For nearly two decades, a 2.2-acre plot of land in San Francisco’s up-and-coming Mission Bay has remained undeveloped, set aside by the city and developers for a school that has never been built. Enrollment citywide was declining, and the school district didn’t need it.

Now it does. With 70,000 new housing units in the works in neighborhoods across the city, the district could see 7,000 to 14,000 new students. And with enrollment predicted to surge to near capacity by 2025, the school board is looking to finally move forward on the site.

The project — probably an elementary school — could be among the district’s most innovative, with a 90-foot height limit that could accommodate not only a school but also housing for cash-strapped teachers or a science and technology center, one located near UCSF Mission Bay, dozens of biotech companies and the new Warriors arena.

The site has become something of an eyesore, empty amid booming economic development. The district has delayed making a decision, concerned that other neighborhoods might need a school more urgently. School board members, however, say it’s time to get off the fence and get a school built.

The board is expected to authorize the project by early April, with a majority of its seven members already voicing support.

“We have the land, we have the money, we have the community excitement and need, and the only thing holding this up now is action by the school district to make it happen,” said board member Matt Haney, co-author of the Mission Bay resolution.

The board has put off the decision while monitoring growth and school needs in areas including the Bayview, Treasure Island, Visitacion Valley and South of Market. One concern is that San Francisco middle schools are near capacity, even with the opening of Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School in the Bayview in 2015 after a ground-up reconstruction.

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The district has held the option to build in Mission Bay since 1998, when developers set aside the land at the corner of Owens Street and Nelson Rising Lane in a deal with the city. That option expires in 2027. Board members said the most likely scenario is creating an elementary school.

“Now is a good time to do it,” said board President Shamann Walton. “I see no reason to slow down as the population growth is coming to San Francisco pretty rapidly.”

A $744 million school facilities bond passed by voters last year included $100 million for the construction of two new schools, so district officials say the money is there. The question has been where those two new schools should go.

Big residential developments in the works in the Bayview are expected to bring in more new students than those in Mission Bay. Yet 70 percent of students living in the Bayview now attend schools outside their neighborhood, often because of safety or quality concerns, according to district figures. That may suggest the demand for a new school isn’t necessarily there, even though the students are.

Currently, Mission Bay has no schools, with the closest campuses about a mile away on Potrero Hill. And the major condo and apartment developments in Mission Bay are further along than their counterparts in the Bayview, said interim Superintendent Myong Leigh.

About 5,000 of a planned 6,400 units have been built. An additional 3,000 units are in the pipeline just south of Mission Bay in the Pier 70 and Potrero Power Plant areas.

“The reason to focus on it first is because it’s where we’ll see the earliest demand for schools,” Leigh said.

He said the district expects to get two schools out of the $100 million in bond money. That, however, depends on what the board decides to build in Mission Bay. The resolution that is coming up for a vote asks the district staff to explore putting teacher housing, teacher training facilities or a science and technology center on the site along with an elementary school.

Leigh said the process of mapping out what to do with the site could cost $232,000 to $584,000 in the first year, depending on the scope of the plan. Board members on the Budget Committee have requested information about how the district could pay these costs, including possible use of the bond money or developer fees.

The board must look closely at expenditures, given its desire to give teachers a raise, said board member Rachel Norton, who chairs the Budget Committee. Norton said she expects to have some clarification on these early costs this month, with a vote on the Mission Bay project expected at the board’s first meeting in April.

“I’m trying to save every general fund penny for teacher raises,” she said. “The planning (for a new school) is the right thing to do, but conversations come with a cost.”

Noting that the Mission Bay project has wide support from city officials and community members, she added, “Nobody wants to vote against this.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker