Lawsuit to block park on SF Great Highway

Lawsuit over future of Great Highway in SF

Opponents to plans for a park on San Franciscos Great Highway have filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking those plans.

SAN FRANCISCO - The battle over the Great Highway in San Francisco has already been fought at the ballot box, and now it will move to a courtroom.

Proposition K won the vote in November, but now opponents of plans to shut down a portion of the Great Highway are saying not so fast, and they want a judge to look at Prop K and decide if plans for a park can proceed.

Opponents of Proposition K have said supporters rushed their plans through, and didn't follow the law.

"This is a very straightforward piece of litigation and an action for declaratory relief," said Richard Corriea. "We're asking for a judge to say what the law is."

In a case filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, opponents to Proposition K said the backers of the plans didn't do their due diligence on environmental concerns, and said that ultimately, the state has the final word on how roads are ultimately used, not individual cities.

"I think the Prop K proponents, just in their haste, just to get this on the ballot, decided that they were going to ignore the state law," said Corriea.

The suit says members of the Board of Supervisors who supported the plan overstepped their jurisdiction in deciding the future of the Great Highway.

The city attorney's office released a brief statement saying, "Once the lawsuit is filed and served, we will review the complaint and respond in court."

West-side Supervisor Joel Engardio, who supported the plan, has borne the brunt of the blame.

Supervisor Engardio released a statement reading, "I have full confidence in the City Attorney's ability to draft legal ballot measures that go before San Francisco voters. My guess is the court will quickly see this lawsuit has no merit."

Lucas Lux who advocated in favor of Proposition K in November, said he also thinks this lawsuit won't go anywhere.

"The people voted, and they voted for a park," said Lux. "These folks are trying to obstruct the implementation of what the people voted for because they know that people in San Francisco will love this park."

Albert Chow runs Great Wall Hardware, and is one of the named plaintiffs in the case. He said he still opposes plans to transform the highway into a park because of the impact it will have on west side businesses and residents.

"It's going to bring traffic into our streets, jam up Sunset Boulevard," said Chow. "Jam up 19th Avenue and guess what, that's going to make it worse for our businesses, worse for safety for our children, worse for our elderly, worse for us for getting around."

Organizers had hoped to have a name for the park on April 2nd, and have a ribbon cutting to open the park on April 12th.

KTVU reached out to the city's Recreation and Parks Department as well to see if this lawsuit could impact that timeline. Recreation and Parks said it hasn't seen the lawsuit, so it's too early to discuss any impact it could have on plans for a park here.

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