One of the agenda items for Monday's council meeting is Presentation of Focused Development Alternative for the Burlingame Downtown Specific Plan. Discuss/Direct?
For those, like me, who have no idea what that is supposed to mean, here is what I've been able to decipher:
In July, the Planning Commission and the majority of the City Council directed the Downtown Specific Plan consultant to explore the implications of the city's Preferred Alternative for downtown development. This Preferred Alternative would essentially increase the maximum allowable height in most areas from 35 to 55 and in certain areas allow it to go as high as 75 without any conditional use permits. (See the discussion on this blog under threads Planning Commission Meeting Last Night? begun July 15, 2008, City Council Heads DSAP Recommendations? begun July 22, 2008 and Horgan Weighs In,? begun July 30, 2008).
Between July and now the consultant analyzed the maximum amount of development that would be permitted under the Preferred Alternative. The study concluded that the Preferred Alternative would have allowed an additional 4,200 new housing units, 1 million+ square feet of office space and 535, 000 square feet of retail development (all within the area between ECR and California and Oak Grove and Peninsula). This huge amount of development would almost certainly dictate a major impact on the environment under a CEQA analysis and would have required expensive mitigation measures.
The consultant then stated that the city has four options (two of which would permit the Preferred Alternative to go forward but would essentially involve preparing defenses against CEQA challenges). The third option suggests the city adopt a development cap (which would scatter the high density projects throughout the downtown area) and the fourth option, which will be presented Monday, involves focusing the proposed increased density in a smaller geographic area.
The Focused Development Alternative to be proposed on Monday would allow 875 new units, 249,000 square feet of new office space and 184,000 square feet of new retail space. (The consultant noted that these numbers were more in-line with the economic consultant's estimate of demand in the next 20 years– e.g.800 units, 120-160,000 square feet of office and 230,000 of retail space.
Except for the first row of buildings that front the south side of Burlingame Avenue, the Focused Development Alternative would allow all buildings south of Burlingame Avenue to Peninsula to be 5 stories high (55 feet). This height limit would be a "matter of right" for the developers; the city would have no right to say "no" — as it currently does if a building exceeds 35 feet.
Mixed use (i.e. commercial and residential) would be allowed in all buildings between Burlingame Avenue and Howard, all areas of Auto Row and all buildings on the south side of Howard Avenue. Again, all of these buildings could be as high as five stories.
The above information was taken from a city staff report dated October 15, 2008. I have searched the city's website but I have not seen the report posted on-line. I'm sure copies of the report are available from city hall.
– Written by Joanne
Leave a Reply