Redevelopment of the Presidio in San Francisco

Improving Our Communities Through Award-winning Projects

In 1997, the Presidio Trust (Trust) was created to manage 1,158 acres of the Presidio of San Francisco, a designated National Historic Landmark District within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area under the National Park Service. In 1999, the Trust took responsibility for the remediation of Army-era contamination throughout the Presidio to ensure clean-up standards appropriate for a public National Park. The cleanup was overseen by the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The Presidio Trust has a vision for the Presidio of San Francisco to be a “Forever Park”. For this vision, the Presidio Trust has the mission to steward and share the beauty, history, and wonder of the Presidio for everyone to enjoy forever. To strive to meet this vision the Trust has set three strategic goals: To be visited and loved by all, be a model of environmental stewardship and exemplify operational excellence in public service. The Trust is Actively working to rehabilitate aging infrastructure and redevelop defunct and abandoned Army era buildings and natural/historic spaces.

 

Why TRC

In 2014, the Trust hired TRC to support as-needed environmental tasks, ongoing remediation at the 6-acre Lendrum Court Site and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of several LUC sites. TRC professionals already held extensive experience working on remediation sites within the Presidio and established successful working relationships with many project stakeholders such as the Presidio Trust Staff, NPS, US Army, DTSC, RWQCB, Restoration Advisory Board, Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, Caltrans, and others. TRC’s role has expanded to include civil engineering, infrastructure, construction, and programmatic support services.

 

Services Provided

TRC’s technical experts have led and supported numerous environmental remediation and infrastructure projects for the Presidio Trust. Key projects are listed below:

• Master planning and stormwater management services to support the transition of over 40 acres of the Caltrans reconstructed Presidio Parkway/Doyle Drive from Caltrans back to the Presidio Trust so that the final phase of the project could be completed as described in the following three bullets.
• Engineer of Record, Engineering design (civil, structural, geotechnical, and utilities), environmental compliance, and construction oversight/quality assurance services for the Doyle Drive Phase 3 project which created over 20 acres of parks and new native landscape adjacent to, below, and over the top of, a major highway. Final product included the *Battery Bluff Park, a recreational park with overlooks, picnic areas, multi-use trails, landscaping, native plant restoration areas, cultural resource restoration, storm drain systems and general landscaping.
• Environmental compliance, remediation, soil management, dewatering permitting, and construction oversight services for the *Quartermaster Reach Marsh Restoration Project to replace a 72” storm drain line with tidal marsh, completing the connection of the Tennessee Hallow Riparian Corridor to the San Francisco Bay
• Environmental consulting services on multiple remediation sites resulting in the recission of their Land Use Control status, paving the way for native ecosystem restoration and redevelopment for public recreational use. This work included the site of the newly opened *Tunnel Tops Park.
• Programmatic support involving master planning for Presidio wide environmental compliance, asset management, long term O&M budgeting, and development of the Presidio-wide soil management plan to formalize standard operating procedures for all construction and O&M projects
• Environmental Remediation of the Lendrum Court incinerator site (DTSC lead) and the BR11-1 fuel oil release site (RWQCB lead). Both sites required investigation, planning, remedial design, construction, and closure with land use controls on accelerated time frames. They both required work in very close proximity to occupied residential units. TRC supported public outreach and meetings as well as negotiations with the Army and insurance carriers for reimbursement.
• Remediation, emergency response, and environmental compliance services for multiple small remediation, redevelopment, and operation and maintenance projects.

 

Results

TRC continues to provide ongoing support to Presidio Trust through on-call environmental and on-call engineering contracts as well as several project specific contracts. In 2022, the Presidio Trust received four ASCE awards associated with the projects listed above that TRC supported in numerous ways:

1. Outstanding Historic Renovation Project award for the Battery Bluff Park project
2. Outstanding Sustainable Engineering Project for the Quartermaster Reach Marsh Restoration Project
3. Outstanding Parks and Recreation Project for the Tunnel Tops Park Project
4. Outstanding Urban or Land Development Project for the Tunnel Tops Project

 

TRC has provided high quality services that exceeded expectations of the Presidio Trust and played a major role in the restoration and redevelopment of the Presidio for public enjoyment, while improving public health and safety, the health of the natural environment, and the preservation and enhancement of cultural resources. TRC is proud to be a partner with the Presidio Trust and looks forward to more successful project.