Millbrae plans for future development

“This 24-year-old document is the one that we turn to every day for our land use decisions and our blueprint for growth and that … is a problem,” said Darcy Smith, the city’s Community Development director. “The ‘90s, they were a very different era.”

The plan could spell a significant increase in population for the city of just more than 22,000 people, which has added less than 2,000 residents since 1970. According to the plan, increased residential density along the El Camino Real corridor, in downtown and around the train station is slated to satisfy state housing goals, which will require the city to permit 2,199 units of housing between 2023 and 2031.

Economic development would be encouraged by optimizing for growth in life sciences, retail, local services and other technology sectors with a goal of adding high-paying jobs and increasing the tax base.

In preserving single-family neighborhood character, the city will work to ensure remodels and additions are “compatible” with surrounding architecture and design, according to the plan. Those standards could vary neighborhood by neighborhood given different aesthetics, and are something the city will establish at a later date. State law increasingly requires standards be objective to streamline the approval process, something noted as posing a challenge when working to preserve character. 

City councilmembers and members of the Planning Commission provided comments to planning staff this week to help guide the update process. Councilmembers highlighted the need for parking to accommodate new development, specifically to prevent spillover into lower density residential neighborhoods. Recommendations were also made to clarify certain aspects of the plan to make it easier to understand. 

Councilmember Anders Fung noted the challenge associated with preserving the town’s character while also accommodating new residents and their desires for the city. 

“Millbrae has been well known for our residential neighborhoods,” he said. “But as we look forward to our next generation of residents coming in, what would they like to see, what would they be proud to call Millbrae their home?”

Planning Commissioner Alan Wong recommended looking into developing low-lying land west of Highway 101, marked as open space or parks in the plan. He noted many neighboring cities have developed similar land to accommodate commercial or industrial uses.

“We’re in 2022 now, and there’s high tech, there’s biotech, and we don’t have a lot of this because we haven’t been able to utilize that land,” he said “These are billion dollar properties right there, that’s a lot of land to go underutilized.” 

The City Council will next meet Feb. 15 for further discussion.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200, ext. 105