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Letter: North Beach Meeting Summary 4/19/13

Dear Neighbor:
 
Last week at our community meeting in North Beach, SFMTA Director of Transportation Edward D. Reiskin and the Central Subway team explained the construction plan for the Pagoda Palace site and responded to community questions and concerns. We thank those who attended for participating in this discussion. We have worked hard these past few months to reevaluate and amend our North Beach construction plan, collaborating with Supervisor David Chiu, Mayor Lee, the City Attorney's office and other city agencies to achieve this change. The result of this effort is a plan that vastly reduces construction impacts in North Beach without interfering with a potential future extension of the T Third Line. 

I hope last Wednesday's discussion provided you with useful information and reassured you that our construction plan for the Pagoda Palace is structurally and financially sound, and that we have minimized local construction impacts. Here is a summary of some of the meeting's main points for those who were unable to attend:

  • Demolition of the Pagoda Palace is currently planned to commence in May and continue for approximately two months. Retrieval shaft construction will follow for about six months. You may download a complete construction timeline here. 
     
  • The vast majority of work will take place within the Pagoda property lines with no impact to parking, traffic, transit or pedestrian walkways. However, temporary closures of Powell Street between Columbus and Union may be required, and parking on Powell Street will be impacted at times. During these closures, we will maintain access to all businesses during business hours.
     
  • To construct the retrieval shaft, we will use standard construction methods that are already in use at other Central Subway sites in SoMa and Union Square. As with all our construction designs, we have taken into account the high water tables in the area. Neighboring buildings will be protected and monitored as necessary. We have full confidence in the soundness of our plans and our team's ability to execute them safely and to specification.
  • We are working with the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development to develop a plan to assist businesses that neighbor the Pagoda site. For more information, please contact Andrea Baker at 415-351-8427 or andreabakerconsulting@gmail.com.

As construction approaches, we'll provide additional details in construction notices and online. You may also read our North Beach FAQs or contact the Central Subway team. You can reach us at central.subway@sfmta.com or 415-701-4371.

Thank you for your continued participation.

Sincerely,
John Funghi
Program Director
SFMTA Central Subway Project