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PUC outlines urban agriculture pilot at College Hill and Bayview sites
Summary
The PUC updated commissioners on a pilot to test urban agriculture on two ~6,000 sq. ft. SFPUC sites (College Hill in Bernal Heights and a Bayview/Hunters Point site), described feasibility work and outreach plans, and said staff will release RFPs after community input.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission received an update on Feb. 28 about an urban agriculture pilot that will test community and educational uses on two SFPUC sites.
Juliet Ellis, assistant general manager for external affairs, said staff identified two roughly 6,000‑square‑foot sites: College Hill Reservoir in Bernal Heights and a site adjacent to the Southeast Sewer Treatment Facility in Bayview‑Hunters Point. Staff has completed preliminary feasibility checks — including soil testing, sun exposure and microclimate analysis — and has been consulting neighborhood stakeholders and urban‑agriculture advocates to shape potential uses.
At College Hill, Ellis said the PUC is in discussions with the San Francisco Unified School District about using the site as an outdoor classroom that nearby elementary schools could access. "We're in conversations with the school district... that this site would potentially be an outdoor classroom for the surrounding schools in the area," Ellis said. The College Hill project aims to align with the school year so a partner could take the site over in August.
For the Bayview site, staff is engaging existing community garden organizations such as the Southeast Food Access Group and is considering a range of uses from traditional community garden plots to composting, tool access and small‑scale enterprise. Ellis said the Bayview site will have open houses in the summer and that the RFP would follow in late summer or early fall.
Community advocates urged speed and broad outreach. Dana Perls of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance said the group supports the process and asked that the Bayview site remain open to multiple possibilities, including business uses, and that outreach include neighborhoods across San Francisco. Eli Zigas of SPUR also urged earlier outreach and public events so people have time to engage prior to RFP release.
Next steps: staff will present additional information to the commission in May, complete soil testing and host open houses for the Bayview site before releasing an RFP; the College Hill site could move quicker if a school partnership is finalized.
