1,100-Unit Balboa Reservoir Development Breaks Ground

Without fanfare, the years in the making Balboa Reservoir housing development officially broke ground on Monday, Nov. 17.

The 1,100-unit project, sited on a reservoir best known for storing City College of San Francisco student and staff vehicles rather than drinking water, will first focus on building infrastructure, BRIDGE Housing Senior Project Manager Andrew Johnson, a representative for the project team, told The Light Tuesday morning.

Work crews have installed fencing along City College's portion of the reservoir to begin building barriers to prevent construction sediment from entering the city's combined sewage and stormwater system. Over the next few weeks, they will demolish asphalt, concrete and plants.

In December and into the new year, the site will be prepared for buildings, streets and sidewalks. The work is expected to take 20 months, according to Johnson.

"This will bring additionally heavy civil equipment to the site, excavators, scrapers and dump trucks to relocate soils from the berm around the site," according to the team.

Construction of the first building, Building E, is anticipated for the spring, with Building A scheduled for not long after.

Johnson said a groundbreaking celebration is in the works, with invites going out early next year.

Parking

The road-building work requires the use of City College's upper reservoir parking lot.

To ensure ample parking for students and employees while cracking down on driving violations that endanger pedestrians, the college stopped selling daily parking permits for the northern part of the lot around the STEAM Building. Only motorists with permits can park there.

College personnel have been contacting nearby school administrators as well as Ocean Avenue apartment complexe managers and business owners to direct their constituents to park elsewhere. Overnight parking will also be banned. Violaters will be towed.