More talk for San Mateo’s General Plan

Officials and residents have in the last year weighed in on a vision statement expected to outline a set of city values stemming from community feedback. In recent months, they have also provided feedback on parts of the city they were interested in studying for potential land use changes or preservation at community workshops and public hearings as well as an online survey open for more than four weeks in June and July, according to the report.

Among the areas the 75 people who attended the workshops and 193 participants who weighed in online — among others who attended public hearings — hoped to see studied further were the El Camino Real corridor, the city’s three Caltrain stations and aging office parks and shopping centers, such as the Bridgepointe Shopping Center.

At the Planning Commission’s July 23 meeting, officials recommended the City Council consider 11 proposed study areas with expanded boundaries around El Camino Real and the city’s train stations, among other recommendations, and largely agreed officials and residents should include other single-family neighborhoods throughout the city for future land use alternatives as the General Plan update process takes shape. Concerns about the implications of including the North Central neighborhood as a study area and whether enough of the city’s diverse population had been reached for input also surfaced at the commission’s meeting.

As the City Council sets its sights on providing guidance for the 11 study areas Monday, Evelyn Stivers, executive director of Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, hoped they would also consider investing more time in understanding the city’s need for more housing units. Having attended the July 23 Planning Commission meeting, Stivers voiced concerns about the 8,000 to 12,000 units city staff estimated, based on projections provided by the Association of Bay Area Governments, the city would need to build in the next 20 years to keep pace with its expected jobs and population growth. She felt the figure understated the city’s need for housing by not accounting for the housing shortfall experienced by residents in recent years.

Stivers said the Housing Leadership Council used data compiled by the firm Woods & Poole Economics to prepare a report estimating the city would need to build 23,900 to 25,300 housing units by 2040 to address the population and job growth expected in the city and account for the housing shortfall residents and workers are currently facing.

Stivers acknowledged the city’s estimates follow the same approach many other jurisdictions take when it comes to projecting housing needs, but urged officials to consider studying the need more deeply to ensure projections take into account unmet needs and data points that may be missed in traditional approaches, such as those working in the gig economy. By carefully considering how many units the city will need in the future, Stivers hoped officials could avoid a housing shortfall in the future.

“We want to provide the case for the city to be ambitious and we want to create an atmosphere where the city feels they can do what’s right,” she said.

Councilman Joe Goethals said he had yet to study how the Housing Leadership Council estimated how many homes would be needed in the city, but emphasized the reality that the number of homes built in cities across the region has not kept pace with the number of jobs that have been created. By including transit corridors among the study areas, Goethals hoped officials could work toward focusing the intensity of growth on those areas and help facilitate living on the Peninsula without a car.

“If we really want to do something about traffic, we have to support people who want to live without a car,” he said, noting Caltrain and buses are the main modes of transportation officials should focus on to support those residents. “That’s the only way we are going to survive based on the amount of growth.”

Mayor Diane Papan was open to reviewing the estimates the Housing Leadership Council prepared and looked forward discussing the proposed study areas, which she noted are the product of much input and discussion.

“I’m pleased that we’re drilling down a little bit on different areas,” she said. “Let’s see what happens.”

In other business, the council will discuss whether to continue negotiating a possible donation of two parcels with a 7,000-square-foot home and grounds including a koi pond and several mature trees with the property’s owner. One of the parcels is located in Hillsborough and the other, which primarily includes landscaped grounds, is situated in San Mateo. The property’s owner Thelma Lilienthal has offered to transfer the property to the city with a stipulation that it is maintained and made available for public use. Possible renovations, rezoning and annexing one of the parcels to San Mateo are among the factors to be weighed by officials if they voice support for continue exploring the possibility. The property could be used as a venue for conferences, retreats and weddings, among other events, according to a staff report.

The council meets 7 p.m. Aug. 19 at City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave. Visit strivesanmateo.org for more information on San Mateo’s 2040 General Plan update process.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Note to readers: In a previous version of this story, it was stated that the Housing Leadership Council worked with the firm Woods & Poole Economics to write a report about the housing needs in San Mateo. It has since been confirmed that the Housing Leadership Council used data compiled by Woods & Poole Economics.