The Harbor Industrial Area, or HIA, is a 62-acre site identified in Belmont’s 2017 General Plan update near the Belmont Creek and San Carlos city limits.
As Belmont looks at potentially annexing the Harbor Industrial Area near the San Carlos border, initial residential outreach has found a desire for more transit connectivity, amenities and open space in its potential land use transformation.
The city is looking into annexing the 62-acre site bounded by O’Neill Avenue on the north, Highway 101 to the east, San Carlos to the south and Old County Road to the west as it looks to increase economic growth and jobs. The area is in the unincorporated area of San Mateo County but within the Belmont sphere of influence and is primarily for industrial uses, with some commercial uses and a mobile home park. The city expects the area and land use designation to be transformed in the coming years to allow more office, life science, hotel and residential use, according to a city staff report. The potential changes have led the city to look into a Harbor Industrial Area Annexation Strategy plan started in February that has gathered community input about future uses. The city is discussing what annexation would look like with the county.
A June 8 breakout session with around 30 Belmont residents found people wanted to see more bike and pedestrian connectivity, more food, retail and amenity spaces beyond biotech and housing, addressing parking needs and looking at more parks and open space. Support indicated an interest in maintaining family-friendly social spaces and businesses already in the area, like Alpha Acid Brewing Company and the Little Belmont Cafe.
Others were concerned about traffic congestion on Ralston Avenue, Holly and Highway 101 and wanted to avoid opening streets into the Homeview neighborhood. Some suggested protected bikeways along Harbor Boulevard.
At a July 11 council update about the process, several councilmembers asked for more efforts to reach out to Belmont residents and get their voices heard.
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“We could have these meetings be held in conjunction with PTA meetings at the various schools because each PTA meeting generates 25 or 30 parents at our various schools throughout the city, and maybe that’s a way to get more voices in,” Councilmember Robin Pang-Maganaris said.
There were also calls for improved public transit connectivity between the area and Caltrain. The Belmont Caltrain station on El Camino Real sits just outside the area. Some councilmembers noted that increasing service to the station could help with connectivity.
The area is part of the larger 230-square-acre section mostly annexed to San Carlos in 1997. The city will have a a pop-up event Friday, July 14, between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Alpha Acid Brewing Company.
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