Millbrae plans for Japanese garden

The garden, which has been in the works for years, will represent a recognition of Millbrae’s 20-year friendship relationship with Hanyu, Community Development Director Andrew Mogensen said.

“That’s been an important relationship we've had for a long time — the cultural exchanges, similarities between these communities,” he said.

An original design for the garden, which was set to offer water features and additional infrastructure, had an estimated cost of $3.5 million, Mogensen said. To make the project more cost effective, the water feature was removed and the project’s boundaries were shrunk.

Building out the remainder of the project site, which is located near the southwest corner of Millbrae and Magnolia avenues, could be identified as a future phase of the project, Mogensen said.

One Millbrae resident, Marian Kong, spoke at public comment to suggest that the garden honor Millbrae’s diversity and relationships with other cultures in a broader way.

“Open up the scope of this thing — don’t make a rushed decision,” she said. “This is half of the site that we are proposing here only dedicated to one ethnic group, one nation.”

Though the City Council unanimously decided to move forward with the project as is, Councilmember Bob Nguyen suggested that the sites’ next phase could potentially be a place for conversation around incorporating other cultures into the design.

“We can potentially include other zones to showcase the inclusiveness without necessarily taking away character from the Japanese gardens,” he said.

The project is far from total completion, Mayor Anders Fung emphasized.

“This is not done by any means or stretch of the imagination, in terms of how we want it to celebrate and be inclusive of all the cultures Millbrae has to offer,” he said.