SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Presidio
Historical Association (PHA) and Sierra
Club filed a Federal
lawsuit in U.S. District Court late Wednesday to halt proposed new
construction on the Main Post of the Presidio
of San Francisco, a historic national park in San Francisco. The
lawsuit charges the park’s managing Federal agency, the Presidio
Trust, with failing to comply with the Presidio
Trust Act, National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

“The unique historic value of the
Presidio Main Post should not be sacrificed to build an unnecessary
hotel.”

“The Presidio Trust has violated these statutes in its push to convert
the most historically significant site in the Presidio into a luxury
hotel despite nearly unanimous public opposition,” said PHA President
Gary Widman. “We have no choice but to file this lawsuit
to protect this national park, which belongs to all Americans.”

The suit sets a precedent as the first to question activities in a
national park that is not managed by the National Park Service.

Recently, the Presidio
Trust’s Board of Directors changed restrictive zoning policies that
protected the Main Post until now in order to permit construction of a
14-building hotel, a large addition to a historic theater and other
structures, a move strongly opposed by numerous nonprofit organizations
and private citizens.

“The Sierra Club has protected national parks since 1892, and played a
major role in the creation of the Presidio National Park and Golden
Gate National Recreation Area,” said Sierra
Club spokeswoman Becky Evans. “The unique historic value of the
Presidio Main Post should not be sacrificed to build an unnecessary
hotel.”

The Sierra Club won a 1986 Federal lawsuit that enjoined the US Army
from undertaking new construction in the Presidio, a military base at
that time. “By filing this suit, the Sierra Club seeks affirmation of
that 1986 decision and seeks the Presidio Trust’s compliance with the
Presidio Trust Act and other environmental laws,” Evans said.

The lawsuit
asserts that the Presidio Trust ignored its duty to “[protect] the
Presidio from development and uses which would destroy the
historic…character of the area…and other cultural resources”, and failed
to limit new construction to one-for-one replacement of demolished
structures as required by the Presidio Trust Act.

The plaintiffs also claim that the Trust’s NEPA process was flawed and
that the Trust failed to minimize adverse impacts in its National
Historic Landmark District to the maximum extent possible as required by
the NHPA.

The Presidio
Trust Act (PTA) of 1996 recognized and protected the 1,491-acre
Presidio of San Francisco as a unique place of history and open space in
a densely populated urban center. The Main Post, established in 1776,
was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1962. The
Presidio was home to Spanish, Mexican, and American military
operations for nearly 220 years until the base became a national
park within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) in 1994.
More than 30,000 Americans veterans and their families are buried in the
Presidio’s National
Cemetery, on the western side of the Main Post.

The nonprofit Presidio
Historical Association has helped to preserve and present the
Presidio’s history for more than 50 years. The watchdog group recently
gained attention for successfully fighting the Presidio Trust’s plan to
build a massive, contemporary art museum on the historic Main Post.

The Stanford
Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic is representing the Presidio
Historical Association and the Sierra Club in the lawsuit.

The complaint is posted at http://presidioassociation.org/issues.htm

Case# CV12-00522, US District Court for the Northern District of
California, San Francisco Division

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