Quote:
Originally Posted by fish
The reason for the height reduction may surprise you:
One of the reasons for this reduction was that the Transbay Tower, at 1,200 ft (366 m), would cast a shadow over Justin Herman Plaza near the Embarcadero, a violation of a 1984 law that prohibits structures from casting shadows over plazas and parks. |
We've discussed this here--in this and other threads--and it doesn't surprised any of us. Every San Franciscan paying attention is aware of this issue. And in fact, the shaddowing is apparently only a small portion of the Plaza and only in winter. However you should also be aware that the Board of Supervisors, the ultimate deciders on this project and this issue, can grant exemptions if it chooses.
The current proposal calls for a tower that's occupied to the 1000 ft level and capped by another 100-200 ft (I forget the exact figure) of sunlight-permeable structure containing wind turbines and decorative screens for a total of near 1200 ft. Since the terminal project needs as much money as possible from selling the rights and land to build the tower and since the lower the tower, the less the developer will pay, ultimately I still expect this proposal to win out.
By the way, I somtimes think every San Franciscan who cares about the city's skyline is a regular poster here--that's maybe 6 of us.