San Francisco supervisors voted Tuesday to approve a resolution for the project agreement of the Potrero Yard project, though some supervisors were disappointed with the current project’s plans that now include fewer housing units than previously expected.
The Potrero Yard Modernization Project includes constructing a new, state-of-the-art Muni bus yard facility in the Mission District, replacing the current 111-year-old bus yard. Part of the plans for the project had also included the possibility of constructing 365 housing units in the future on top of the bus yard, but those plans were eliminated after the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced last October that the project would no longer include constructing a reinforced podium that would have supported the housing units on the roof.
Still, the project includes building 100 housing units on Bryant Street, adjacent to the bus yard.
“Seeing my colleagues, including former supervisors, that really with their herculean efforts, to try to have affordable housing at this site, for us to come to this conclusion today is rather disappointing,” Supervisor Chan said.
Chan amended the resolution to add nonbinding language urging the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and the SFMTA to identify additional sites to deliver the housing units that were lost as part of the project.
Other supervisors said they were also disappointed with the process and outcome of the project.
“I think the outcome is, you know, a result of messiness,” Supervisor Myrna Melgar said. “Where the messiness comes in is that we’ve sort of blended the lines about who should pay for what and whose responsibility is what.”
Melgar added that the project has left the community “deeply disappointed after they put in a lot of work and organizing towards something that did not come about.”
Community members from the Mission District and members of a working group tied to the project already expressed their dissatisfaction about the loss of the 365 housing units at the SFMTA’s board meeting earlier this month. At the same meeting, SFMTA Director of Transportation Julie Kirshbaum apologized to the community for the changes to the project.
“I hope that going forward, we are more intentional, more responsible about our use of resources and what is promised to the community, and above all, not taking advantage of the work of the community for stuff that doesn’t come through,” Melgar said.
Construction is expected to take place next year, with completion of the project anticipated for 2031.