Redwood City’s mayor Ian Bain

“It turned out for the best,” Bain explained.

He started seeing things from the perspective of an ordinary citizen and not as a councilmember or candidate for council. In 2003, he ran again and was elected.

Bain describes himself as being for slow or measured growth and for developers to meet the city’s goals rather than the reverse. For a while, his views were not shared by a majority of his colleagues. He feels it is more important than ever for his city to carefully manage future growth because of the high pace of development in the recent past. When the 2011 downtown precise plan was approved, if developers adhered to the plan they did not have to go through individual environmental impact reports. This increased the pace of development. Redwood City developed the reputation as an easy place to build and developers flocked to the city. Instead of growth playing out over 10 to 20 years, it happened within five and for many in the city it was too much too soon.

The height limit in the Downtown Precise Plan is 136 feet, but Bain said anything that tall has not been allowed. He pointed out that through the appeals process and negotiating with the community, some buildings have been scaled down within the downtown. Also, within the DTPP, there are some places where the maximum height allowed is much lower, to fit with historic buildings.

The community is also concerned about the loss of three popular enterprises — Malibu Grand Prix, Mel’s Bowling Alley, and Lyngso (the latter moved to San Carlos) when the properties were sold for future development.

There are three major projects working their way through the city which are not located in the Downtown Precise Plan area. The mayor feels the council as a result will have more discretion and more time to evaluate. The three biggies are 1601 El Camino Real which includes five blocks encompassing El Camino Real and Maple, Cedar and Main streets. The developer would like to build 272 multi-family units including 37 low-income; 589,700 square feet of office space; 10,000 square feet of retail; and a 10,000-square-foot child care facility.

The Harbor View proposal would be built on land once housing Malibu Grand Prix and Lyngso. It would include 1.2 million square feet of office space in four seven-story buildings between Redwood Creek and Highway 101. With enough space to accommodate 7,800 tech workers, this proposal will need a general plan amendment.

The third is Sobrato’s Broadway Plaza at 1401 Broadway. It would replace an existing retail strip mall and office building with a mixed-use project of approximately 400 market rate, 120 affordable units; 420,000 square feet of office space; 26,000 square feet of retail and a 10,000-square-foot child care facility.

Bain, 50, was born in Berkeley and grew up in Palo Alto. He attended Gunn High School and later Berkeley High School when his family moved back to Berkeley. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in political science. His first job was in Redwood City working for Kainos, a nonprofit for the developmentally and intellectually disabled. He taught Kainos kids job skills, found them jobs and eventually ended up as a grant writer for the agency. When he moved back to Redwood City in 1993, he found a job with a technology public relations agency and worked in corporate communications. He now holds a similar job in San Jose.

Redwood City has seven councilmembers (most cities on the Peninsula have five). It has term limits of 16 years and elects mayors for two-year terms rather than one. So it takes a while before a newcomer can become mayor. After patiently waiting his turn, Bain finally is mayor of Redwood City. It’s a challenging time for a mayor who believes in measured growth in a city which has grown, according to some, by quantum leaps.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.

Note to readers: This column has been changed to add a word that made the sentence have a different word without it. The sentence is: The height limit in the Downtown Precise Plan is 136 feet, but Bain said anything that tall has not been allowed. The added word is not.