Daryl Higashi raises questions concerning the Japantown Better Neighborhood Project at the community meeting last Thursday attended by about a hundred participants, including residents, businesses and nonprofits. Higashi is a member of the advisory board of the Japantown Task Force, Inc., the organization whose mission is to preserve and revitalize Japantown.
SAN FRANCISCO — About a hundred people, including residents, business owners and nonprofits, discussed goals and objectives for inclusion in planning recommendations on residential and commercial development in Japantown on Oct. 18.
As part of the Japantown Better Neighborhood Plan led by the San Francisco Planning Department, the meeting, the second of its kind since March, ended with small group discussions to determine priorities based on an ongoing survey and a series of focus groups.“I feel strongly that this will be different from previous planning efforts in Japantown,” said Robert Hamaguchi, executive director of the Japantown Task Force, which is working with the planning department to ensure community input.
The plan will address cultural preservation and economic revitalization, but also includes height and zoning recommendations subject to approval by the city planning commission in summer 2008 before going to the Board of Supervisors (the redevelopment agency will no longer have jurisdiction over the area starting in 2009).
The developers of the building to be located on Gough and Post streets are requesting for the equivalent of 40 stories tall. The current height limit is about half.
City representatives and residents had different views on future density in Japantown; raising buildings’ height limits would increase the number of residents. Residents grumbled about decreased parking and shadows cast by high-rises.
Planning Commissioner Hisashi Sugaya insisted that, either way, “you’re going to have to have a starting point with affordable housing as part of the policy.”
One way to build affordable housing is for “market-rate developers to give something back,” said Ken Rich, program director with the San Francisco Planning Department, since the resources to build enough affordable housing don’t exist.
“The trade-off between density and affordable housing is that keeping density down means less opportunities for extracting affordable housing [from developers],” said Rich, adding that affordable housing in San Francisco means a family of four making $100,000 a year could qualify for some forms of aid.
Bernard Choden, a retired planning director who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 10 years and is currently the chair of the planning and housing committee of San Francisco Tomorrow, said that the city has an agenda to push these high-rise projects through and merely wants neighborhood residents to sign-off. “The city has 60 high-rise projects over 40 stories tall. There are 15 in the pipeline waiting to be approved,” Choden said.
Helen Takeshita is a resident who has seen the neighborhood change over the past 70 years. Born and raised in Japantown “until redevelopment forced us to move out,” Takeshita, now 72, and her husband bought a house in the neighborhood and moved back. She said it was a high-rise building proposed in her neighborhood that compelled her to attend her first meeting involving the Better Neighborhood Plan.
What is being proposed “is going to change the flavor of Japantown,” said Takeshita. “I know it has to change for the times.” But for now, she’ll keep coming back. “I just want to listen and poke my finger at people and ask questions,” she said.
The third community workshop to discuss preliminary and technical findings by consultants will be held in early December.
Over 350 people have participated in the survey on the future of Japantown.
Take the survey in English or Japanese by November 12 at jtowntaskforce.org.