San Francisco transportation officials voted to approve a $612 million project to replace the city’s oldest bus yard in the Mission District, which will also include 100 housing units, next to the yard.
Directors on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) board voted 6–1 to approve the project and housing agreements for the Potrero Yard Modernization Project despite some criticism from community members in the Mission District who continued to advocate for the transportation agency to approve a previous plan that had included 465 housing units.
Last October, the SFMTA announced that due to financial constraints, the agency revised the project’s plan, which did not include constructing a podium that would have allowed approximately 365 housing units above the bus yard. The current plan still includes building 100 housing units on Bryant Street.
SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum opened with remarks, apologizing to the community for changes made to the project, including the reduction of housing units.
“I want to apologize up front for the expectations that this well-intentioned vision created images of the housing above the bus yard and the community’s excitement about that vision created a feeling of certainty where none existed,” Kirschbaum said. “I know that losing the housing above the bus yard is a wound that will not easily heal.”
Kirschbaum also apologized to the members of the working group related to the project, who have been meeting with SFMTA staff for eight years.
Roberto Hernandez, a member of the working group since its inception, said he was initially excited to join because he knew mechanics and bus drivers who worked out of Potrero Yard and had heard about some issues they faced.
The new four-story bus yard will include improved facilities for SFMTA staff to maintain buses and will allow for the bus yard to store 68 percent more electric trolley buses. The bus yard closed on Feb 14. The SFMTA anticipates completing the new bus yard in 2030.
Hernandez told the board that housing was a priority for the project and was upset to learn about the reduction in housing units last October.
“After eight years, can you imagine if you sit on a commission and then all of a sudden, you’re told we’re not going to do this? That was very upsetting,” Hernandez said.
Many others who spoke during public comment asked if funds could be raised for the podium, which costs approximately $70 million, and asked if there any other potential sites to replace the housing units lost at the Potrero Yard.
While there was no specific answer on replacing the lost housing units from the project, Robert Baca from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, said they have thousands of units in the pipeline, but that financing is a constraint in building them.
Vice Chair Stephanie Cajina on the board voted against the project, citing that the agency failed in its partnership with the city in providing affordable housing and in its partnerships with communities that would have benefited from the project, such as the Mission and Bayview communities.
“I wish I could have done more, and I’m sorry that I can’t do more today than just cast my one vote, but I am very disappointed in how this ended up,” Cajina said. “It’s a really challenging situation to be in, and I’m sorry that we’re in it.”