SF New Developments

Key zoning report will outline impact on city’s eastern areas
by Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer

Scores of developers with residential projects pending on San Francisco’s east side will learn more this week about whether they will someday be allowed to build thousands of new apartments and condominiums.

More than a year after the Board of Supervisors and planning officials put an abrupt halt to the development plans, the city cleared for release on Saturday a draft report examining how zoning changes across 2,200 acres in four South of Market neighborhoods could affect the traffic, noise, pollution, jobs and housing supply in the area.

Together, the neighborhoods — the Mission, Showplace Square/Potrero Hill, East SoMa and Central Waterfront — represent much of the heart of San Francisco’s industrial past but also opportunities for new construction of market-rate and affordably priced condominiums and apartments.

And the 600-page draft Eastern Neighborhoods Environmental Impact Report — which developers, activists and politicians will start thumbing through this week — is expected to greatly influence the debate about how much land should be preserved for light industry and how much should be opened up for new housing development.

“Older cities like San Francisco have to decide how they will transform themselves, and this is a prime example of that,” said Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, a member of the board’s Land Use Committee. “There’s not much opportunity to build on the west side of town, and things have been changing on the east side for some time … but we have not had any comprehensive planning there.”

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