Bill Silverfarb/Daily Journal Residents of Mariners Reef in San Mateo are concerned a Gilead construction project will further deplete their views, add noise and create traffic along Mariners Island Boulevard.

When Foster City approved Gilead’s expansion plans at a council meeting last month, a lone San Mateo resident spoke out against the loss of views from her Mariners Reef townhome and the added noise and increased traffic the 10-year construction project would have on residents of the housing complex.

Although Diane Gyuricza was the only person to address the issues to the Foster City Council at its Feb. 16 meeting, she is not alone in her quest to be heard.

Mariners Reef is a three-building complex that houses 72 units on Mariners Island Boulevard. It is near the shoreline right across the street from Vintage Park where Gilead’s corporate headquarters is. Gilead sits in Foster City and Mariners Reef sits in San Mateo.

Sean Fullerton, president of the Mariners Reef Homeowner’s Association, appreciates Gilead’s need to grow its company but is also concerned quality of life will diminish for residents at Mariners Reef as the drugmaker embarks on a decade-long construction project.

Foster City has amended the Vintage Park Master Plan to allow Gilead to nearly double in size from its current 629,154 square feet of office space to 1,200,480 square feet in 17 buildings. The council adopted three more ordinances on a second reading at its Monday meeting and approved a total of 13 ordinances and resolutions at its Feb. 16 meeting to allow Gilead to expand.

The biopharmaceutical company currently has 1,993 parking stalls but intends to increase that number to 3,069 with the addition of two new parking structures.

One of those parking structures is proposed to be five stories tall and to be built directly across the street from Mariners Reef. The complex has views of the East Bay and the San Mateo Bridge but Fullerton and Gyuricza say those views will be lost with Gilead’s new parking structure.

To appease the residents, Gilead will provide for a double row of trees planted along Mariners Island Boulevard to screen any midrise parking structures, according to Kirk C. Syme of Woodstock Development, which is handling Gilead’s expansion projects.

To address noise concerns, the city will enforce a five-day normal work week and limited work on Saturday, according to Syme. No noisy work outside will be allowed on Sunday, he said.

Gilead is providing $1 million to Foster City to pay its fair share toward improvements at Chess Drive and Foster City Boulevard and at the State Route 92 on-and-off ramps. The city conducted traffic studies related to the project but no improvements were identified for Mariners Island Boulevard.

Gilead has agreed to promote and facilitate ride sharing and shuttles to Caltrain and BART for their employees, according to Syme.

Fullerton, Gyuricza and other Mariners Reef residents showed up at the Foster City Council’s Jan. 19 public hearing on the issue but the hearing was continued and none of the San Mateo residents who showed up that night were able to speak on the matter.

The public hearing was continued to the Feb. 16 meeting, said Foster City Manager Jim Hardy, because attorneys for the city and Gilead had not finished all the legal documents in time for the Jan. 19 meeting.

At the Feb. 16 meeting, Gyuricza was the only Mariners Reef resident to address the council.

Gilead wants to plan for an expected increase in employees from about 1,200 now to more than 3,000 in about 10 years.

“Gilead is good for Foster City,” Fullerton said. “In a way, it is good for San Mateo, too. Gilead will create jobs and stabilize property values. We are not anti-growth.”

Fullerton wondered, though, whether the council would listen more closely to the concerns of Mariners Island residents if the complex was in Foster City and not San Mateo.

“We do share the same ZIP code but that’s about it,” Fullerton said.

Gilead is done with the planning process, however, as each new building it intends to construct will have to come before Planning Commission review. The master plan proposals went through nearly two years of planning review.

Gyuricza intends to follow the planning process closely in the coming years as Gilead applies for permits to demolish old buildings and construct new ones.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.