Golden Gate Park up for landmark status

It is 1,017 acres of plants, animals, bikers, hikers and moms with strollers, and it could also be San Francisco's newest landmark.

Wednesday, the city's Historic Preservation Commission will discuss developing plans with the Recreation and Park Department to make all of Golden Gate Park a historic district, meaning that any substantial changes would have to be reviewed by both the Recreation and Park and Historic Preservation commissions.

That added layer of review would check the power of a park department that many preservation proponents accuse of making up a budget shortfall by selling San Francisco's parks to the highest bidder.

"It is kind of a way of giving the park a little more oversight and taking some of it out of the political process," said Katherine Howard of the Golden Gate Park Preservation Alliance.

Howard and others say a wastewater treatment plant proposed for the west side of the park and the awarding of the Stow Lake boathouse concession to an out-of-state company were given minimal public input and change the character of the park.

Those projects, they say, show why parks need more scrutiny.

"What we would like is some sort of framework for review of major changes to the park," Howard said.

Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the park department, said he is not opposed to the Historic Preservation Commission reviewing major decisions about the park, provided that its members understand that the purpose of the park - or any park - evolves.

"We would have concerns with recommendations that place additional unfunded burdens on our already strapped gardening and maintenance staff or with recommendations that tried to place limitations on current modern uses or amenities within the park that today's users expect and need," he said in an e-mail.

Historic survey

Over the next year, city officials will develop an inventory of 43 buildings, 45 sculptures and monuments, 60,000 trees and hundreds of other items in the park that they could then deem historically significant and worthy of protection.

The preservation commission will create a framework to guide which decisions by the park department need to be reviewed by the preservation commission, said Alan Martinez, a member of the commission.

"I think we bring something to the review of changes to the park that hasn't been present before," he said.

But even if the Board of Supervisors ultimately determines the park is a landmark, that doesn't mean the preservation commission would have a say in every change, Martinez said.

"Even if it is all a landmark, that doesn't mean everything in the park is significant," he said. "If they mow the lawn, that isn't something we need to review."

Eight buildings and one monument in the park are already city landmarks, including the Conservatory of Flowers, McLaren Lodge and Murphy Windmill. The park was named a national historic district in 2004, which gave limited control to local preservationists. A local historic designation would give preservationists even more authority.

But it is important to study the park in its entirety, because the true character of the park can get lost in a piecemeal designation of landmarks, Howard said.

That's why Ginsburg said he supports the general effort to preserve the character of the park.

"We get that many who use and love the park don't want it to change," he said. "We have no interest in changing what is fundamentally inspirational and timeless about Golden Gate Park."

Parks need to evolve

But the character of the park has changed many times since it was created in 1868, said Gladys Hansen, San Francisco's former archivist. Even if everyone could agree, it is difficult to capture what makes the park significant in a particular era, she said.

"There are many ways to think about that park: The park doesn't mean safety anymore; it was once very safe," she said. "Like the park, everything changes."

Most recently, park officials have been trying to offset the department's deficit by generating new revenue instead of cutting services. Part of that strategy involves revamping concessions agreements and bringing more vendors into parks.

While this has drawn critics, park officials say the consequence of not raising more money could be an erosion of services. They need the flexibility to change what happens in parks, Ginsburg said.

Fans of the park should be wary of preserving all of Golden Gate Park as they find it 2011, said Christopher Duderstadt, who was an architect of the plan to preserve the Music Concourse in 2006.

"The park is ever-changing," he said. "If we landmark the park, does that mean the cars are stuck in there in perpetuity? You could say having cars on (John F. Kennedy Drive) on a Saturday is a historic use of the park."

E-mail Will Kane at wkane@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle