San Francisco has been talking about turning a parking lot next to City College’s Ocean Campus into housing for decades.
The parking lot, known as the Balboa Reservoir site, is owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission but it serves the school. On Tuesday, the board of supervisors finally voted to rezone the lot for housing.
The project will have 1,100 units, and half of these will be listed as affordable housing. Of that half, 150 of the units will be set aside for City College teachers and staff. The units will be built jointly by the affordable housing developers Bridge Housing and Mission Housing, and the luxury apartment developer AvalonBay .
Proposals to turn the parking lot into housing have always been controversial and this time was no different. City college staff, students and nearby residents voiced concerns about losing parking and building luxury apartments — especially in the middle of a pandemic and recession.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee says he incorporated those concerns into the proposal. The developers have agreed to pay for transit improvements, extra parking spaces, and a community center.
