1 dissenting voice holds up park upgrade ON SAN FRANCISCO

Construction worker Ramiro Romo works at back filling the fence barrier around Lafayette Park, Wednesday July 25, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif. After a complaint by one resident the renovation has stopped and all but three construction workers have been laid off costing the city close to $10,000 a day. less Construction worker Ramiro Romo works at back filling the fence barrier around Lafayette Park, Wednesday July 25, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif. After a complaint by one resident the renovation has stopped and ... more Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close 1 dissenting voice holds up park upgrade 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The renovation of Lafayette Park in Pacific Heights looked like one of those rare San Francisco projects that everyone liked.

It will receive $10 million as part of a voter-approved parks bond. The neighborhood is so supportive it raised an extra $500,000 for a nature-themed playground. Even the city's famously fractious dog-walkers are happy - among the six community outreach meetings, one was devoted specifically to the designated dog area.

The bathrooms will be renovated, paths will be repaved, tennis courts resurfaced, and a new picnic area will have an overlook with killer city views. One quarter of the park has been demolished and is under construction. Everything looked ready for a spring ribbon-cutting. But it's become a victim of the famously liberal policy of allowing appeals for every project. We're the city that can't say yes. Shannon Gallagher, an attorney who lives across the street from the park, is a perfect example. She filed a complaint with the San Francisco Board of Appeals on July 17 that has effectively halted construction and could increase the cost of the renovation by $10,000 a day. The City Charter allows for the appeal, and the earliest a hearing can be scheduled is Sept. 12.

"I don't want to have an argument," Gallagher insists. "I want the city to do its job."

It is another of the city's tyranny-of-the-few moments. With a working knowledge of the system and a little well-placed paperwork - building permit reviews must be filed within 15 days of the issuance of a permit - it is possible for one person to pay a $175 fee and delay the entire process.

"I would say that in comparison to other cities, this is pretty rare," said Planning Director John Rahaim. "In other cities and states that I'm familiar with, the issue is zoning. Once you get a building permit, you're done."

Neighbor's objections

While many see Gallagher as holding the park project hostage, the city has gone out of its way to make sure that residents like her have a system where their concerns are heard.

And she has a long list of issues with the renovation.

She argues against "the destruction of historically significant artifacts," when that issue was given a "categorical exemption" by city planning, even though a historical review found no problems with the project. She claims a 4,000-square-foot cement pad for the picnic area was never mentioned, when it has been a part of the design for at least two years. She doesn't think there's enough lighting, and wheelchair access is on the wrong side of the park. She also claims planners "falsified documents."

All of which would have been good points to raise at public meetings.

"I attended some of them," she said.

Equipment sits idle

She is unconcerned that the delay may put the project months behind schedule or that as many as 40 workers may be laid off for nearly two months.

Angela Bauman of Bauman Landscape & Construction, which the city hired for the project, says the company is losing as much as $10,000 a day in fees for leased equipment, salary for on-site foremen and an office trailer, all sitting idle.

"I am sure there are ways around that," Gallagher says.

One of her key arguments is that the permits for the project weren't approved before work started. But Bauman says not all the renovation required permits, and the ones they have couldn't be submitted until work began.

Having worked on putting this together for four years, including the six community outreach meetings starting in 2010, park supporters are furious. James Sievert, of the Friends of Lafayette Park, wonders what more they could have done.

"As an organization, we have done everything possible to promote public participation," he said.

San Francisco, bless its heart, bends over backward to empower everyone.

This appeal is another version of San Francisco's curious insistence that we just can't trust the city's Planning Department. Sure, the planners may have reviewed the project, solicited public input and even demanded revisions, but a neighbor can toss all that out and force another review.

Long delays

There are discretionary reviews for changes to homes, where, as the Planning Department puts it, "anyone can file a DR application on any building permit." The result is that the carefully vetted deck for the backyard, or third bedroom, goes back for more discussion. It can be tied up for months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For projects like Lafayette Park, the appeals process is similar to a discretionary review but goes to the Board of Appeals, which is appointed by the mayor and Board of Supervisors and hears cases involving the city's permitting process.

The Planning Department has repeatedly asked to revise the appeals policy, suggesting that certain thresholds should be met. Conditional use reviews, for example, need signatures from 20 percent of the neighborhood or five members of the Board of Supervisors.

But the revisions, suggested at least three times in the past 10 years, have gone nowhere.

Lafayette Park should serve as a good reminder to members of the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee that projects, whether they be a home remodel or changes to a popular park - should not be held up by a single dissenting voice.