Caltrain board adopts new affordable housing policy

The new rules are part of a transit-oriented development policy adopted by the railroad’s board of directors Thursday that also requires housing projects on Caltrain land to have a minimum density of 50 units per acre and a minimum height of four stories.  

While board members applauded the policy and hope it will encourage municipalities to do more to address the affordable housing shortage, they’ve continually noted the vast majority of Caltrain’s right of way is needed for future expansion of the railroad and is not suitable for residential development.

“We’re not going to build a heck of a lot of housing compared to BART, but every little bit helps,” Board Member Charles Stone, also a Belmont councilman, said at Thursday’s meeting. “We’re sending up a smoke signal, flag or whatever metaphor you want to use to cities that this is what we want to do along our corridor and this is what you should be thinking about doing too.”

Caltrain officials have identified two sites — the Redwood City and Mountain View stations — that they say are well suited for new development, with potential opportunities also in San Mateo, South San Francisco and elsewhere on the corridor. But most of those sites are small or irregularly shaped, making development on them especially challenging, officials have said, adding that in total, only about 5% or less of Caltrain land is developable. 

BART, by contrast, owns 28 developable sites and VTA owns more than 25 — all of which encompass 4-5 acres, according to Caltrain. Both agencies have a portfolio-wide goal of 35% affordable units in housing projects on their land but, for any one development, only 20% of units are required to be affordable. Caltrain does not have a portfolio-wide goal.   

Brian Fitzpatrick, manager of real estate and property, went on to list the many other challenges associating with developing Caltrain land, including the high cost of replacing parking and soil remediation for which the agency might be responsible. Caltrain also purchased much of the land it owns with significant contributions from the Federal Transit Administration, which would have say in what Caltrain does with those properties, Fitzpatrick added.

Housing advocates celebrated the newly adopted TOD policy, but wanted it to include a right of first refusal provision in which affordable housing developers are approached first when a development opportunity arises. The board did not adopt such a provision. 

“Generally [right of first refusal] doesn’t work very well for any of the parties,” said Executive Director Jim Hartnett. 

“Robust competition based on well-balanced and broad criteria is our best bet,” Fitzpatrick added. “[With right of first refusal] we create a situation where we may not get what we want in terms of our other criteria because we’re focused on one.”

Whether the policy should prohibit hotels on Caltrain land also came up during the meeting. Board members were split on the question and ultimately agreed to leave a hotel prohibition out of the policy for the time being, though Stone urged staff to bring back such a policy for future consideration.

“I’m opposed to including hotels as an allowable use,” he said. “No one’s been able to tell me my assumption that if you can build a hotel on a piece of land you can build housing on a piece of land is wrong. I think in the locations where we can build housing we really need to do that.”

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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