Planning commission hears strong public push for bigger boathouse as draft Lake Merced West EIR moves through review

The San Francisco Planning Commission on March 31 reviewed the draft environmental impact report for the Lake Merced West recreation project, a proposed redevelopment of an 11‑acre, city‑owned parcel at 520 John Muir Drive that was formerly the Pacific Rod and Gun Club.

Planning department environmental coordinator Julie Moore summarized the draft EIR, published Feb. 23, 2021, saying the project would convert the cleared, remediated site into a public recreation facility with trails, picnic areas, a new community building, a boathouse and docking, playgrounds and courts, a restaurant and roughly 80 public parking spaces. The draft report found the site is eligible as a historic cultural landscape and concluded impacts to that resource would be significant and unavoidable even with mitigation; noise, biological and paleontological impacts were found significant but potentially mitigable under the measures outlined in the report.

The hearing drew extensive public comment from rowing clubs and community members who urged the commission to study a much larger aquatic center than the draft EIR currently analyzes. "We are willing and able and we want to create a great community center at the lake," said Emily Koenig, program director at Pacific Rowing Club, who requested adding a substantially larger boathouse to the EIR alternatives. Coach Sam Nelson and other rowing community speakers reiterated that a larger facility (they cited figures like 14,000 square feet) would better serve youth programs and broaden access.

Supervisor Mirna Melgar (District 7) said she supported the EIR process but stressed that the community should see boating capacity reflected in future planning: "Lake Merced is a jewel of our city," she said, and asked that the project reflect community desires for expanded boating access when funding is available.

Other public commenters raised distinct concerns. Resident Andrew Howard asked whether the project has adequately considered public‑safety implications from an adjacent active gun range. "Imagine a family on a ropes course and gunfire erupts nearby," he said, asking the commission to assess range impacts on recreational uses.

Commissioners and staff acknowledged the concerns. One commissioner noted that a larger boathouse had been considered during project preparation but was not included in the preferred project because staff did not find additional environmental impacts that would necessitate its inclusion; commissioners nevertheless urged thorough responses to public comments, especially on historic preservation and equity, and recommended that the response document be written broadly enough to cover potential future expansions if decisionmakers choose them.

The EIR public review period is open through 5 p.m. on Monday, April 11, 2022. Written comments may be sent to the planning department email listed in the draft EIR notice; verbal comments made at the hearing will be included in the administrative record and a response to comments will be published with any final EIR.

The commission’s review on March 31 was for comment only; no certification or project approval was sought at this meeting.