Planners OK apartments to replace El Rancho Inn

The city’s Planning Commission Monday, in a split vote and following a three and half hour discussion, granted necessary approvals.

“It’s been a few years of good hard effort by everybody,” said Andy Davidson, a representative of Anton Devco, the developer of the site. “We’re looking forward to taking the real estate and bringing it to the highest and best possible use.”

The five-story, 397,000-square-foot building will include 19 below-market-rate units, deed restricted to those earning 50% or less of the county’s median income. An attached parking structure will provide 560 spots and another 72 bicycle parking spots will be included onsite.

The structure will wrap around various amenities for residents, including a pool, dog park and bike workshop. Modern Spanish architecture, characterized by tile roofing, stucco walls, arches and mosaic details will be reminiscent of the existing hotel and other nearby buildings.

The El Rancho Inn, built in the 1950s, has long been a landmark within the area, its underground pool bar featured in the 1983 film “The Right Stuff.” But with the building aging and demand for the rooms declining, the inn’s owners in 2015 began seeking a new use for the land. An analysis of the project determined the site was not eligible to be added to the state’s historic building registry

The new development is also planned to include a hotel, to occupy 1.2 acres of the 6.7-acre lot, likely with 200 rooms. Those plans, however, have yet to be finalized and will require later approval.

While the city had previously sought several changes from the project and raised concerns surrounding loss of revenue from the existing hotel, the sticking point became whether a zoning change of the site and additional fees, both passed by the city prior to the project’s application submission, were allowed under state law.

The zoning change and fees would have cost the developer more than $18 million — a sum cut in half as a result of a settlement reached in the San Mateo County Superior Court.

Commissioners Christopher Del Nagro and Alan Wong, who provided this week’s dissenting votes, raised concerns related to how the building’s garbage would be handled and traffic impacts, requesting changes be made to prevent trash bins from needing to be picked up on the street in addition to adding more vehicle entry and exit points into the development to avoid bottlenecks. Del Nagro said the “less-advantaged” adjacent Marina Vista neighborhood and a nearby nursery school would be negatively impacted by the development.

“I wouldn’t want to daily drive past these bins, I wouldn’t want to have to see them outside of a nursery school my child’s going to, and I think the claim that there’s no substantial impact on local traffic is absolutely hogwash,” he said.

Michael Conneran, the city’s assistant city attorney, pointed out the project’s traffic impact study had found a “less-than-significant” level of impact, and Commissioner Catherine Quigg said trash collection would be appropriately handled by property management, and related concerns should not be grounds to delay the project.

“No matter what goes in there you’re going to have the same issue, whether it’s this development or another development,” she said.

The commissioners ultimately approved the project’s environmental impact analysis with a unanimous vote, and approved the design review permit application with a 3-2 vote. The action is still appealable to the City Council within 10 days of the commissions March 7 decision.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200, ext. 105