Open spaces downtown not always so easy to find
Law would make S.F. havens more apparent to passers-by
If you’re someone who enjoys the solitude of downtown San Francisco’s hidden public spaces, your secret rooftops and interior nooks soon may be secret no more.
The signs that announce their presence may soon be bigger, bolder and more plentiful. There even could be a city website mapping all the locations — the first official guide since the program requiring such spaces kicked off in 1985.
The proposals are aimed at raising awareness of public spaces that often aren’t known to the public at large. They go to the City Planning Commission on Thursday and then, if approved, to the Board of Supervisors.
“These spaces help enliven the experience of
being in our dense urban downtown, but workers and residents first have to realize they’re there,” said Supervisor David Chiu, who introduced the legislation being reviewed by the commission.
Chiu’s legislation focuses on spaces that are privately owned and maintained but open to all passers-by during the times that office workers might be present. At least 15 such spaces have been created since 1985 in an effort to “offer office employees, residents and visitors a breaking room to rest and refresh,” in the words of the Planning Department.
Not always visible
The size of the spaces is related to the amount of new commercial development, with 1 square foot of publicly accessible space per 50 square feet of new office or hotel space. The trade-off has generated such spacious plazas as the landscapes outside the towers at 555 and 560 Mission St., but also getaways found on rooftops and within buildings.
While the hidden spots include some of the best privately owned spaces, The Chronicle in February showed how difficult they can be to find. The 11th-floor roof terrace at One Kearny is announced via a see-through emblem at knee level in a glass panel next to the front door. At the Millennium Tower, an enclosed plaza along the sidewalk is so dimly lit that it’s easy to miss — especially because the metal plaque on the wall by the door is 6 inches square.
The updated regulations would require plaques to be 20 inches high and 16 inches wide, with “PUBLIC OPEN SPACE” in inch-high bold lettering. The hours of operation would be in bold letters directly beneath, followed by symbols that spell out the amenities that the owner agreed to provide when the space was approved.
For spaces not visible from the sidewalk, a plaque must be placed at each building entrance, located at least 54 inches above the sidewalk. Additional plaques would be required within the building with directions on how to reach the publicly accessible space.
The signage recommended by planners is smaller than the 2-foot-square dimensions called for in Chiu’s original legislation. But planners toughened the legislation by making the regulations retroactive — so that any space created under the program will have one year to install the distinctive new signs.
“We want to make sure that all the (affected) public spaces are branded,” said Joanna Linsangan, a spokeswoman for the Planning Department. “We want to make sure that when people downtown walk by any such public space, they’ll know it.”
Chiu supports the revisions: “That’s the point of the process, to take a good idea and make it better.”
Online map coming
Another Planning Department initiative doesn’t require legislation.
According to Linsangan, by the end of the summer, the department’s home page at www.sf-planning.org will contain an annotated map to all the so-called POPOS, for “privately owned public open spaces.”
Similar maps have been compiled privately, including one by The Chronicle in 2008. But a city document would be the definitive guide, as well as a resource that could be used to make sure that spaces include the amenities originally promised by developers.