OAKLAND — The question of what should be done with a prime parcel of land destined for housing near Lake Merritt returned to City Hall Monday with a familiar debate: How many units will be available to the city’s poorer residents?

Three development groups on Monday offered different visions for the land, ranging from proposals for two high-rise buildings with a mix of market-rate and affordable units, to a lower-scale building filled with all affordable housing.

Dozens of speakers at the city’s Community and Economic Development Committee meeting, including longtime residents and labor leaders, spoke in favor of building affordable units amid a housing crisis they say is driving Oakland residents from their neighborhoods.

“It’s the one (project) that does the most to provide badly needed affordable housing for Oakland residents,” said David Zisser, a staff attorney with Public Advocates.

Monday’s meeting was the first public hearing on the property since the city’s about-face in July on its $5.1 million deal with UrbanCore to develop the land with market-rate housing. The City Council scrapped the plan after an internal memo by City Attorney Barbara Parker was leaked and published.

The confidential legal opinion, which was given to council members in a closed-session meeting in February 2015, said the city was violating a state law on publicly owned surplus land by not first offering it to affordable housing developers, a point argued by people protesting the deal with UrbanCore.

The one-acre parcel at E. 12th Street and Second Avenue is about a block from Lake Merritt, and offers potential views of the lake and downtown.

After the deal with UrbanCore was dropped, several groups submitted proposals, including one by the Oakland Unified School District to produce affordable housing for teachers. The school district failed to submit detailed plans or identify a possible developer and was not selected for the final round, according to the city.

A city committee assigned to study the proposals supported maximizing the land by squeezing as many occupants onto the space as possible. The committee also asked that at least 25 percent of the housing be affordable, a requirement satisfied by all three finalists.

Of the three, city staff recommend UrbanCore’s revised proposal, which officials say could be built quicker than other projects and offers the dense housing plan officials want for the site. The developer, which is partnering with the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation on the project, is also offering the most money, $4.7 million, to the city to build a 26-story high-rise and eight-story mid-rise building with 108 of 360 units — 30 percent — set aside as affordable housing. BART Director Robert Raburn said the developer has a good record of developments near transit areas and gave his support to their proposal, as did a dozen or so other speakers.

Bridge Housing Corporation and AGI Avant propose a similar but denser project, with 364 units — 29 percent affordable — in a 27-story high-rise and six- and 10-story mid-rise buildings. The team is offering $4 million to the city.

Many affordable housing advocates who rallied outside City Hall before the meeting supported Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, which proposes a seven-story building of 132 units of affordable housing plus a unit for a building manager, and offered $1 million to the city. The advocates called it the “people’s proposal.”

“If Oakland City Council truly cares about racial and economic equity and the displacement of black, Latino, Asian and other working families, they will prioritize a people’s proposal for E. 12th Street,” Ayohenia Chaney, of the E. 12th Street Coalition, said in a statement.

The city committee on Monday was not scheduled to vote on the project but rather hear from the applicants and public speakers. About 100 people had signed up to comment, according to Councilman Larry Reid who is chairman of the city committee. Committee members had not added their comments as of press time.

David DeBolt covers Oakland. Contact him at 510-208-6453. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.