Burlingame scopes new neighborhood details

The City Council was presented with an overview of the plan at its meeting Monday, Dec. 5, with concerns about how to best obtain those ambitious goals through stricter rules for developers who will fill in the plan with actual buildings and amenities.

Planning Commissioner Jennifer Pfaff, who spoke on her own behalf during meeting, said the city is already seeing ways developers are skirting around community benefit requirements.

“The Planning Commission just approved a project that is 49,000 square feet and it’s a nice little trick to keep costs down,” Pfaff said, who wants to explore a sliding scale for community benefits so developers can’t work around them to avoid extra costs.

The Rollins Road area plan requires developments of 50,000 square feet or greater requires a community benefit that could be a paseo, large public plaza, cultural art space, off-site streetscape improvement or a public park and needs to be a minimum of 1,500 square feet, according to the staff report.

Much like Pfaff, Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg said he is worried the city, which is primarily using incentives to nudge developers, might not get the neighborhood for which they are aiming. And he said he wants some assurance that the city will have a neighborhood that feels like a community in the next 10 years.

John Moreland, director of Community Planning for Rincon Consultants, which is working with the city on the plan, believes a solution could mean the city provides stricter minimums and incentives to prospective developers to help implement the neighborhood vision.

Public spaces are easier to implement as a requirement for a developer but amenities such as a grocery store will be a long process. That is when an incentive can help align developers and landowners with the city’s vision, Moreland said.

The city has already approved multiple projects in the area. They include a 265-unit building at 1 and 45 Adrian Court, a 298-unit building at 30 Ingold Road and a five-story building, 420-unit apartment building at 1855 to 1881 Rollins Road. But city officials still need to iron out details to ensure the neighborhood, which is isolated from the west side by the train tracks, has a sense of connectivity to the rest of the city.

Councilmember Emily Beach questioned if the bike plan for the area aligns with the city’s $30 million bike and pedestrian master plan, which is 33 miles of new and improved bike paths.

But Community Development Director Kevin Gardiner said previous plans for a two-way cycle track, which would be located on one side of the road, were changed to one-way paths on both sides of Rollins Road. It will align better with the city’s bike and pedestrian plan and ultimately connect to Millbrae’s plan for a cycle track that will make crossing Millbrae Avenue safer.

Over recent years, the Burlingame School District’s enrollment numbers have fallen, which creates more capacity for future residents. However, Gardiner said access to schools from the Rollins Road area is more of a concern than enrollment because the district doesn’t have school buses. It could also become a challenge for some students to get to their school because the Rollins Road area is isolated from the rest of the city.

Additionally, city officials need to figure out their stance on large child care facilities for the area. Because Rollins Road is near the airport, the city is restricted from building large child care facilities, theaters or schools in the area. Additionally, hazardous materials, generally found in life science buildings are also prohibited in the area. However, Gardiner said that the specific plan isn’t promoting those types of businesses there. But if the city finds it necessary it can override the airport’s land use restrictions. But doing so relieves the airport of any responsibility in the case of an airport-related accident.

The city is also working through the details for the parking policies in the area due to a state law that requires developments near transit areas to have reduced parking spaces. Gardiner said the city plans on having more details worked out in its next update.