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Broadway Zoning

The Burlingame Planning Commission heard from the Broadway Improvement District and several of its members Tuesday, October 14, 2003.

Some of the merchants contend zoning restrictions along Broadway should be changed to allow some of the store fronts to be filled. There are but three or four vacancies, actually, and those are located in one specific site at 1199 Broadway. At issue is the use of ground floor storefronts for things such as medical offices, banks, real estate and general office uses which have been capped as of a zoning change more than 15 years ago.

I was not a particularly eloquent speaker, not delivering the speech I had prepared and attempting to speak off the cuff,? saying retail storefront space is precious and that it would be a shame to lose Broadway as a viable retail area.? My personal view (as a resident and business owner on Broadway) is we already have several banks, real estate offices, eye doctors, travel agents, etc., using ground floor storefronts. Given that there are so many buildings specifically devoted to office usages and medical office facilities in town, I would prefer to see Broadway remain retail.?

One person voicing a different opinion pointed out that some of the retail establishments that have set up shop on Broadway (the tile store, the window place, etc.) don't bring but a few customers per day and don't generate significant foot traffic.?

One Broadway customer,? a resident and someone who frequents the street, living nearby, pointed out the problem? San Mateo experienced with allowing offices: The windows on the street became shuttered and it changed, radically, the complexion of a retail area.? I thanked this fellow for so succinctly making a point I had attempted to make.

The commissioners performed impressively, in my view, asking pertinent questions and having a long term view of what the ramifications might be to changing the zoning. More than one expressed concerns about parking. Others reacted to the possible impact on rents and asked if offices? pay more, would that drive retail stores off Broadway?

Your comments are certainly valued, so please post your thoughts on this important issue.

– Written by gerald

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3 responses to “Broadway Zoning”

  1. Peter

    So, let’s see: One landlord is asking a very high rent and has no takers for the hideous building he’s constructed on Broadway. He wants the City to change the rules, which have been working perfectly fine, so he can try to get other, non-retail businesses to lease his space at a higher rate.

    And the merchants, whom are probably paying a lower rental fee, think allowing this guy to establish a new “going rate” on the street is a good idea? Is there something in the water on Broadway???

  2. Rosaline

    Has the City asked all the Broadway merchants their opinion? Rather than just rely on a few vocal spokespeople, Rosalie had a great idea when she asked staff at the last Council meeting to ask all the merchants. I would love to see the results.

  3. Gerald

    I’m afraid I may be the lone voice on the sanctity of retail on Broadway amongst the merchants.

    It is not clear to me that the business folks here have thought through the effects of changing the zoning (one of them being that retail may disappear from the street, being priced out by business with significantly higher profit margins).

    This is why, in my view, the issue ought to not be solely decided by the views of (what I believe to be misguided) merchants, but ought to be also up to the residents of Burlingame.

    Most retail shops on the street cannot successfully be re-located to a warehouse site east of Bayshore, nor can we operate very well on the third floor of some office building in town.

    But if people in town say they don’t care if retail businesses have to move to neighboring towns so Broadway can be filled with offices of various types, then that is their perogative.

    There is some claim by the “applicant” who’s hoping to change the zoning that he has 90 signatures from business people on Broadway backing his proposal. I have not been asked to sign this petition, nor have I seen it. Some Planning Commission members said they would like to see this. Of course, how one frames the question is another issue.

    “The City is stopping free enterprise and persecuting the little guy…sign this petition to stop this practice” is one way to pose the issue.

    Another is “Do you favor raising the rents on Broadway by allowing a zoning change which may eventually force your business to close or relocate elsewhere?”

    Or “please allow new businesses on the street” and forget to tell the business folks that several impacts may be more traffic/less parking and higher rents.

    So, you see, it’s a complex issue and one that needs input from those outside Broadway.

    **

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