This coming Thursday, October 17th at 7pm, the South San Francisco Planning Commission will be voting on a mixed-use development on a former San Francisco Public Utilities Commission site.
The meeting will be held at the Municipal Services Building, Council Chambers, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco 94080. Please join us in voicing support for this important project.
The project is a rare opportunity to build much-needed homes and resources for the community on public land, located at 1501 Mission Road. The development is currently slated to include:
803 homes, 161 of which will be designated as affordable
A ~8,300 sqft childcare facility
A 12,992 SF commercial retail space
A one-acre public park, and related infrastructure
Renderings and more detail on the project are available at courb.co/ssfpucdev.
This project is located close to El Camino Real transit routes, is fairly close to the South San Francisco BART station, and is within a couple miles of many local biotech, home improvement, and airport-related jobs.
The housing provided by this development is essential as the community grows alongside large local employers like Genentech — who are currently making room to as much as double their workforce.
Please join us at the meeting to support this project, and please also reach out to the Planning Commission by email, particularly if you can’t attend in person: https://bit.ly/31FMBSp
In the meeting’s Q&A session, community leaders are looking forward to community input on how the El Camino Corridor can serve our Peninsula communities’ needs for sustainable transportation, affordable housing, and efficient urban planning, so that the Corridor can be enjoyed by all! We look forward to voicing support for all 3 of these initaitives.
El Camino Real at San Tomas Expressway. Photo credit: Gabriela Landaveri
We’re excited to hear from the experts on the panel:
Sue Serrone, Chair, Livable Sunnyvale
Vikas Gupta, Santa Clara Community Advocates
Gwen Buckley, Planner, San Mateo County Transit District 9 (supporting Grand Boulevard Initiative)
LaShonda Kennedy, Vice Chair, Redwood City Transportation Advisory Committee
Steve Le, Assistant Planner, City of Santa Clara
Jay Lee, Senior Planner, City of Sunnyvale
Moderator: Nikita Sinha, Walk San Jose Program Manager, CalWalks
Any questions? Just reach out to envisioningelcamino@gmail.com.
Note: This is not a Library-sponsored event. The City of Santa Clara is neither responsible nor liable for information provided by users of the Library meeting rooms.
We were disappointed that the San Bruno Mills Park project failed to pass due to a single “no” vote at City Council last week, and now may not be built.
The development, as we covered last week, was under thoughtful review for three years and was slated to provide:
425 condos
Including 64 deeply affordable units for households well under the Area Median Income
A new grocery store for the neighborhood
All right within close proximity to SamTrans, Caltrain, and BART, enabling residents to enjoy a true transit-first lifestyle and reducing traffic and emissions on area roads.
Mills Park’s plans complied with local code and regulations, delivering what 68% of voters had asked for by approving 2014’s Measure N, the “Downtown and Transit Corridors Economic Enhancement Initiative”. This initiative allows for moderately taller buildings in the downtown area — enabling more people to have homes near transit, stores, and jobs. The Mills Park site is also part of the Transit Corridors Specific Plan area, approved by San Bruno City Council in 2013.
Architect’s rendering of the Mills Park development
San Bruno’s planning commission had unanimously approved the plans. However, a few residents of nearby areas opposed the new homes and spoke at this Council meeting. The City Council held a smaller than usual vote on the project, with only 3 council members able to participate (as 2 others owned property near the site). This meant the project required unanimous consent from the remaining council members to pass, and ultimately failed due to just one of the three council members, Marty Medina, voting against the project.
The failure of Mills Park is only the latest example of why local government leaders who emphasize local control over housing decisions have ultimately failed to act in the best interests of local residents, workers, and the Peninsula region. San Bruno City Council recently sent a letter in opposition of SB-50 (the MoreHOMES Act) to the bill’s author, State Sen. Scott Wiener. But the city stated that it is already working to increase housing supply via its existing procedures and does not need state intervention:
“SB 50 disrespects local values and penalizes communities that have adopted thoughtful approaches to increasing housing supply”
– San Bruno City Council, April 24, 2019
However, the failure of projects like Mills Park is not uncommon in our region these days. Projects that confirm to city code and voters’ wishes should not be able to fail at a late stage due to a small group persuading a single councilmember to vote against the much-needed homes.
The city may not be legally allowed to turn this development down under state law – the Housing Accountability Act prohibits cities from denying housing that fits local rules unless there is a major risk to health and safety. Cities’ lack of self-regulation reinforces the needs for state standards to solve our region’s housing crisis.
What can you do to help?
If you’re a San Bruno resident and would like to explore action against the city for potential violations of the HAA — please contact sonja@carlaef.org
Call CA State Senator Jerry Hill (who represents this region) at (650) 212-3313 to express support for state housing legislation, including SB330 (Housing Crisis Act of 2019) and SB50 (the MoreHOMES Act)
Contact the San Bruno City Council to encourage the building of more much-needed housing: Links to message council members are here, or, call the City Manager Jovan Grogan: (650) 616-7056
Sunnyvale is making exciting plans to redevelop old shopping centers into new Village Centers following a goal set by the city with its recent General Plan update. Village Centers will be new medium-density mixed-use places that will blend housing and retail, close to transit. We’re really excited about the opportunities to evolve aging shopping centers into places with homes and convenient access to the needs of daily life.
The Planning Commission will be reviewing a draft plan for the Public Engagement Process for a Precise Plan for the first of the Village Centers. Because Village Centers are brand new in Sunnyvale, it will be helpful to come and be supportive.
When: This coming Monday, July 8th at 7pm
Where: The Council Chambers: 456 Olive Ave
Meeting Agenda: Here, with additional details on the project and Engagement Process here
The first Village Center under consideration is at the corner of W. Fremont Avenue and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road:
Some great features of the Village Centers include:
A focus on walkability and transit
Space for community gatherings and interaction
Proximity to services and businesses for residents of the Centers and the surrounding community
Residential diversity through new housing types (multi-family properties) in areas that skew heavily towards single family homes
Land designation that allows up to 4-story buildings and 18 units per acre (averaged across the site)
Please join us to support more housing as a key component of these Centers, and engage in the Public Engagement Process.
Also, whether or not you can make it, please voice your support for these new developments:
On Tuesday July 9th at 7pm, the San Bruno City Council will be meeting at the San Bruno Senior Center (1555 Crystal Springs Rd, San Bruno, CA 94066) to continue the review process for the Mills Park development. Please join us to support the project! The agenda for this meeting is here.
This is a great, dense development on El Camino Real with frequent bus service, and walking distance of the San Bruno Caltrain station, and roughly 1 mile (a longer walk, or quick bike/scooter ride) away from the San Bruno BART and Shops at Tanforan.
The ~5-acre site is mixed use with a housing focus, with plans to add:
425 condominium homes, 64 of which will be deeply affordable
A 41,890 sqft grocery store
4,000 sqft of commercial space
879 parking stalls
This project fits neatly with the community’s wishes for greater development in the transit corridor area around Caltrain, BART, and El Camino Real. The Mills Park site is part of the Transit Corridors Specific Plan area, approved by San Bruno City Council in 2013. In 2014, voters approved Measure N, the “Downtown and Transit Corridors Economic Enhancement Initiative”, which allows moderately taller buildings like this in the downtown area, close to transit.
We’re excited about this project’s ability to bring more homes to our area, especially so close to transit. Residents will have a lot of alternatives to driving, with easy access to many local businesses and a grocery store right downstairs. That’s a level of convenience many of us dream of!
Please join us in support of this project at the meeting.
And whether or not you can make it, please contact your local officials to show support — you can message council members here.
Want to learn more?
The City of San Bruno maintains a website for the project with a range of detailed documents describing the project, and all the studies and review done thus far.
In a nutshell, the proposed buildings range in height from one to five stories with the tallest portions at the maximum of 70 feet in height, with many building portions below this maximum. The buildings are divided into smaller components with articulated building setbacks and stepbacks.
The project has also been endorsed by our friends at the San Mateo Housing Leadership Council:
HLC has endorsed the Mills Park Plaza Development in San Bruno! Join us in support Tuesday July 9th at 7pm at the San Bruno Senior Center. The proposal includes 425 homes, 64 of which deeply affordable, retail, a grocery store all near Caltrain & SamTrans https://t.co/TDfa9SsDLDpic.twitter.com/qXZik5pCbN
— Housing Leadership Council (@hlc_sanmateo) July 4, 2019
