Foster City officials set top policy priorities

The City Council wants to look at potential programming and financing options for construction and operation at the William E. Walker Recreation Center. Foster City in August 2019 held off on picking a funding plan for the center that would have cost $40 million due to costs related to the levee project. The center is more than 50 years old and in need of significant repairs, according to the city.

For the Mariners Point Golf Center, the city will explore highest and best use options as well as preliminary concept plans for mixed use at the location, along with a market feasibility study and a public visioning process to get input from the community.

Developing legal policies to meet and manage the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, also remains a priority. RHNA is a housing allocation quota determining how many housing units each city should build in an eight-year-cycle from the Association of Bay Area Governments. Foster City officials have expressed concern about how it will meet its numbers of 2,028 housing units in its 2023-2031 RHNA cycle, a 471% increase from the previous cycle. The city is worried that a lack of non-vacant residential land and the non-vacant commercial and industrial land could make it hard to meet its numbers.

Another top priority is government modernization, involving improving city tools for better citizen interaction, including a better agenda planning and public presentation process, more citizen engagement tools and finding ways to get more complete citizen feedback instead of one-way Zoom meetings.

The two final top priorities are a parks master plan and traffic improvements. A parks master plan would look at a policy regarding locations of amenities within a park, type of play equipment and accessibility, while city staff will study traffic patterns and identifying strategies to improve mobility and reduce traffic.

Advancing City Council priorities with an aggressive plan remains a focus, but many of the priorities are multi-year projects requiring public participation and additional City Council direction, creating a delicate balance, Pirnejad said.

The top priorities were picked from approximately 80 projects and initiatives aggregated into a list for City Council consideration in six value/priority areas. The six priority areas included facilities and infrastructure, smart planning, community engagement, innovation, public safety and staff environment.

The Feb. 10 meeting also discussed efficient ways to discuss and prepare city business through subcommittees, ad hoc committees and study sessions, along with the importance of good relationships with city staff.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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