It was a showdown between badly needed housing and precious open space on South of Market’s hardscrabble Sixth Street.
And on Thursday, open space won out — at least for now.
In a rare decision, the Planning and Recreation and Park commissions forced the developer of a proposed 84-unit apartment complex at 301 Sixth St. to redesign the project after residents and community advocates complained that the 82-foot-high building would cast a shadow on the Gene Friend Recreation Center.
While the amount of shadow cast may seem negligible — 0.89 percent of new shadow cast mostly in the morning before the park opens — it’s enough to make a difference for the kids and families along the Sixth Street corridor, many of whom live in residential hotels or cramped studio apartments, according to neighborhood residents.
Why we homeowners in SF in particular and Bay Area in general should never worry about house value going down. We have nut jobs here who won’t compromise on less than 1% of shadow to house people.