Baywood home redevelopment is moving ahead

“When I reviewed this application, I really struggled to understand why it was in front of us because as I see it, the project is not really bigger than what’s in the neighborhood,” Commissioner Martin Wiggins said. “It’s not really, on average, different architecturally.”

Under the proposed development, the existing two-story single-family home at 415 Fairfax Ave. would be demolished. The site is currently a 2,612-square-foot home in a Spanish colonial revival-style. The new single-family home would be 3,910 square feet and two stories with a 798 square-foot ADU. It includes an attached 470-square-foot garage and plans to remove an oak tree. The applicants, a family who had lived in San Mateo for 25 years, said they loved the neighborhood and did not want to sully it, stating they only wanted to add to the community.

Some nearby residents petitioned the city to make the development site and Baywood neighborhood a historical resource that would make demolition impossible. Rachel Mansfield-Howlett, attorney for the Baywood Neighborhood Association, argued in a letter to the city that the Baywood neighborhood and the home should be treated as historical resources. She cited a report from historic architecture expert Richard Brandi of Historic Preservation Consulting. Brandi concluded that “Baywood meets the National Register test for historic districts for having a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development.”

Resident Laurie Hietter said there was substantial evidence in the Brandi report to declare a historic neighborhood.

“I urge the city to conduct the necessary historic survey and designate Baywood, Aragon and San Mateo Park historic districts to ensure adequate CEQA and historic reviews before allowing any further demolition of homes built in the historic period of consequence,” Hietter said in a letter to the city.

The city disagreed and engaged consultants and found the existing residence was not eligible for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources, although a complete evaluation of eligible historic districts for conservation has not been completed yet. The site was constructed in 1933 and is not in the city’s Historic Building Survey of 1989. City staff said without a fully documented Baywood historic district, the neighborhood’s concerns of an adverse effect on a historical district were not justified.

In response to design concerns about building height, second-story placement and massing, the city found a similar design and building height in nearby houses, with the development conforming to city design guidelines. The site met the maximum height requirement of 32 feet measured to roof peak and architecture requirements. The city also said it is exempt from CEQA because it does not qualify as a historic resource.

Many residents voiced project support, welcoming the family. One San Mateo, a community group working to improve racial and economic equity in San Mateo through affordable housing, voiced its support. One San Mateo Vice President Karyl Eldridge noted the project was not significantly different than others.

“There are plenty of us in the community who welcome them and cheer them on in their effort to build their dream home,” Eldridge said.