Officials envision a ‘transit village’ for Redwood City

About 16 acres of land in Redwood City’s downtown is up for redevelopment, including the Sequoia Station Shopping Center and Caltrain’s Transit Center and parking lot which is slated to be moved slightly north as the agency eyes building a four-track transit hub.

To prepare for the land use changes, councilmembers opted to form a Transit District in 2019 and to do so, staff has proposed a series of amendments to the city’s Downtown Precise Plan and General Plan.

Given that the DTPP’s housing and office space capacity limits have already been met, staff has suggested studying increasing development allowances in the Transit District by 1,100 residential units and 1.63 million square feet of office space. Lowe, a private real estate company, submitted a proposal to the city to redevelop 12 acres of the district with 1.23 million square feet of office space, 166,600 square feet of retail space and up to 631 housing units, 254 of which would be below market rate.

Staff argued the additional housing units would greatly help the city meet its goal of building 6,880 units in the next eight years as part of the state mandated Housing Element process. But members of both bodies and public speakers raised concerns the additional office space would only exacerbate the city’s jobs housing balance, especially after more than a million square feet of office and retail space has already been proposed in the city as part of its Gatekeeper Process.

According to quick calculations from Planning Commission Vice Chair Rick Hunter, 1.6 million square feet of office space could bring about 8,000 jobs into the district, resulting in a housing-jobs ratio of about one to seven.

“I strongly support the idea of mixed uses in the downtown but one of the priorities of a major land use change should be this — don’t make the jobs-housing balance worse. And the proposed development, I’m sorry to say, does just that,” said Hunter, noting the original DPTT called for only 500,000 square feet of office space and a one-to-one ratio for housing.

Tanakatsubo shed doubt all new office employees would live in Redwood City but shared concerns for the balance and said the city should expand the amount of housing permitted in the area, giving developers the opportunity to decide whether the projects would pencil out. He also said the area should feel more cohesive between blocks, functioning like a transit village where businesses in the area are supported by locals in the morning and evenings while workers who travel into the city sustain the businesses during the day.

Among other changes being proposed would be circulation improvements, reduction in parking requirements for new developments to “right size” parking and encourage shared parking, adding contemporary architectural designs to the list of permitted styles in the area and prioritizing open and active space by narrowing streets, reducing front-facing building heights and lining the ground floor with retail and restaurant shops.

Commissioners and committee members were largely in support of the design changes and reducing parking requirements with many arguing for doing away with minimum parking requirements altogether.

Planning Commissioner Isabella Chu said the move would not end parking as a whole but would instead allow developers to decide the best number of parking spots for their projects which they are financially incentivized to get it right.

Changes to traffic circulation in favor of creating safer paths for pedestrians and cyclists also gained strong support. Current staff suggestions include adding protected bike lanes on El Camino Real and James Street and improved crossings between the two streets.

Board members again encouraged staff to go even further with proposed circulation changes by closing Franklin Street to vehicles completely and turning it into a bike and pedestrian boulevard.

“If you have to share a street with cars and they’re able to move fast, it’s just like being at the nonsmoking table right next to the smokers. You are still exposed to the full blast of the noise, the exhaust and the risk of being hit and hurt,” Chu said. “So as much as we possibly can, let’s separate cars from people and give people safe spaces to walk and bike.”

As for open space and the feel of the new elevated transit station, the officials requested the design feel airy and pointed to Millbrae’s transit center as something they did not want, with Planning Commissioner Filip Crnogorac describing it as a “large concrete, dark, uninviting place.”

Principal Planner Lindy Chan said Caltrain officials are working closely with the city on the station design which will be reviewed separately from the Transit District changes. Work on the subsequent environmental impact report for the General Plan and DTPP amendments is expected to be complete this spring, allowing public feedback on the document before a final draft is reviewed by the Planning Commission and council later this fall.

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