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Neighborhood opposes 22-story high rise: Supervisor Engardio? No comment

Plan for 2700 Sloat Blvd.

CBS News:

San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood could soon look a little more like downtown after permits were filed for a proposed 22-story high-rise condo development.

While those behind it argue the structure will provide some much needed affordable housing, longtime residents counter that it just doesn't fit.

Renee Lazear has been living in the quaint Outer Parkside neighborhood in the Sunset District for more than two decades. As a fifth-generation Californian, she says historic single-family homes right by the San Francisco Zoo and Ocean Beach are what make her neighborhood so charming.

"My home was built when there were only 12 houses on the block in the sand dunes. We were built on sand," Lazear told CBS News Bay Area. Her family has been living in the neighborhood for nearly 100 years.

She said she is disappointed to hear that plans for a skyrise condo building at 2700 Sloat Blvd. have been proposed again to the city.

"It's why people moved out here in the first place. They loved the neighborhood. Changing it with a super high sky rise making it downtown or Miami is not going to make what people love and adore about our neighborhood," she said.

"It's a very lowkey vibe, family-oriented community that we have a lot of long-term multigenerational people who still live in the neighborhood, like myself," she added. "And people now finding out that this is where they want to be, they want to have a single-family home. [The] newer younger generation are moving in."

This is the second plan for a high-rise to replace the Sloat Garden Center. In a previous plan, developers had pitched a 50-floor skyrise tower that was quickly rejected by the city.

This latest proposal at 2700 Sloat Blvd. would have 24 floors, standing at about 250 feet tall.

"We've lost our ability and our voice to speak and have a say. They've taken away notifications to the neighbors about projects like this," Lazear said.

She is the co-founder of SON-SF, Save our Neighborhoods SF. The organization has collected almost 4,000 signatures to stop the 2700 Sloat project.

Lazear added that her concern for this new building is the impact the glass windows would have on the shadow, potentially impacting the animals at the zoo.

"The animals at the zoo will be affected by a lot of different factors: traffic, light, noise pollution," she said.

CBS News Bay Area brought these concerns to SCB Architects, who is leading the project for this new tower. The company is also partnering with San Francisco Housing Development Corp.

"You can see that there are actually two different buildings. This is the 100% affordable, senior housing building, and this is the market-rate condominium. And it's important that we have that component in the project, because it helps to subsidize the constructions, so that the affordable housing could be delivered," Strachan Forgan, the principal at SCB Architects, told CBS News Bay Area.

He said the plan is to build 446 units, of which 207 of them will be for affordable senior housing.

"There's a lot of people that want to live in the west side of the city, but can't necessarily afford a single-family home. So this can provide a new price point so we can increase density in the neighborhood but also provide new residents that can help support businesses," Forgan said.

He also added there will be about 10,000 square feet for retail space. But that is a concern for Lazear.

"Not something we are thrilled about in the neighborhood. It's kind of big and boxy, that we're afraid is going to happen on a larger scale," she said.

The Westerly San Francisco is right across from the proposed new building site. The condominiums by the ocean front were built a few years ago, but neighbors said many of those units and retail spaces have been left vacant.

Lazear is wondering how this new building, should it be approved, would be any different. "It's been basically storage unit for the building that has not been leased," Lazear said.

CBS News Bay Area reached out to the Westerly San Francisco for comment on how many units were currently occupied and whether there were plans to bring retail businesses into the space, but have not heard back.

Forgan, on the other hand, said the proposed units of studios, one and two-bedrooms will be smaller and more affordable.

"Change is sometimes difficult, but we also think that it's important to invite new neighbors into the community, because we have to rejuvenate the community, provide affordable housing," he said.

He also added that he understands the concerns of the impact of the building on the zoo, but he said they have participated in studies recently on that issue.

"We have done some shadow studies. That shadow moves across the zoo very quickly. The zoo obviously a very big footprint, so it really won't impact the animals," Forgan said....

Lazear, however, said she will be speaking with new Mayor Daniel Lurie along with city leaders to see if there are any alternative ways to transform the Sloat Garden Center.

"You could take part of it, and you could turn it into a community center, maybe you could build 20 units or something that would be truly affordable to help people," she said.

"Our area is the epitome of change, density and welcoming new neighborhoods to the community. We're not opposed to change, but we are opposed to irresponsible, unnecessary, oversized projects that will not fit," Lazear added.

CBS News Bay Area also reached out to Supervisor Joel Engardio for comment, as well as the San Francisco Housing Development Corp and have not heard back.

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The original proposal