North Beach update: Board of Supervisors unanimously supports key Pagoda Palace plan item
Today at City Hall the Board of Supervisors voted on a key component of the plan to relocate the retrieval site for the Central Subway’s tunneling machines. (Photo courtesy Flickr user Alaskan Dude.)
Today the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support a key component of the plan to relocate the retrieval site for the Central Subway’s tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to the Pagoda Palace in North Beach. The item, an ordinance to create a Special Use District (SUD) for the Powell Street property, would allow the owner to move forward with a previously approved development project after the building is demolished and the TBMs extracted. A second and final vote to approve the ordinance is expected at next week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
To relocate the retrieval site from Columbus Avenue, the SFMTA has signed a lease with the owner of the Pagoda Palace property. The two-year lease will allow the agency to demolish the building and extract the TBMs. The state-of-the-art tunneling machines are expected to reach North Beach in 2014.
The relocation plan is undergoing review by the Federal Transit Administration for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If all of the necessary approvals occur by April 1, then the demolition of the Pagoda Palace building can then commence.
We will continue to keep the community informed as we work to respond to concerns about the original retrieval plan. Thank you for your continued participation as we work to finalize the retrieval site change.
