Incumbents face off in Belmont for a seat in District 4

Both Hurt and McCune discussed their positions and plans for some of the city’s biggest challenges and initiatives.

Belmont-Stanford University development agreement

Stanford University entered into an option-to-purchase agreement with Belmont’s Notre Dame de Namur University several years ago, and it has been partnering with the city on developing a special zoning district to allow for a range of uses, such as academic buildings and housing facilities.

While the specific building and construction details are yet to be determined, Stanford is proposing about 50 to 200 housing units on the 46-acre site — for students as well as university employees — among other changes.

Both candidates are generally supportive of the plan and the positive impacts it will have on residents, but noted that mitigating traffic congestion is top of mind for many residents.

McCune said loose ends remain with Stanford’s traffic mitigation plan, and the specifics on how they will minimize the number of people on campus — despite expanded development — needs to be better outlined. But he said that other examples, such as Crystal Springs Uplands School’s traffic demand management program, could be useful references.

“They run their own fleet of vans, they require parents to carpool, they have an instrument that senses the number of car trips in and out every day, they give us an annual report, and they have managed to hold their car trips per day to less than what they committed to in their permit,” McCune said. “Those are all things that need to be factored into the NDNU/Stanford plan.”

Hurt also emphasized that residents are wary of the traffic impacts and added that a 30-year agreement necessitates strong negotiation with the university throughout the entire process, focusing especially on how it will benefit the Belmont community as a whole.

“We have got to get the community benefits package right on this. That includes the transportation demand management, and it also includes, ‘How you are going to help with the community center?’” she said, referring to the Barrett Community Center, a 75-year-old building in need of extensive repairs and possible expansion of services.

Parks and recreation, open space and sports league access

Limited sports field access is top of mind for many leagues, especially youth sports. It’s become a key issue in the District 2 race between Ken Loo and Cathy Jordan. It is even the stated main motivation for Loo’s campaign, he said.

And tensions between bikers and environmental activists have escalated in several parks and open spaces for years, including at Waterdog Lake Open Space. Several residents are now suing the city over its plans, which some of them say is too favorable to bikers and disrupts the area’s wildlife.

McCune said he was generally supportive of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, which lays out the plans and strategies for Belmont’s parks and environmental sustainability commitments and was adopted by the council. But he still feels there is more the city can do to ensure its parks and open spaces adequately serve the needs of all residents. He said he would be in favor of studying pedestrian-only trails in some parks, limiting bike speeds on certain trails or even setting aside certain areas as a true nature preserve.

He also added that much of the rules in place are adequate, but enforcement can be lackluster.

“I think we ought to have a part-time park ranger function to enforce the rules that we have on the books that aren’t always enforced,” McCune said, adding that a park near the Plateau-Skymont neighborhood has also been a longtime desire of the area’s residents.

Hurt said that accommodating all sports leagues is an ongoing challenge, but between infrastructure improvements and the PROS and Twin Pines Park master plans, the city is making progress.

“There are a lot of different sports, and we have to figure out a way to manage with what we have … we need to talk with our neighbors,” she said. “How can we also help with the different park spaces and share that time with all of our residents and neighbors? We have tried to be fair splitting that time amongst many different groups, but it is a challenge.”

Electric reach codes

Hurt said the devastating impacts of climate change require strong, swift action, adding that the city can invest more heavily in charging infrastructure and incentivizing electrical appliances and vehicles. Peninsula Clean Energy, a public electricity provider throughout the county, will start offering programs for low-income households, she said, and prioritizing the switch to electric will be essential as mandates and funding become a reality at the federal and state levels.

“It’s going to come in a couple years, if not a year. We’ve got [Inflation Reduction Act] money. We need to be at the front to get those monies to make those changes, and I’m excited about that change,” she said.

As someone who has designed solar and passive-energy houses, McCune said he wants to work toward an all-electric future but is also realistic about the constraints some of the reach codes present, not just financially but also logistically.

“We can’t do it overnight, and the way to get there is not through a series of uncoordinated, small city-by-city ordinances,” he said, adding that he knows people who have paid $25,000 to $30,000 to electrify their homes. “The people I know who have done it can sit down and write a check for that without giving it a second thought, but not everyone is in the same bucket. We need some phased transition time to get there.”

Economic development

Belmont’s budget projections are relatively healthy this fiscal year compared with some neighboring cities, some of which are facing shortfalls and long-term structural deficits.

But elected officials and residents alike have also reinforced the need to prioritize more economic development initiatives and revenue-generating measures long term.

Hurt said she is in favor of the updated business license tax measure that will go before voters this November, as it will bolster a more healthy ecosystem of small businesses, both old and new. She added she’s interested in exploring “incentives for different industries, whether it’s streamlining and permitting or different tax ideas that we can bring to certain industries.”

McCune reiterated the city’s goal, as outlined in the general plan, to create a downtown area along Sixth Avenue, which will generate more sales and property tax from new retail stores and restaurants. He added that biotechnology developments, including those east of Highway 101, will remain strong economic drivers and that he’d also push for more housing developments to include retail on the ground floor of the buildings.

“A lot of the projects that have come through have lost that ground floor retail … but I think we need to stick with the idea of having retail on the ground floor because retail generates sales tax, and it can generate property tax,” he said.

Belmont has also had a long-standing plan to annex and redevelop the Harbor Industrial Area, a 62-acre unincorporated site situated west of Highway 101 and east of El Camino Real that mostly contains industrial businesses, as well as the Belmont Trailer Park. According to a recent staff report, about 3.9 million square feet of new commercial development is proposed in the area, on top of the current 1.3 million square feet of nonresidential use. About 325,000 square feet, or 303 units, of new residential use is proposed.

Both candidates said the HIA’s transformation will be a critical component of the city’s economic revitalization efforts, specifically as a commercial sector. Hurt said it is a prime opportunity to attract new industries and enhance the area’s infrastructure.

“We have great relationships with the county, we have been working a lot with San Carlos, and there are several future projects that are set in that space. I see that as an area that we can grow commercially,” she said. “And we have to foster public and private partnerships in this diversification.”

McCune said he is particularly looking forward to growing the biotechnology and research and development presence in the city and specifically in the Harbor Industrial Area, which he said will create jobs and diversify the economic base.

But he also said the annexation and redevelopment will boost resources and services for the mobile home community located in the area, which has suffered severe flooding over the years.

“Our police department and our fire department helps serve that area even though it’s not within city limits, so if we do annex it, I think we will be able to provide those same services and probably improve them and hopefully deal with a few specific issues, like flooding, in the mobile home park,” McCune said.

Both candidates said they feel comfortable with current plans to focus on commercial development in the HIA, as the city has adequately identified and is working toward building housing in other parts of the city, especially near major transit corridors.

The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.