Neighborhood says city is getting worse

"What it's saying is people don't want to live in an urban city. They don't want to live in a high density area," said Mike Germano, president of the association.

The association represents about 1,300 households from State Route 92 to the Belmont border and El Camino Real westward. Most of the residents have lived in the city for at least 20 years. Of the 40 people anonymously surveyed at the board meeting, 26 said San Mateo was worse than it was in 1993 and 21 people said it was worse that it was in 1983. The same number expects it to get worse in the next decade.

Residents feel frustrated by what they perceive as the city's push to get higher-density buildings in San Mateo. At recent San Mateo workshops, councilmembers seemed to be campaigning for higher buildings limits which are currently capped by the Measure H, an initiate passed in 1991, said Germano.

Measure H limits building heights to 55 feet in most areas with some provision for buildings reaching 75 feet. It also has a provision for affordable housing in any developments with more than 10 units. The measure expires in December 2005 and the city will have to decide soon whether to renew it and if they want to make any changes to it.

Of the 40 people surveyed, 39 approve of Measure H as it stands now and the majority of the people agree it should continue to provide for 10 percent of all new housing units as below market rate housing. Twelve said it should provide more than 10 percent.

Germano said he was most interested in the comments left by residents. Comments took aim at empty downtown retail space, traffic, speeding and developers. One comment even called for the replacement of all councilmembers.

The homeowners associations has been fighting a proposed development at Bay Meadows race track that includes 2.1 million square feet of offices, 1,500 residential units, 100,000 square feet of retail uses and 15 acres of open space.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.