Developers To Present Plans For Balboa Reservoir Project

Developers To Present Plans For Balboa Reservoir ProjectThe future housing development is currently a parking lot for San Francisco City College. | Photo: SF Planning
Will Carruthers
Published on June 06, 2017

After years of meetings and debate over how the Balboa Reservoir Project should look, residents will get a look at three potential designs from developers at two meetings in June.

The Balboa Reservoir Project has drawn discussion between housing proponents—who see great potential for building lots of housing on the 17-acre city-owned lot—and opponents, including some neighbors and city college faculty who worry that the project will snarl traffic in the area and worsen parking for City College students.

Photo: Will Carruthers/Hoodline

In March, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns the plot, announced its choice of three developer teams vying to build the project. The teams have spent the last three months developing proposals. 

"As one of the largest undeveloped public sites, it represents a major opportunity to create mixed-income housing, along with open space and other community benefits," said Gloria Chan of the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development in a statement.

The project has a target of 50 percent affordable housing units—a mixture of low, moderate and middle-income units—and includes an on-site childcare center as well at least four acres of open space.

To alleviate concerns over traffic, developers must also collaborate with City College "around parking and transportation and potentially housing and childcare." 

Supervisor Norman Yee. | Photo: Norman Yee/Facebook

District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee, who represents the area, called for the creation of the Balboa Reservoir Community Advisory Committee in order to gather public input on the project during a string of meetings over the past two years.

"I want to see a real commitment from the developers to deeply value and honor a community-based process to build a project that will bring the most public benefit while also addressing existing concerns about the needs of the neighborhood," Yee said about the upcoming meetings. "Any developer selected for Balboa Reservoir must work closely with neighbors to ensure that our collective vision is met.”

The Balboa Reservoir CAC will continue to meet throughout the project, which  will stretch into the 2020s, according to a project timeline

Residents will be able to compare the project designs at a meeting this Saturday, June 10 from 10am to 1pm at the Riordan High School cafeteria.

Videos of the presentations will also be shown at the Balboa Reservoir Community Advisory Committee's Thursday, June 15 meeting at 6pm in the Lick-Wilmerding High School cafeteria at 755 Ocean Ave.