3 running for San Mateo District 3

Height transitions and development

As the city works on its General Plan document that will guide housing and development for the following decades, it is still figuring out height transitions between developments and nearby single-family home areas. Fields said transitions are appropriate and did not want extreme height differences. However, she noted the city must be vigilant about following state laws around planning, pointing to a recent lawsuit the city of San Mateo lost that found it violated the Housing Accountability Act in denying the condominium development on West Santa Inez Avenue and El Camino Real in 2018. Fields suggested putting more housing near the transit corridor of El Camino Real and Caltrain.

Zygmunt said the city needs to deal with its housing problem quickly and meet its state housing goals. He did not advocate for a nine-story building next to a suburban home, instead opting for more three to four stories. He advocated for duplexes and quadplexes, with more housing outside the transit corridor.

“We need housing, and we need it now,” Zygmunt said.

Newsom wanted to keep transitions manageable to avoid damaging the quality of life for homeowners or renters.

“People don’t want to live in a two-story house and have a nine-story building that is literally removing their natural light and putting them in the shadow of another building,” Newsom said.

Newsom favored codifying information about Senate Bill 35 height bonuses available to developers in the General Plan so people are fully aware of how tall a development might get. The state law allows developers to add two additional levels during application.

Housing programs

Outside of building housing through new developments, Newsom suggested having a temporary subsidized housing program for two years for city employees, like first responders, who live outside San Mateo. Zygmunt suggested leveraging federal funding for housing vouchers and having programs to make it easier for homeowners, and adding more housing. Fields, a renter, wanted to expand San Mateo County’s Housing Endowment And Regional Trust program. The program offers a loan program to help qualified, moderate-income families buy homes in San Mateo County.

Budget and staffing

To help with future budget and staffing costs, Fields said the city must be fiscally conservative because of the city’s large unfunded pension costs for city staff.

“Staff makes the city go, and they deserve the respect and salary they get, but we need to work with them so we are as fiscally responsible as we can be,” Fields said.

Fields suggested park improvements and renovation could be handled by a bond. She wanted to explore using business improvement district funds to help businesses. Zygmunt said the city needed to invest in the right technology and vendors and hold developers accountable through more development impact fees. Newsom agreed with Zygmunt about developers and wanted them to contribute more to city infrastructure expenses and needs through more fees and filling current vacancies.

“It’s hard to justify and sell to a neighborhood that we are going to tear down this mall over here and put up another 900 units when the one right across the street is 15% vacant,” Newsom said.

Reach codes

Fields said new construction should be all-electric and said working with Pacific Gas and Electric and Peninsula Clean Energy will help ease grid issues. She wanted a reasonable timeline to transition for existing buildings and wanted tax credit incentives for the transition and wasn’t interested in any penalty for many years.

“Ultimately, the goal is full electrification, and we should be moving in that direction,” Fields said.

Newsom, who owns an electric car, felt all electricity in new buildings was realistic. However, he was uncertain about existing buildings given the lack of subsidies and grid capacity currently available. He didn’t believe PG&E was ready to handle capacity.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to say in two to four years, you are going to have to replace all your gas appliances with electric,” Newsom said. “They can tell us we are going to get subsidies, but I just don’t see it as very realistic.”

Zygmunt agreed with Newsom, noting old buildings were an engineering nightmare. He noted upgrading the electrical infrastructure in his home would cost at least $30,000 for the changes.

“How are we going to be able to support this from an engineering perceptive on the load size and supply side? That’s something that needs to be investigated, and it’s not going to happen in two to four years, I can guarantee you that,” Zygmunt said.

Downtown

To improve the downtown, Zygmunt advocated for getting rents under control to bring back small businesses and blocking off streets to create pedestrian corridors. Fields suggested wider sidewalks and changing the bollards on B Street. She wanted to make the downtown more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and remove some restrictions on downtown parklets for business owners.

“It should be a great place to shop, eat and just spend time, and right now, I think people go for targeted visits,” Fields said.

Newsom said the downtown corridors on 25th and 41st avenues also need improvements. He wanted to bring more retail and boutique options downtown and not just rely on restaurants.

“I think it might make sense to convert two or three streets to being one-way streets so you can plan for and have more outdoor space,” Newsom said, suggesting a more European feel.

Bike infrastructure

The controversy over the North Central Bike Lanes Project that removed more than 200 parking spaces for bicycle infrastructure left lingering hurt feelings. Fields said communication failure about the project benefits would require more outreach from the council and staff about its effectiveness. Zygmunt said the city and neighborhoods need to make concessions to address climate change.

“Parking is going to be reduced,” Zygmunt said, “but why does your family of three need two or three cars?”

Newsom argued there was a significant breakdown in communication with North Central. He suggested the city could have done one-way streets or the city could have added a separator between bike lanes.

Other districts, elections

Other districts up for election this year are District 1, which includes the San Mateo Park, Baywood, Aragon and portions of the Hayward Park neighborhoods; and District 5, which includes the Beresford Hillsdale neighborhood. Deputy Mayor Diane Papan lives in District 1, and would have shifted to the at-large seat until 2024, when it shifts over to District 4, which includes Shoreview, Lakeshore, Mariners Island and Los Prados neighborhoods. District 2 covers the North Central and North Shoreview neighborhoods. It is currently represented by Councilmember Amourence Lee, whose seat is up for reelection in 2024. Current Mayor Rick Bonilla opted not to run for reelection in District 1 and Councilmember Joe Goethals opted not to run for reelection in District 3.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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