​​Marina Safeway: Housing Shouldn’t Come at the Expense of Public Safety

San Francisco needs more housing. But where we build, how we build, and whether a site can safely support that development matter.

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The proposed redevelopment of the Marina Safeway at 11 and 15 Marina Boulevard would bring 848 rental homes in two towers rising 22 and 18 stories, along with a new Safeway. The July 2026 plans identify 86 deed-restricted affordable units.

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But this is not simply a debate about height or housing.

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A Contaminated Site With Unanswered Questions

The project sits on a complex waterfront site with documented contamination concerns, soil-vapor and groundwater issues, significant liquefaction risk, and proximity to an area with a long history of contamination and remediation.

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Yet the developer is seeking streamlined approval under California's AB 2011, which, for projects that qualify, allows ministerial approval without the traditional discretionary process and conventional project-level CEQA review.

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We believe the fundamental environmental and public-safety questions surrounding this site should be answered before approval—not after it.

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Major Community Concerns

Contamination and groundwater: Do we know the full extent of contamination beneath the areas that will actually be excavated? Could construction disturb contaminated soil, groundwater or soil vapor, and what investigation and remediation should occur before approval?
 

Scale and location: Is an 848-unit development with towers reaching approximately 258 feet appropriate for this complex waterfront location adjacent to Fort Mason, Marina Green and San Francisco Bay?
 

Geology and construction: How will deep excavation, pile driving and construction be safely managed on artificial fill in an area highly susceptible to liquefaction?
 

Flooding and emergency safety: Has there been adequate analysis of flooding, sea-level rise, tsunami hazards and emergency evacuation for hundreds of additional households at this waterfront location?
 

Transportation: What will 848 additional households, Safeway customers, deliveries and other activity mean for already-constrained streets and evacuation routes?

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Infrastructure: Can existing sewer, water, transportation and emergency-response infrastructure adequately accommodate a project of this size?
 

Public process: If AB 2011 streamlining eliminates traditional discretionary hearings and conventional project-level CEQA review, when and how will these unresolved environmental and public-safety questions receive meaningful independent scrutiny?

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Why This Matters Beyond the Marina

The Marina Safeway is also an example of a much larger change taking place across California. State housing laws have increasingly overridden local discretion and created streamlined approval processes intended to accelerate housing construction.

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When those state laws reduce local review, public participation and environmental scrutiny, communities have a right to ask whether streamlining has gone too far especially on complicated or contaminated sites.

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We support housing.

We support affordable housing.

We support responsible development.

 

Housing production should not require communities to choose between new homes and environmental protection, public safety, responsible infrastructure planning or a meaningful voice in decisions that will shape their neighborhoods for generations.

 

Build housing. Protect public safety. Preserve the waterfront. Get the facts first.

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