Belmont charts new city vision

Though the City Council will review the ordinances again Nov. 28 before the plans are considered complete, Vice Mayor Doug Kim acknowledged the many aspects officials and residents considered in refining the new plans, which have been in the works since 2014.

“I’m proud that we’ve been able to walk a fine line that advances the objective of creating a downtown while being true to Belmont’s culture and history,” he said.

But Kim acknowledged that it would take time for any of the proposed changes and new standards to affect the city’s landscape, which he said is largely built out especially downtown where a Safeway grocery store and several other businesses are clustered.

Prior to the plan adoptions Tuesday, residents and councilmembers reviewed downtown development standards and transit guidelines for an 80-acre area around the intersection of Ralston Avenue and El Camino Real included in the Belmont Village Specific Plan.

Aimed at integrating a variety of uses with an emphasis on housing, connecting multiple modes of transportation and establishing the guidelines for the downtown style and character, among other goals, the plan provides estimates for the increase of residences and jobs to come. It also proposes changes at major intersections included in the city center such as an extension of Fifth Avenue to Ralston Avenue, a pedestrian and bicycle connection under the Caltrain tracks at O’Neill Avenue and a bicycle loop on parts of Sixth Avenue, O’Neill Avenue, Hiller Street and Masonic Way.

In response to concerns residents voiced at the meeting, councilmembers pegged community benefits, sustainable building practices and economic development efforts as areas of future discussion as the plans take shape.

Resident Kevin Burke urged councilmembers to consider providing more clarity around the community benefits developers could provide to be able to exceed the city’s limits on the height and density of proposed buildings. Though Burke was encouraged that new housing developments accounted for in the plan could provide the funds for much-needed amenities in the city, he thought greater predictability about the benefits developers may be asked to provide could help them estimate the cost of a given project and move their project forward.

Sophie Martin, a project consultant of the firm Dyett & Bhatia, which worked on the plans with the city, said the community benefits for particular developments would be at the discretion of the council, affording them flexibility to decide what amenities are most needed and could best fit with a given site.

Community benefits are often a range of items that aim to help current residents but can include open space, recreational opportunities, wage requirements for construction, funding for community groups and affordable housing. Though Mayor Charles Stone and Kim were supportive of better defining the types of community benefits developers could provide, Stone said he wanted to maintain flexibility on the range of amenities that could be considered.

“I don’t want to constrain folks that may have ideas that we haven’t even thought of in terms of community benefits,” he said.

Liz Handley, a resident and professional figure skater, said she moved to the Bay Area in 2006 to teach skating at Belmont Iceland. She said she felt she had lost a community hub when the rink closed in 2016, and implored councilmembers to do what they could to give a new rink operator the opportunity to open one downtown.

“I want you to know there are still people in your community … that do want an ice rink,” she said.

Stone confirmed that nothing in the plan would prohibit a property owner from building or reopening an ice rink on the parcel where the Belmont Iceland once stood and that councilmembers would be supportive of any willing landowner wishing to do so.

Councilmembers also voiced support for discussing how changes taking shape under the new plans could be carbon-free after resident Diane Bailey advocated for 100 percent renewable energy requirements for new buildings. In response to the encouragement of Mary Morrissey Parden, president of the Belmont Chamber of Commerce, for councilmembers to think about strategies for revitalizing the local economy that could work in tandem with the plans, Stone also said the council would consider ways the city could support economic development among the many implementation measures coming out of the new plans in future discussions.

“This is certainly not the last step,” he said. “It’s an incredibly important step, but we have a long way to go.”

In other business, the council introduced an ordinance incrementally increasing the minimum wage for workers in the city to $15 an hour by 2020. The council also amended the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance to require those proposing multi-family rental housing projects with more than 25 units to make at least 15 percent of them available at rates affordable for low-income residents. Councilwoman Davina Hurt, Kim and Stone also voiced support for posing the question of whether the city clerk and city treasurer positions should be elected or appointed to citizens on the 2018 ballot, but decided to bring the matter back for discussion Nov. 28 to determine whether the question should be posed during June or November elections.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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