Measure T passes, Fernandez wins in San Mateo

“I’m proud that I get to be the first directly-elected representative for District 2, which has traditionally been an under-resourced community,” said Fernandez, who works for state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park.

Danielle Cwirko-Godycki ran unopposed and will replace Councilmember Rich Hedges for the District 4 seat, which includes Shoreview, Lakeshore and Mariner’s Island neighborhoods. Hedges was appointed for a citywide vacancy when Diane Papan was elected to the state Assembly and decided not to seek reelection and instead endorsed Cwirko-Godycki. 

“I feel very excited to serve,” Cwirko-Godycki said. “For District 4, I look forward to continuing our efforts to get the Marina Lagoon dredged, making sure there’s a lot of infrastructure improvements, especially around roadways. I’m excited to work with the community and help where I can.”

Both candidates Fernandez and Cwirko-Godycki supported Measure T, which will allow higher height and density limits in 10 areas throughout the city, including those near Caltrain stations and El Camino Real. Within certain parts of those areas, residential or mixed-use buildings could have height limits up to eight stories, which could increase to 10 stories, depending on whether state density bonus laws apply. The change is an update to Measure Y, which passed in 2020, and imposes five-story height limits in most parts of the city — though they could reach seven to nine stories, if certain community benefits are provided or via state density bonus laws. 

The effort originated largely from the Department of Housing and Community Development’s stricter oversight and increased requirements for cities’ housing goals, or Regional Housing Needs Allocation, in response to the state’s affordability crisis. San Mateo must plan for a little over 7,000 new housing units for the 2023-31 RHNA cycle.

But to comply with the higher mandates during the 2023-31 cycle and beyond, many housing advocates, as well as the City Council, have said that it needs to build higher and therefore amend Measure Y.

“We felt there was an understanding that, number one, we needed affordable housing, whether it was for people who wanted to age in place, whether it was for young people who wanted to come back, for police officers, for firefighters … we needed to find a smart way to build affordable housing,” Mayor Lisa Diaz Nash said. “Nobody got everything they wanted, but we got a compromise that I hope we can all live with.”

Measure T opponents have said the effort ignores what voters already expressed only a few years ago via Measure Y, arguing that city leaders should be more loyal to their constituents, rather than HCD, which has gradually chipped away at jurisdictions’ control over their planning and growth policies. San Mateo resident Michael Weinhauer, who was part of Measure T’s formal opposition submitted to the county’s Elections Office, has previously said the city could better achieve its housing goals if it didn’t allow so much commercial development in many areas that are zoned for mixed-use development.

If voters did not pass Measure T, the city would have had six months to develop a new plan on where to reallocate the remaining RHNA figures, which include over 700 affordable units.

“With this campaign I had a lot of support on both sides of the ‘housing divide,’” Fernandez said. “There has been a lot of personality politics at play, so I’m excited to get beyond that and work on issues that will benefit all residents.”