Site Map
Courtesy of Don Langley, New Fillmore, August 2006

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