The major redevelopment project over at the Stonestown Galleria, in which the mall's massive parking lots could be transformed in to a 3,500-unit residential "village" with parks and a new retail mini-corridor, has taken a step forward with a development agreement with the city.

While this doesn't amount to final approval, and the Board of Supervisors will also need to sign off on the development agreement itself, developer Brookfield has hammered out an agreement with the city that would have it reserve 20% of the units — around 700 of them — as affordable. They've also agreed to build six acres of public parks, a plaza, and a "town square" with outdoor dining, along with a childcare center and a "Main Street" area along 20th Avenue with 150,000 square feet of ground-level retail.

We saw most of the details of this revised development plan back in December. An original plan included 2,900 units, and this new version increases that by 600, with an affordable "senior village" as well. Parking will mostly move underground.

Mayor London Breed celebrated the new version of the development plan on X, saying, "When we talk about a more affordable, vibrant San Francisco with housing for all, this is the kind of project we have to pursue."

Supervisor Myrna Melgar tells the Chronicle that she's happy about the number of affordable units, even though in earlier years the city would have pushed for more. The developer, under new rules agreed to by the Board of Supervisors to encourage development, is only obligated to include 16% below-market units, down from an earlier level of 23.5%.

"I would have liked to go for more, but given the circumstances, and that it’s more than they are required to do, it’s good," Melgar tells the paper. "Also, when you consider nothing has been built on the west side for a very long time, it’s great."

Still, the inklings of opposition to the project are represented in quotes from a neighbor, Jim Herlihy, who has lived across the street from the mall for 37 years. "It’s very high concept and very detail-light," Herlihy tells the Chronicle, further calling Brookfield's plan, "a stage-managed PR exercise with a lot of pretty pictures."

While clearly a development of this size, like any development, will still need to pass CEQA muster and do traffic studies and such, Herlihy complains, "There really hasn’t been a discussion of the infrastructure, how it will impact police services, fire services, sewer services, road services. If you are building a small town of 7,000 people you ought to present a detailed plan before you are approved."

The project is set to be built in six phases, and the original intention was to break ground later this year — though it's not at all clear that that is still feasible.

And the Chronicle notes that large, multi-phase projects sometimes have a habit of getting stalled in SF. The most glaring example is the nearby Parkmerced expansion, which supervisors approved for adding 5,600 units back in 2011. The developer there is currently facing foreclosure proceedings.

Related: Stonestown Redevelopment Project Gets New Renderings, Revisions