Plans to transform the Lindenville neighborhood from its industrial roots to a new space for housing, transit and redevelopment have received praise from the South San Francisco Planning Commission.
At its Sept. 7 meeting, the Planning Commission approved the Lindenville Specific Plan that will guide future changes to an area traditionally zoned for light industrial, manufacturing and businesses that will become a mixed-use neighborhood and city cultural center. Located in the city’s southern section, it is home to about 43% of the city’s industrial land but is also strategically near public transit and potential residential uses the council has prioritized as the city grows. The plan will now go to the City Council for final approval.
Lindenville’s four areas would be divided into the Colma Creek Mixed Use Neighborhood, the South Spruce Avenue Corridor, the Employment Areas, and the South Linden Avenue Arts and Makers District. South Linden Avenue would focus on art and creative use, with the Arts and Makers District requiring art use on the ground floor of buildings. The plan covers around 400 acres of the city.
Planning Commissioner John Baker praised the plan for looking after low-income families through policies that call for more affordable housing and policies aimed at increasing density. The plan sets a goal for Lindenville to have a 20% affordable housing minimum requirement that is above the minimum 15% required by the state, with around 5,500 units envisioned in the area, according to plan documents. The city would use financing, help housing developers and incentivize developers to produce more affordable units in commercial and market-rate housing. The plan also allows flex high-rise buildings and more housing density bonuses.
“Polluted air doesn’t stay within city limits,” Baker said. “By increasing density here, we are reducing longer commutes elsewhere, preventing greenhouse gases and improving the quality of life regionally. We have to think of a region more often.”
Planning Commissioner Sarah Funes-Ozturk praised the plan for working to make South San Francisco a more walkable city by improving public transit, noting commenters had echoed the same desire. The plan calls for incentivizing bike and pedestrian options through bike, pedestrian and transit improvements to create a more walkable environment that will be focused in and around the Colma Creek mixed-use neighborhood. Colma Creek will maintain an industrial core and higher-density employment that balances development and land use needs.
“I don’t believe we have that in the city, and I believe this plan will make it more of a priority. That’s what the intention is, so I am in support of the project,” Funes-Ozturk said.
The plan received significant public engagement and comments from the City Council and Planning Commission that led to changes, with 40 Airport Blvd., 20 Airport Blvd., and 10 Airport Blvd. becoming districts that will allow residential development like townhomes, condos and apartments.
Planning Commissioner Sam Shihadeh was pleased that, while the area would undergo a large transition in the next 20 years, it would still retain traditional industrial use. However, he noted that the volatility of commercial real estate could affect when and how much change occurs.
“I think we are preserving the integrity of the small businesses of the industrial community that still exists in Lindenville,” Shihadeh said.
Lindenville is a strategic area that accounts for most of the city’s housing allocation in its housing element, which establishes where housing will be zoned and built in the city over the next two decades. The area is already seeing large-scale planning developments proposed. A proposal for a seven-story, 85-foot residential housing development that would build 543 housing units at 7 S. Linden Ave. recently received positive Planning Commission feedback.
People can go to shapessf.com/plan-lindenville for more information about the plan.
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