Panel unanimously backs school on site of urban farm

Over the objections of Mission Terrace residents, the San Francisco Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to displace the city’s only commercial farm and allow a private school to be built on the site.

The Golden Bridges School already owns the long, narrow plot of land at 302 Cotter Street in the residential neighborhood between Glen Park and the Excelsior, just south of Interstate 280, and wants to move from Diamond Heights into a new, larger school.

Yet neighbors and supporters of the farm, Little City Gardens, argued that a school would destroy a unique agricultural space that provides herbs for acupuncturists, vegetables for Michelin-starred restaurants and a peaceful sanctuary for the many volunteers who work the soil. Dozens of opponents also said that transforming the 30,700square-foot parcel into a school for 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade would aggravate severe flooding in the neighborhood and be dangerous for children because the property has only one exit.

“I wish both groups could coexist,” commission President Rodney Fong said after listening to hours of testimony from perhaps 100 passionate speakers on both sides.

The Golden Bridges School considers itself an “urban farm school.” Its Waldorf-inspired educational philosophy embraces the outdoors and emphasizes nature. Jessie Elliott, the school’s founder and director, told the commission that the new school building would be small “to make sure we stay outside.”

Parent after parent said the school offers children something wonderful they can’t get elsewhere. Many said they would leave San Francisco if the project were blocked.

“I’ve never encountered a school like this,” said Claire Simmons of Bernal Heights, whose son attends second grade. “We can tell where he’s been by the color of the dirt on his hands.”

Others said the school would have a roof covered with vegetation, known as a living roof, and most of the plot would remain unbuilt. They said if the school were blocked, Golden Bridges might have to sell the land to developers.

Even opponents couldn’t disagree. And in the end, neither did the seven commissioners.