Deal means Ferris wheel will rotate 4 more years
The SkyStar Observation Wheel in Golden Gate Park will start spinning again at noon Thursday and keep spinning for four more years under a controversial extension finalized by the Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday afternoon.
The commission voted 70 to go along with an earlier unanimous vote by the Recreation and Park Commission to extend the 150foottall attraction in the Music Concourse beyond its original expiration date at the end of March.
The additional four years will allow the wheel’s operator, SkyView Partners in St. Louis, to recoup an investment lost thus far, since the wheel has only run for 39 days, due to COVID19 restrictions. It is also now seen by business interests as a tourist attraction and engine of economic recovery as the city comes out of the long lockdown.
“We have to wade into a roiling sea of different objectives and come out at the other end with a decision that is fair,” said commissioner Kate Black, while mentioning boarded up stores and restaurants in her remarks. “I do think it’s right that we should take action to help the city recover.”
As part of the deal, the operator has eight weeks to submit concrete plans to mitigate excessive noise by its generator and lights from its nighttime operation. The preservation commission also requested a report from the Recreation and Park Department in 12 months to ensure that all guidelines are being followed.
The extension deal, which allows the wheel to spin until March 1, 2025, was vocally opposed by park purists and animal rights activists. The unanimous approval was a blow to Supervisor Connie Chan, whose district includes the Music Concourse and parts of the neighboring Richmond District. On behalf of four supervisors, Chan asked for a compromise extension of 326 days to add to the 39 days the wheel has already operated.
Chan and Supervisor Aaron Peskin filed a resolution Wednesday to limit the permit extension to one year on the grounds that the city charter requires board approval for any structural changes to Golden Gate Park. The resolution will go to a vote on March 9.
“This entire contract really should have come to the board for approval to begin with,” Chan said.
At its original approval hearings, in January 2020, the Historic Preservation Commission was vocal and stern in its determination that this was a oneyear deal to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of Golden Gate Park and that there would be no extensions to the contract.
But that was then. Now the big wheel is seen as everything from a morale booster to a city draw. Some commissioners expressed discomfort at being thrust into the role of civic financial adviser.
“We have been offered all kinds of distracting arguments and positions on its economics,” said commissioner Richard Johns. “But I must decline to get involved in things where we don’t have any business.”
The issue was continued from the last meeting, in February, which turned into a threehour marathon of public testimony. This time callers were restricted to 30 seconds each, and some were just warming up their passionate pleas, for or against the wheel, when they were cut off, midsentence and even midword.
In casting their votes, the commissioners wanted to make sure the operator was contractually obligated to have the SkyStar dismantled, removed and the site fully restored no later than April 1, 2025. Commissioner Chris Foley suggested it might find a new and more permanent home sooner than that.
“I can easily support the Ferris wheel at Pier 39 forever,” he said. “I wonder if it can be made permanent somewhere else in the city.”