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The final decision on the development proposals will be taken by the Board of Directors of the Presidio Trust. Tell the Presidio Trust what you think!

We have won a major battle! Due to the hard work of a broad coalition – including historic preservation organizations, environmental groups, and neighborhood associations – the proposal to build the large, Fisher contemporary art museum at the Presidio has been withdrawn. The project would have threatened the historic integrity and natural beauty of the Presidio, which is a national historic landmark.

Although the Fisher museum proposal is now dead, the Presidio Trust is still considering other large construction projects for the Main Post. These projects include a new building on the site of the bowling alley, a hotel complex along the eastern edge of the Main Parade Ground, an addition to the historic theater, an addition to the Presidio Chapel, and the demolition of the two historic barracks buildings opposite the Officers’ Club. These proposals are being evaluated in terms of their impact on the Presidio’s historic and natural resources.

In August 2008, historic preservation, environmental and community organizations (the Consulting Parties) began meeting with the Trust staff, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and the National Park Service (NPS) to identify and discuss the adverse effects of the Trust’s development plans on the historic Main Post. Resolution, if any, with respect to the adverse environmental and historic resource effects would likely not occur until early/mid 2010.

A Programmatic Agreement with respect to the Trust Main Post development plans will be sought to be negotiated between the Trust, the ACHP, the SHPO, the NPS, with major input from the Consulting Party community groups. Additional meetings continued through 2009. A further consultation occurred in late January, 2010. The Trust must then, by law: (a) respond to each submission of adverse comments submitted last Spring regarding the environmental consequences of its Main Post development plans and (b) demonstrate that it has taken into consideration the comments about adverse historical effects. A Programmatic Agreement with respect to the Trust Main Post development plans will be sought to be negotiated between the Trust, the ACHP, the SHPO, the NPS, with major input from the Consulting Party community groups.

If the Trust does not sufficiently modify its plans for the Main Post, lawsuits may follow, which could halt construction on the Main Post until those lawsuits are resolved.

On a related front, the terms of three members of the Presidio Trust board expired in May, but these members will continue to serve until the Obama administration names replacements. In September, the Secretary of the Interior appointed John Reynolds, a former Deputy Director of the National Park Service, to the Presidio Trust Board. The three new Trust board appointments are expected to be made in the next few months. They will be critically important in determining the Trust’s final construction plans for the Main Post.

June 1, 2009: Presidio Trust Receives Intense Criticism as Public Comments End

The Presidio Trust’s proposals to develop the Main Post have received intense criticism from a broad coalition of opponents. Governmental agencies, national and local non-profit organizations, neighborhood groups, and individuals urged the Presidio Trust to abandon its development proposals as the public comment period closed on June 1.

The critics argue that the Presidio Trust’s process lacks integrity, the proposals would threaten the Presidio’s valuable historic buildings and artifacts, and the new development would bring crippling traffic to the Presidio and the surrounding neighborhoods.

To read a number of the opposing comments submitted persuant to the Trust's June, 2009 deadline, click on the link, below.

Opposition Comments

April 15, 2009: National Park Service Criticizes Presidio Proposals

The National Park Service has released a report that is highly critical of the proposed development plans for the Main Post. According to the Park Service, “Implementing the entire suite of projects proposed in the current undertaking and the additional projects described above, will seriously threaten the integrity of the Main Post, the historic core of the National Historic Landmark District, to a degree that cannot be mitigated to an acceptable level, which would significantly diminish the integrity of the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic District.”

The report concludes that the current proposals cannot be implemented in a way that would not cause substantial harm to the Presidio’s historic resources. The National Park Service calls on the Presidio Trust either to engage in substantial modifications of the proposals or to consider relocating some of the proposed construction to other areas of the Presidio.

For a full copy of the report, see the link, below.

National Park Service

Sign the Online Petition to Save the Presidio

Please sign an online petition that calls on federal officials to stop the Presidio Trust's efforts to bring excessive and damaging development to the Presidio of San Francisco.

Please click here to sign our petition!

These development plans -- formerly including a contemporary art museum (now an equally large facility of presently undefined purpose, and a large hotel complex, and an outsized expansion of the movie theater -- should be rejected for the following reasons:

These proposals will seriously threaten the Bay Area's most significant historic site, the "Plymouth Rock of the West." This area of the Main Post has witnessed Native American settlements, the founding of a Spanish fort in 1776, and the presence of a U.S. Army base from 1848 to 1994.
The urbanization of the Presidio is inconsistent with the vision contained in the main legal documents that govern how the Presidio should be managed.
The proposed development plans will produce a substantial increase in traffic within the Presidio and in the surrounding neighborhoods. According to the Presidio Trust's own analysis, the new development would increase visitors to the Main Post from about 650 thousand at present to as much as more than 2 million people. The overwhelming traffic load would harm both the neighborhoods and the Presidio.

Please click here to sign our petition!

Please encourage others to sign the petition, as well.