Millbrae officials put their lasting stamp of approval on a transformational mixed-use project proposed adjacent to the city’s rail stop, finalizing years of deliberations setting a stage for the transit-oriented development.
The Millbrae City Council, with Mayor Gina Papan and Vice Mayor Wayne Lee intermittently dissenting, approved the Serra Station development proposal during a meeting Tuesday, April 24.
The decision marks the final consent issued by Millbrae officials for two sweeping developments slated to build hundreds of new homes and workspaces near the city’s joint Caltrain and BART station.
In the closing minutes of an ongoing discussion which has spanned years of planning and countless hours of occasionally tense public debate, Papan expressed her appreciation for the vision shared by developer Vince Muzzi.
“I feel you have had the best interest of Millbrae throughout,” Papan said to Muzzi, a Millbrae resident who also operates the Magnolia assisted living facility and is seeking to build on family land near the train station.
His project offers 444 housing units, more than 270,000 square feet of offices and up to approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space in three towers up to 10 stories near the intersection of Millbrae Avenue and El Camino Real.
The approval comes weeks after permitting another proposal from Republic Urban comprised of 150,000 square feet of offices, nearly 30,000 square feet of retail space, 400 new housing units and a hotel on BART land near the station.
Similar to Papan, Councilman Reuben Holober shared his gratitude for the professionalism shown by Muzzi throughout the deliberations.
“There have been some difficult negotiations, and I want to thank you for not politicizing the process,” he said, a likely reference to Republic Urban and members of a local labor union paying for ads in the most recent City Council race targeting Papan and supporting Councilwoman Ann Schneider as well as former mayor Robert Gottschalk.
While most of the councilmembers’ comments were laudatory, Lee kept many of the reservations he has maintained throughout the discussion of both development proposals.
“I really think you are trying to bring some value to that property for Millbrae, but unfortunately I think it will preclude our best effort to get our maximum and best use out of that full site,” he said.
Lee has railed on developers at the station to increase the amount of space in each project reserved for retail businesses, as a means of beefing up the city’s limited tax base. He again attempted to persuade Muzzi at the last meeting to tweak plans to include more retail square footage.
“We will sacrifice our best chance to get the retail space that we really need,” said Lee, echoing the previous calls of many community members wishing to develop a regional shopping attraction at the train station.
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The effort was in vain though, as Muzzi has repeatedly identified the shortcomings of his site as a potential retail hub, noting the limited visual exposure to main thoroughfares such as El Camino Real along with doubts over the long-term viability of brick-and-mortar storefronts.
Beyond retail discussions, much of the feedback from councilmembers at the meeting addressed detailed elements of the project such as bicycle access, construction hours and limitations on the types of businesses allowed in the commercial space.
For the project components which need further refinement, officials agreed those can be addressed during the design review process slated to return before the City Council during the entitlement process.
Perhaps the largest lingering piece of the project is the encroachment on a city development policy designed to assure large buildings do not overshadow nearby residential neighborhoods.
As it stands, Muzzi’s project violates a setback regulation in relation to a home owned by Robert and Christina DuCote. The two sides have been in negotiations attempting to resolve the issue, but no solution has been identified.
To make the project eligible for City Council approval, Muzzi said he is willing to amend the design and remove some units from the top floor which overstep the city’s regulation. The issue is slated to return before officials in the design review stage, and in the interim the two property owners are expected to continue talks.
Muzzi committed to keeping up the discussions, but noted the ongoing difficulties surrounding reaching consensus.
“There are a lot of catch-22s and unfortunately we seem to have run into every one of them,” he said.
For her part, Schneider encouraged the parties to keep at the talks in hopes of finding some common ground.
“I think we can get a win-win here if we can just figure out what the roadblocks are here and pile through them,” he said.
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(1) comment
Not much foresight like in many of milbrae"s projects. Money is the main concern. Hope the people involved in this project will be remembered by the community as they deal with its conseqences.
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