On Monday January 27th at 7pm, Redwood City’s City Council will discuss the city’s Central Redwood City plan, focusing on Sequoia Station and the creation of a new Transit District:
Source: Redwood City Staff Report
Meeting details:
Where: Council Chambers: 1017 Middlefield Road Redwood City, CA 94063
When: Monday, January 27th at 7pm
What: Agenda item 9.A: Discuss next steps for a City-led Central Redwood City Plan including the Transit District, Sequoia Station General Plan Initiation, Community Visioning and Gatekeeper Process
Background:
We’re excited about Redwood City’s focus in this area of town. Downtown Redwood City’s redevelopment in the 2010s brought many great jobs, revitalized shopping/entertainment options, and some new housing to the area, all in an area well-served by the Sequoia Station transit center.
The existing Sequoia Station development is one story with a large surface parking lot for the Station’s businesses. We’re glad the city is looking at smarter ways to make use of this space as a dense, walkable place with a mix of uses that serves the residents, commuters, and workers in the area.
We think this is a great location to create additional homes to help balance the recent job creation in town. The Station is easily walkable to transit connections, local jobs, and shops and services, which will make it very easy for future residents to go car-free.
At Monday’s meeting, City Council will discuss the proposed community visioning process for this area. Please join us in supporting:
- A well-rounded outreach/community vision process that takes on board feedback from all members of the community: young and old, homeowners and renters, and those who work in the community but can’t afford to live there
- Making the most of this mixed-use development by creating much-needed homes for local workers.
- A balanced mix of homes and jobs in the broader downtown area, not just the Sequoia station site. Given the near-500,000 sqft of office space created in downtown since 2010, this is a perfect opportunity to balance it with additional housing for workers at all income levels.
The average home sale price in Redwood City is $1,480,000 as of this post’s publication date, which places stable housing out of reach for all but the most highly-paid workers.
The importance of the station
We’re glad that as we look to the next decade, the transit center itself is a next area of focus — especially as Caltrain electrification is coming and will enable much more frequent service and higher ridership. Major changes to the station infrastructure – making it a passing area for express trains to pass locals, and separating the tracks from the downtown streets – could unlock major increases in transit ridership on the entire Caltrain corridor, connect to rail service across the Bay on the Dumbarton corridor, and improve safe downtown connections for people walking, bicycling, taking transit, and driving.
At the meeting, Council is expected to authorize city staff to develop a memorandum of understanding with the partner transit agencies to plan for the complex and important station infrastructure improvements.
Especially if you can’t make it on Monday in person, please engage with your local elected officials and Councilmembers to reinforce the importance of including additional housing as this area is redeveloped. You can email the council at: council@redwoodcity.org
Additionally, in an upcoming meeting on February 24th, City Council is expected to start a General Plan update process. Stay posted for more opportunities to make your voice heard.