Redwood Shores gathers input for life science plans

The site would include 13 office structures, a 104-room hotel and a 46,000-square-foot amenities center including a conference and meeting center, food hall and outdoor terrace and three parking structures distributed across the campus. In addition to funding levee improvements along Redwood Shores, other project commitments are an $85 million investment into affordable housing and a $2 million investment into child care. The public benefits package is valued at around $385 million. 

“We’re very pro-housing as a city overall and we’ve given up a lot of commercial and industrial land to build housing and this is an area where some intensification might be possible,” Community Development Director Jeff Schwob said. “We want the highest and best outcome with what resources are available.” 

In July 2023, the City Council initiated a process to prepare a Precise Plan and Environmental Impact Report, conduct community engagement and analyze benefits that have been offered as part of the proposed Redwood LIFE project. 

This process will consider the repeal of the existing Westport Specific Plan, a 60-page study document originally adopted in 1985 that laid out how the existing campus could be built while taking into account environmental factors and the nearby residences.

City staff is currently gathering community input to bring to staff and third-party consultants to come up with a preferred project alternative to be considered alongside the original Longfellow proposal in front of the council. Schwob said Longfellow is financing the technical studies and community engagement efforts.

“It’s not option one, two or three, but as we take a look at different options, we get your feedback and we take that and incorporate it back into a preferred version of the project,” Schwob said.

A preferred version may include variation on how tall the buildings may be, where they’re placed, or how they get constructed on a former landfill, for example, and hopes to keep the community and city’s best interests in mind. 

The community workshop held Wednesday to gather input showed a maintained level of concern from residents who have regularly come out against the proposal. Aside from the mass of the project, which many residents said will loom over their homes and create shadows, opponents have also argued 25-year construction timeline would be greatly disruptive to their lives, new employees will increase traffic, and the benefits offered don’t particularly benefit the neighborhood residents. 

Brigitte and Earl Aiken, the couple behind the Stop Redwood LIFE campaign, said they were frustrated at the community workshop because they felt they were repeating themselves after raising these concerns for over two years. 

“I think the City Council, they know exactly why we oppose this plan,” Brigitte Aiken said. “Why do they waste the time asking us again and again?” 

Earl Aiken also said he was concerned “there is no provision for input from the community while the staff is designing the plans.” 

Schwob said the workshop Wednesday is the first step in this input gathering process. Other workshops, stakeholder meetings and focus groups will be conducted throughout the coming project tasks as staff works on the Precise Plan and Environmental Impact Review drafts. 

“You don’t usually have the community designing a plan, they just usually have to react, because that’s the expertise of staff,” Schwob said. “As we’ve gone through this interactive process, all we’ve heard is that they want to provide input on the plan. They influence that plan by participating ahead of time and providing feedback now.” 

The alternative proposal is to be presented back to the community for feedback this fall. Once this alternative is approved by the Planning Commission and City Council, a draft Precise Plan and Environmental Impact Review will be made for each proposal and is planned to be decided upon by the end of 2025.