The focus on east San Carlos continues as officials look to plan for further growth while also accommodating traffic concerns in residential neighborhoods that will likely be affected by the new commercial development.
During Monday’s meeting, councilmembers unanimously approved a $1.5 million contract with Perkins&Will for consulting services on the city’s Northeast Area Specific Plan. The firm has already played a role in helping the city prepare for commercial growth after recently helping draft the city’s East Side Innovation District Specific Plan.
About 2 million square feet of new commercial space is coming to the city, most of which is made up by life science proposals. In preparing for that growth, San Carlos residents have regularly voiced concerns about the effect that new development will have on both traffic and housing.
“The very key objectives are to explore the introduction of housing and to really set new land uses in the area looking at what both exist today and what we would like to incorporate into the future,” Planning Manager Lisa Porras said.
Through the support of Perkins&Will — and its team of experts, pulled together from other firms to advise the strategic plan process — community members will get to share their input through workshops, surveys and on a website where communication will regularly be published.
The new strategic plan process could take up to two years but councilmembers encouraged staff to complete the plan earlier given that an emergency ordinance pausing the review process for project proposals is set to expire early 2024.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get the project completed and ready for adoption before then but I think we just like to acknowledge that this is a huge project and there’s a lot of moving pieces,” City Manager Jeff Maltbie said.
While this process is moving forward, staff is also pursuing traffic mitigation measures in the Greater East Side Neighborhood, the residential part of the town most affected by the new commercial proposals.
The city’s former Transportation and Circulation Commission initially began reviewing the issue two years ago, Public Works Director Steve Machida said. And after conducting public outreach and hosting internal meetings, staff has proposed the city implement its slow streets program along select roads in the neighborhood.
Under the proposal, pylons and signs indicating only local traffic is allowed would be placed at eight intersections along Old County and Industrial roads at McCue Avenue, Cherry, Montgomery, and Hall streets.
Business owners, on the other hand, shared concerns that the measures would increase traffic along already busy roads where industrial shops have existed for years and large trucks frequently make stops.
Dimitri Vandellos, president of the Greater East San Carlos Neighborhood Association, and neighborhood residents shared support for the pilot program, which they said would be a good first step in mitigating existing and future cut-through traffic.
“We’re all going to have to put our heads together as a community to figure out how to best ameliorate and mitigate those issues,” Vandellos said. “We think this is a good first step to see how things work.”
Machida acknowledged that of the four traffic mitigation goals identified through community outreach — reducing cut-through traffic, slowing traffic, increasing safety and ensuring changes do not disproportionately impact other parts of the neighborhood — staff was least confident about achieving the last goal.
Additional studies are underway to better understand the layout of traffic and what adjustments may be needed. Machida said staff plans to conduct a traffic circulation study after implementing the slow streets program to assess its effect in the area and a larger transportation study is being conducted over the greater eastside.
A formal decision on the proposal will be made at a later date but councilmembers shared support for the pilot program overall while also requesting additional data.
“I think a pilot is just that, a pilot. We can see how things go,” Mayor Sara McDowell said. “I look forward to hearing back from staff on moving this forward.”
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