At the time of preparation of the Mission Bay FSEIR, the 11-acre project site “contained several buildings and facilities and was noted as lacking any notable vegetative habitat,” with no threatened, endangered or rare plants or animals “known to occur in the upland portion of the Mission Bay plan area, including the project site.” According to the initial study, “Subsequent to that time, the project site has been subject to building removal, grading, excavation, and construction of paved surface parking lots, fencing and utilities on portions of the site.” Today, the project site consists of two paved parking lots and an undeveloped lot “largely covered in gravel” with “sparse” vegetation “dominated by non‐native annual grasses and opportunistic weedy species.” Adjacent to one of the parking lots is “a depressed area (measuring approximately 320 feet by 280 feet) created by an excavation and backfill associated with a prior environmental cleanup of that portion of the site. A surface swale extends west within this portion of the site to allow for drainage of surface water into the depression.” Plaintiffs characterize the excavation pit as a half-acre wetland and argue that draining and filling the pit will significantly impact endemic and migratory birds. The initial study found the project would have no significant effect on biological resources even if the excavation pit were deemed a wetland because its value “is limited due to the sparse and ruderal nature of onsite vegetation, as well as the site’s location in a densely urbanized environment.” A biologist conducted a site survey and found no protected species or “desirable habitat that could support” them. The initial study concluded: “While several bird species were observed foraging and hunting onsite, these species are common to San Francisco and would continue to be supported by vegetation communities and water features found in the project vicinity. Because the excavation depressions on the site are small, isolated features resulting from recently completed hazardous materials remediation activities and are surrounded by paved areas and urban development, these features do not provide the important biological habitat functions and values that are typically associated with federally protected wetlands. As such, the proposed removal of these features would not constitute a significant adverse impact on wetland habitat resources.”
and the 16th Street Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station, (2) between the event center and Fort Mason, and (3) between the event center and the new Transbay Transit Center and the Ferry Building. The TMP also includes a “local/hospital access plan” to facilitate emergency access and movement by residents and employees of UCSF in and out of the Mission Bay area. The plan, which is to be implemented by SFMTA before all large weekday evening events at the event center (i.e., events anticipating more than 12,500 attendees starting between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., approximately 50 times per year), is configured to discourage event attendees who arrive by car from using portions of Fourth Street, Owens Street, UCSF campus internal roads, and local residential streets. Under the plan, special temporary and permanent signage will be positioned at appropriate locations to direct event traffic towards designated routes in order to access off‐street parking facilities serving the event center and away from streets within the local/hospital access plan network. In addition, parking control officers will be stationed at key intersections before an event to facilitate local driver access. Finally, the TMP includes specific performance standards and provisions for monitoring and refinement. “Monitoring methods include field monitoring of operations during the first four years and an annual surveying and reporting program thereafter. Surveys of event attendees and event center employees would be conducted annually, and visitor surveys of Mission Bay neighbors and UCSF staff and emergency providers would be conducted in the initial years of operation.” Performance standards include, among others, a maximum 53 percent of event attendees arriving by car for weekday events and a maximum 59 percent of event attendees arriving by car for weekend events, specified limits on vehicle queuing on city streets, and all patrons able to board Muni light rail and special event shuttles within 45 minutes after the end of an event. The project proponents are required to meet all identified performance standards by the middle of their third season at the event center and for every Golden State Warriors season thereafter.