Density Debate Fills San Francisco's Balboa Reservoir

Balboa Reservoir is slated to be the site of new development, but the size of that development is the subject of some debate. Neighbors in the area are worried about the loss of a parking lot there (the site has been used as a parking lot for the City College of San Francisco) and some have argued that apartments would change the "character" of the neighborhood, which they argue would be better preserved with single-family homes.

At the same time, housing activists argue that the city is in the midst of a crisis because of a lack of housing. "Mayor Lee pledged in 2014 to build 30,000 units by 2020, and while 1100 or more on the Balboa site will come too late to meet this goal, a larger project sends a message about the city’s commitment to increasing housing," Garrett Bergthold writes for Beyond Chron.

According to the San Francisco Planning Department website, the site is the first to move forward under San Francisco's Public Land for Housing Program.