City Hall may become housing: Burlingame offering property in return for more housing, parking, new City Hall

Going forward, Goldman said the city is also considering issuing another request for proposals, which would allow companies to develop housing at the City Hall site, under the agreement that the builder would also construct a new City Hall on another city-owned parking lot elsewhere.

Goldman said even though neither project has progressed very far, Burlingame intends to develop more housing, parking and maybe build a new City Hall, with as little cost as possible to the city.

“We are looking for a public-private partnership that will enable us to have a City Hall, that will allow us to better serve the public, because that is our ultimate goal,” said Goldman.

City Hall is in dire need of renovation and seismic retrofitting, which could cost as much as $11.5 million, said Goldman. So city officials are considering whether it is worth sinking the cost into reworking an old building, or if it is a better plan to explore building a new site.

Councilman Michael Brownrigg said the city’s focus should be on developing a new City Hall, rather than renovating the existing site.

“Fundamentally, no one’s priority is rebuilding City Hall. It has significant maintenance, health and seismic issues,” he said.

Goldman said there has been asbestos found in City Hall walls, which further complicates any possible renovations to the building. There are also existing capacity concerns, and little available space for community gathering.

“City Hall is not a particularly useful building,” she said.

The plan to turn city-owned property into more housing and parking with little cost to the city is an ideal solution, said Brownrigg.

“It’s about getting social and public benefit, without paying for it, if we can,” he said.

Eight companies submitted proposals to develop the parking lots south of Howard Avenue into housing and more parking. Staff is analyzing those submissions and will come back to the City Council with the top offers, before selection. Goldman said there is not a set date for that discussion.

She also said that developers have already to begun to contact the city with interest in the City Hall project, but she said there will not be a formal request for proposals announced for a few more weeks.

Brownrigg said the city is open to considering creative options by developers, so long as housing and parking needs are addressed.

“We are looking to enhance the vitality of Burlingame,” he said.

The city’s financial footing has improved since the rebound of the economy, as the general fund has increased 8.5 percent since last year. But even the $4.3 million that city coffers grew by last year is not enough to address the long list of capital improvement projects that Burlingame is targeting, said Goldman.

Residents have expressed interest in refurbishing the Burlingame Recreation Center in Washington Park, but there is little financial flexibility to address such a project, she said.

Goldman said there is hope that should the city leverage its property into addressing community needs such as building more affordable housing, parking and a new City Hall with little cost to residents, voters might be willing to consider financing the construction of other infrastructure projects.

The city would likely need to ask voters to approve a new tax to build projects which would not be involved in the proposed land swaps, which Goldman acknowledged is more difficult.

“Tax measures are a challenge,” she said. “We will have to find the best way to move forward.”

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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