Neighborhood concerns over Hillsdale project arise

Members of the Beresford Hillsdale Neighborhood Association sent a list of concerns to the city about the project, highlighting some of them during a neighborhood meeting April 15.

“Even if 50% take the train, which I think that is unrealistic …. the other, say, 10,000 of those people are on those arteries to [Highway] 101 and [State Route] 92,” said Lisa Taner, board member of the neighborhood association. “These are the serious concerns that residents have, and I don't know that the city is prepared for this onslaught.”

While some concerns, such as sewage capacity, have been addressed by the city, she still feels the current plans call for too much commercial space, “increasing the jobs-to-housing imbalance.”

“Sure, they are putting some housing in there, but when you're putting in that much office space, you’re continuing that imbalance,” she said. 

David Bohannon, president of Bohannon Properties, which owns the site, said the location is one of the best possible locations to put office space. 

“This is where you can put office and probably have the least impact. If you put it somewhere that is more remote from the train, then you are demanding more people drive to that location,” he said, adding that the current site currently doesn’t have any housing units. 

Other concerns related to traffic and road infrastructure surfaced, especially along El Camino Real and State Route 92, both managed by Caltrans. The project will also trigger a number of impact fees — additional costs paid by developers to help fund city programs or infrastructure projects. But due to Senate Bill 330, under which the pre-application was filed, developers can “lock in” such fees at the time of submission, another concern some residents raised.

Community Development Director Zach Dahl said the legislation freezes the formula of the impact fee structure but not the dollar amount. And the city doesn’t have a jobs-to-housing imbalance.

“San Mateo itself doesn't have a job-housing imbalance. We've definitely got a housing affordability challenge … but the city itself is reasonably balanced,” he said. 

He said the ratio right now is just over a 1:1 ratio, which is in the range of  generally healthy ratios, usually considered anywhere between 1:1 and 1:1.5. 

He also added that a traffic impact analysis would be done as part of the environmental review process, which would either be led by the developer or city, but would still be peer reviewed. 

Beresford resident Lisa Maley said she still doesn’t feel that the amount of office development is necessary, citing places like Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco, which has substantial retail and housing in the area. 

“I think this is out of place near a suburban neighborhood. It’s basically a biotech campus with a little bit of housing,” Maley said. “How is it that Stonestown is making it work with a lot more retail with housing?”

Bohannon said the Stonestown location is different, given it is not an employment center and underutilized parking lots were able to be converted to housing. He added that, to make housing and retail uses financially viable, there also needs to be office space to make the project pencil. 

“In order to have a vibrant place with strong retail shops and restaurants that people love, we need a strong mix of both day and nighttime population … so office and residential,” he said.  “As a financial endeavor, [building residential housing] is more difficult, and office does help contribute to the financial viability of the project.”