DOLORES
PARK
WORKS

Rec and Park has released a draft copy of the Historic Resource Evaluation Report (HRER) on Mission Dolores Park that some in the community are saying should have been a key part of the park rehabilitation design process from the start. Peter Lewis, co-chair of Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association, has written to the Mission Dolores Park Rehabilitation Project Steering Committee (the Committee) to advise us that we have “a legal obligation” to take into account Dolores Parks’s historic legacy and the other concerns and this discussion is long overdue.

It makes no sense to proceed with the expensive and time-consuming public process without a full disclosure and discussion of the HRER’s impact on the ultimate design of a rehabilitated Mission Dolores Park long before the design process is completed. We consider the way the design process has been conducted thus far—i.e., absent any consideration of the HRER—a violation of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) and of Rec & Park’s due diligence obligations, especially given that the draft report was completed by Page & Turnbull a month ago.

Others in the Committee are not so convinced of the value of the HRER and some, after four months of meetings, are expressing weariness about the whole process. “When we have been told we are near the end, do we now need to read a 140 page document and endure months more of meetings?”, one member commented. Another wrote, “My main concern is that this rehabilitation serves the people who use the park. The people walking their dogs, children playing in the playground, the tai chi ladies who come in the morning, the many people who picnic in the park. I don’t care if the park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Can someone enlighten me on how this benefits me as a user of the park?”

John McLaren's 1905 plan for Dolores Park from the San Francisco Chronicle.

The HRER is for the most part is a reference manual. It brings together a treasure trove of photos, maps, news reports and plans and is organized into historic periods. The authors have also identified every, tree, bench and path and placed them in their historical context. They argue that though the land Dolores Park now occupies can be traced back to the early Spanish settlements and two Jewish cemeteries, it did not begin to take shape until 1905, when the cemeteries where moved and the land was set aside as a park.

Current Dolores Park Rehabilitation working plan.

The key historical period for Dolores Park is 1905 to 1966 ending when the Mexican Liberty Bell and the statue of Miguel Hidalgo were added. There is a wealth of original elements in the park dating from this period and the plan for Dolores Park drawn by John McLaren, the master gardener of Golden Gate Park is still evident. Therefore, Page & Turnbull conclude, Dolores Park has kept her historic integrity and “any projects which contemplate alterations to the park are therefore subject to review by the San Francisco Planning Department, and should be carried out in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties…”