Signatures for S.F. waterfront height limit measure filed

Aerial view of the Golden State Warriors proposed arena and neighboring development across the Embarcadero. Proposition B would limit high-rise development on the waterfront. Aerial view of the Golden State Warriors proposed arena and neighboring development across the Embarcadero. Proposition B would limit high-rise development on the waterfront. Photo: Warriors/Snohetta/steelblue Photo: Warriors/Snohetta/steelblue Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Signatures for S.F. waterfront height limit measure filed 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

(02-04) 11:00 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Activists on Monday turned in more than double the number of signatures needed to qualify a measure for the June 3 ballot that would require voter approval for any development on the San Francisco waterfront to exceed existing height limits.

If passed, the measure would put a check on high-rise hotels and condo towers along the bay and require voter approval for height increases for three major waterfront development plans: the Golden State Warriors' proposal for an 18,000-seat arena complex, the San Francisco Giants' plan for an urban neighborhood on what is their main parking lot, and the development of the industrial Pier 70 area.

Proponents, including the San Francisco chapter of the Sierra Club and limited-growth activists who in November helped defeat a luxury condo development planned near the Ferry Building, say the measure is about protecting the waterfront from politically connected developers trying to skirt rules that voters required when they backed the creation of a comprehensive waterfront development plan in 1990.

"What this initiative says is, respect the plan that's already in place," said Jon Golinger, campaign director for the measure, "and if you want to change it, don't try to do it behind closed doors. Do it in the light of day, and let the people have a say."

The signature-gathering effort marked the re-emergence of the No Wall on the Waterfront campaign committee that opposed the 8 Washington condo development in November.

According to the latest campaign finance filings, the effort has so far been funded exclusively by $75,000 donated from Barbara and Richard Stewart, a wealthy couple who live in the Golden Gateway Commons and were the major backers opposing 8 Washington, which would have been built nearby.

The Department of Elections has 30 days to check the 21,067 signatures to verify that at least 9,702 are valid.

The ballot measure would set up a showdown with development interests allied with Mayor Ed Lee, who has been an avid supporter of the arena plan.

Some representatives of the Warriors have said privately they are not overly concerned about the measure passing because they are already likely to go to voters to seek approval of a 125-foot-tall arena on Piers 30-32, which has a 40-foot height limit.

But other developers, including the Giants, who want to put towers more than 300 feet high on a site that now has a height limit of essentially zero because it is zoned for open space, had likely not been planning on the expense or uncertainty of going to the ballot box.

If it qualifies for the ballot, the height-limit measure could face a legal challenge from developers or their surrogates.

The top lawyer for the State Lands Commission, the agency responsible for regulating use of waterfront and other state property, in January questioned the legality of the proposed measure as an infringement on state authority.

A separate legal analysis provided by the law firm Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, which specializes in election law, contends the ballot measure is "fatally flawed" and runs afoul of both state and local law.

Metadata from that document indicates that it was originally created by an attorney at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass, a law firm whose clients include the Giants.