City OKs new Safeway

Countless public meetings, community input, environmental documents and scotched proposals ended with a new plan that nearly everyone could appreciate, and even like.

"This is a drastic improvement,” Councilwoman Ann Keighran said compared to the most recent proposal. "It’s definitely in a much more loving environment. This is due to a different process. And it may have taken a while, but I think it was definitely worth the wait to have a project that is going to be beneficial to this community.”

The grocery store at the prime downtown corner of Howard Avenue and El Camino Real will be joined by a separate mixed-use building, pedestrian walkways, many trees and a water fountain corner feature welcoming visitors to Howard Avenue. Monday’s approval means work can soon begin on the store with a 6,190-square-foot mezzanine sitting at 1420 to 1450 Howard Ave. Questions remained regarding the fountain at the entryway of Howard Avenue and El Camino Real, but the council decided to move the proposal forward with a little tweaking. Safeway officials previously said construction could begin within one week of receiving building permits.

The fountain was updated to include upward lighting, a quarried stone lower wall for sitting but also covered in vines to screen parking. Residents were aware of the effort put into the corner but still felt it did not match the area. One suggestion was to remove the fountain; another was simply to add more trees. Three large evergreen trees were proposed for behind the fountain already.

Vice Mayor Terry Nagel suggested putting the corner entryway to a smaller community group to be tweaked without holding up the larger project.

"This is a beginning of a big entryway,” she said.

Councilman Jerry Deal and Keighran felt the details had been vetted by so many, it was not worth spending an additional 120 days. Both were fine with moving a boulder commemorating the location of the historic DeAnza Camp into the fountain, rather than outside of it, as a compromise suggested previously by two residents.

Councilman Michael Brownrigg conceded there were three people willing to move forward so he removed his proposed condition of pulling the corner proposal for further review.

The project also includes a mixed-use building opposite Safeway with 12,428 square feet of retail on the ground floor and 5,460 square feet of retail above. The existing 6,554-square-foot Wells Fargo building will be refurbished. Pedestrian walkways will connect the site to the rest of downtown. Approval was also given for the mitigated negative declaration and conditional use permits for its height, 24-hour operation, the sale of alcoholic beverages and take-out services. The commission also signed off on rezoning the area.

Plans continued to get greener, a move Mayor Cathy Baylock praised.

Safeway Real Estate Manager Deb Karbo went over a number of areas that previously caused concern for the Planning Commission such as the corner of Howard Avenue and El Camino Real, changes to the trash enclosure, the back of the building and the rooftop parking area.

Now the trash enclosure has a roof, doors and ficus trees to add as a green screen. The same green screen, on a larger scale, was proposed for the back of the building against city parking lot K. Adding lilac vines to green screens down the center of the rooftop parking area was suggested as a way to break up the open area and add shade. Karbo warned the suggestion comes with the caveat that it is a last-minute proposal that can only be approved if it does not take away from the building’s structure and a watering method can be found. Other planters are self-watering.

Keighran asked that greenery be added to the loading dock. She did not specify what kind of foliage, although Karbo added it will most likely be ficus.

Resident Charles Voltz, who served on the Safeway Working Group, noted the marked difference between recent meetings regarding Safeway compared to those in 2004, where tension was heavily apparent. He applauded the community for getting to such a positive place and noted the success brings hope for other large projects to come.

Getting to this point really was a collaborative effort that took years to accomplish.

Plans to rebuild Safeway were first submitted in 1997 and met with concerns that it was not pedestrian friendly. A reworked plan — including a 50,000-square-foot grocery store, 12,000-square-foot Walgreens and three to four shops to be on the corner of Howard Avenue and Primrose Road — debuted the following year resulting in a petition against the proposal boasting over 900 signatures. Community meetings led to no resolution and Safeway eventually pulled the plans.

A new plan for a 66,900-square-foot combined Walgreens and Safeway emerged in 2001 but was rejected by the City Council in 2004. In 2007, Burlingame created the Safeway working group charged with creating design criteria for a new store tailored to the city. Many lauded the new process as the reason for what one resident described as last night’s "love fest.”

Timeline:

1997: Safeway submits plans to rebuild its aging store on Howard Avenue and El Camino Real and drops it because of community opposition.

March 1998: Plans are debuted to a selection of Burlingame officials at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

July 1998: Before plans are submitted to the city, a 900-person petition against the proposal is submitted to the City Council. The petition called the Safeway proposal overwhelming and misplaced.

August 1998: Safeway submits plans to the city, which are followed by a couple of community hearings before dying out. It was resubmitted in 2001.

March 2002: A plan to construct a new 69,747-square-foot Safeway with a Walgreens and Wells Fargo inside at the corner of Howard Avenue and El Camino Real in Burlingame is dismissed by nearly 50 residents at a Planning Commission study session.

April/May 2002: Public hearings on the proposed Safeway pushed back because of the "sheer volume” of community concern over the project’s size.

October 2002: A group of residents form Citizens for a Better Burlingame largely to fight the proposed project. The group asked for a smaller alternative to the large proposal they believed was "out of character” for the city.

April 2003: Safeway installs poles and orange netting at the project site to give residents a sense of the proposed building’s size and scale.

May 2003: The Burlingame Planning Commission denied the Safeway project 6-1, with Tim Auran as the only vote in favor. The commission’s overall sentiment was that the proposal was too large. It also rejected the environmental impact report because it was "incomplete.”

October 2003: After Safeway appealed the Planning Commission decision, the City Council sent the proposal back to the Planning Commission for review of supplements to the EIR. The decision was made just before a City Council election in which the new Safeway was a major topic.

November 2003: Terry Nagel wins a seat on the City Council, ousting Councilwoman Mary Janney, who was a proponent of the new store proposal. The election changed the dynamic of the council and eliminated the three-vote majority needed to approve the project.

February 2004: The City Council, on a 3-2 vote, rejected the Safeway proposal with prejudice, meaning it could not return for consideration for one year. Vice Mayor Joe Galligan and Councilman Mike Coffey voted in favor.

May 2004: Safeway donates $32,000 to help save crossing guard positions the city was considering cutting from its budget.

July 2004: The majority of the City Council said they would consider a new Safeway plan that included housing at the site. Safeway representatives also said they would consider it. Safeway representatives said later in the month a new proposal would be about the same as the previous one.

August 2004: Burlingame Mayor Rosalie O’Mahony proposed the timeline for the project’s return for consideration to six months.

November 2004: Burlingame architect Don Ianescu presented plans for a 67,000-square-foot mixed-use Safeway proposal that includes housing. Some applaud its creativity.

February 2005: Architect Martin Dreiling presents plans for a mixed-use site with three-story buildings. It would include a 42,000-square-foot grocery store surrounded with shops and with about 40 to 70 residences on upper floors.

April 2005: The city decides to study the economic possibilities of a new Safeway complex after the two unsolicited proposals.

Summer 2005: Coffey leaves the council and Galligan announces he will not run again in November.

November 2005: Russ Cohen takes Coffey’s two-year seat and Ann Keighran takes Galligan’s seat.

December 2006: During her state-of-the-city address, Mayor Terry Nagel announces that negotiations for a new Safeway will soon begin again.

February 2007: The "Burlingame Process” is announced seeking to include more public input.

September 2007: The first phase of the "Burlingame Process” ends and members of the stakeholder group begin the task of creating designs for a new store with an added component of mixed-use.

February 2008: Walgreens announces plans to move to 260 El Camino Real, where a Chevron gas station was left vacant.

December 2008/January 2009: The City Council hears an appeal of the Planning Commission denial of the new Walgreens site and overturns it.

February 2009: Safeway outlines vague plans to redevelop the site including the renovation of the Wells Fargo building on Primrose Road, pedestrian paths, rooftop parking, an enclosed loading dock, open space, retail around Primrose Road and offices on the second floor. Members of the stakeholder group express disappointment their suggestions were not included in the plans.

April 2009: Safeway unveils official plans for the site that boasted rooftop parking, 77,000 square feet of development and a roof garden. The store would be 44,982 square feet with a 6,865-square-foot mezzanine. The mixed-use building at the opposite corner is proposed to have 13,332 square feet of retail on the ground floor and 5,407 square feet of retail above. The existing Wells Fargo building will be refurbished with 6,554 square feet. Pedestrian paths are proposed to connect the site to downtown.

June 22, 2009: The Burlingame Planning Commission held its first study session on the new proposal.

Jan. 28, 2010: The Burlingame Planning Commission, after two additional public hearings, approved the Safeway proposal after adding a number of trees.

Feb. 1, 2010: Safeway plans get final approval from the Burlingame City Council.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.