I’ve been following Redwood Shores’ Redwood LIFE project for some two years now. Knowing that many Redwood Shores residents are opposed to the project, I felt confident that when it finally went before the City Council there would be a lot of public comment. I was correct; this week’s City Council study session on the project ran for nearly four hours.
To be fair, the point of a study session is to hear from the public on a proposed project, as well as to allow the members of the City Council (or Planning Commission, or whichever body is conducting the study session) to ask questions, discuss what they’ve heard and relay their own opinions to city staff. No actions are taken as part of a study session, those come at a later date, after the project — usually modified based on the feedback obtained from the study session — is formally submitted to the city for review.
The Redwood LIFE project proposes to transform an existing 84-acre office park located between Bridge and Marine parkways into a modern life-sciences campus. Today’s park consists of 20 one- and two-story buildings totaling about 970,000 square feet set within a sea of surface parking. Longfellow Real Estate Partners — both the current office park owner and the developer of the proposal — hopes to more than triple the total amount of space, providing nearly 3.2 million square feet of “purpose-built life science lab and innovation office space” organized into 13 five- or six-story life sciences office buildings. Accompanying those buildings would be a five-story hotel, a two-story “amenity center,” and three multistory parking garages. Unlike the existing campus, the proposed new one would contain approximately 29 acres of publicly accessible open space, with 15 of those acres being dedicated to public use. Finally, construction would be spread out over seven phases, and would take decades to complete.
On paper, the project sounds pretty good. However, the project has some serious challenges to overcome. For one, it needs to account for sea-level rise. To do that, Longfellow plans to raise much of the 84-acre site, and the levees that protect that portion of Redwood Shores, to a height of 17 feet.
There is also the fact that the current campus sits on a toxic landfill. That will present challenges during construction, especially while driving the pilings needed to support the new buildings. The developer did note, however, that the construction industry is well-versed in dealing with conditions like these. And they went on to point out that to raise the site, they’ll be adding several feet of additional soil on top of the clay layer that caps the landfill today, thereby adding further protection.
With nearly 3.2 million square feet of labs and office space, when complete, the upgraded campus could support roughly 8,100 more employees. Naturally, those employees would need a place to live. In partnership with Eden Housing (that has been building and acquiring affordable housing throughout California for 55 years), Longfellow proposes to spend $85 million to construct hundreds of housing units at variety of affordability levels, thereby, at least partly, alleviating the issue.
Wherever they live, those new employees would need to get to and from the campus, that sits miles from the nearest Caltrain stop. Redwood Shores has only two roads in and out — Marine and Redwood Shores parkways — which surely would become bottlenecks with the addition of so many individual commuters. During the study session, there was talk about Transportation Demand Management plans, and shuttles to Caltrain, which seem to be a logical part of the solution, but we’ll have to see whether those would be enough. One possible solution, suggested by a member of the public during public comment, seemed particularly intriguing: bridge Belmont Slough, and connect Island Drive (which bisects the campus) to Edgewater Boulevard (which connects with State Route 92) in Foster City. Not only would that give commuters an additional route into and out of the area, it would provide an additional egress for Redwood Shores residents in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster.
The Redwood LIFE project is still in the planning stages and has many challenges to overcome. Today, we can only speculate the magnitude, and how those challenges may or may not be met. What we really need is an environmental impact report, which would enumerate its many impacts and identify concrete mitigation measures. However, it would take a year or so to create the report and it must wait until the project is formally submitted to the city, which likely won’t happen for some time. Expect to be hearing about this project — but not seeing any physical activity — for years to come.
Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.
(17) comments
how glorious to bus at 7A.M kindergartners at the bus stop...just think those that have walking distance to their schools will be so jealous as you can walk to school and not have to wait at 7A/M for a bus to pick up 6 year olds once i wen to pick my son up at 1 for swimming practice and ther was no son there. he wen thome woth the walker how fun to aqrrive for pick up and your kid isn't there..home with the walkers such a treat for fc then with no school how lucky the kids and parents re now they can walk and fc? who knows..
good solution plant all the traffic on edgewater the bedroom of fc heal edgewater and redwood city..meantime plant the traffic in the bedroom community which heals the shiopping centers of course one year when the moaner aat 3 AM was moanong i went out my gate with a flashlight on ice and approached the moanong of a woman on the tennis court. I told hwe we live here so go moan in your own back yard. she did...husband thought he was some day going to get socked by these moaners. go home and moan as i told her we sleep here moan at your house...she never came back yay! so plant edgewater shopping center here with the moaner great idea anyvbody who thinks this will solve the plight of these centers dream on let us dream and take your cu throughs with you when you leave...they can race the deep water port cargo up and down the road so nice for such a grear planned community to sleep with moaners and cargo transporters.
so letus save housing with new being built and send commiters with housing up edgewater deep water prt rc port shipping up edgewater did you ever think what all this traffic would do to edgewater and rc? solve or try tosolve and the whole traffic edgewater hillsdale will collapse what a great idea. make edgewater like hillsdale now you can't get to it because of red lights all over the town. i saw lights now at port royal we tried to get them one with a petition and a comment can't fix stupid so ingratiating last council i attentded i think iit was idea for the walkway signs great idea.
We saw the fosters at corner bakery back in those days if i ever see him again I will ask what he thinks about all the school politics around here i watched the chp close that exit and direct all traffic through here when they closed the freeway one of our kid was hit by the chp motorcyclist so they routed them all through here he fought the chp and won it wasn't his fault he was a neighbor of mine he won hooray.more people said they didn't believe i watched it that would never happen well i watched them send the traffic up edgewater then believe it I saw it..closed 101
If i remember correctly i had the school board here in my home with lempert .i also had a thigh school trustee friend from swimming here in those days mary janney they knew wat fc faced..and still faces..
so now let's turn edgewater intoa commute nightmare ship everything up edgewater send all the bridge traffic from rc port to fc. another hillsdale in the bedroom part of fc..lucky us
take alook at crest moor the newest school district and you will see who runs the smschool district definite ly not fc burlingame oldest school with hillsborough residents wasn't closed it was crestmoor try to get a high school with all the burlingame hillsborough parents keeping their school open politics breeds both high school and elementary elementary closed 5 schools and crocker opened fc school i don;think when we were there thy even realized you send us ther your school closed if not for julian crocker suzanne parkhurs we would still be bussed to sm to school so now we fight commuters bridge shipping goods up edgewaer to school...wake up and smell the coffee we have always been second class citizens lempert voted against building a school in fc sitting in baywood her son could walk to school we never had that luxury. to sm and rc. with commuters...and transportations always takes me awhile to remember who we knew at what school...in those days. citizens
put all the traffic in my bedroom i already have a park in my bedroom send all fc redwood shores to my part of time ship deep water good up 101 to alleviate traffic and cut throughs increasing fc to rc traffic ship deep water ort goods up 101 what a delightful solution wonder if foster in the de sabla apartments wants to ship good up el camino through 3rd avenue as in fc. I don't think so and eliminate prop 13 i couldn' tlive here time to move on back east too much traffic and can't afford the taxes without prop 13...enough kids can't live here now parents give up because of no prop 13...relief there for a reason i keep reading all thes solutions to inreas traffic through thius town and rc..send them through downtown rec they have enough may as well send bridge to rc with the rest of themthe park in those day crazies holding church can ride along with bridge commuters and those that can't pay taxes with no relief from prop 13...before we had the bathrooms they wen behind my house oh joy let them combine with cut throughs oh joy chase thm home at 3A,M with moanig at boothbay mayb it is commuters bridge cutthroughs. lost trying to get through all the traffic..
Hi, Greg
Thanks for your column about Longfellow's Redwood LIFE project. I reside in Redwood Shores and oppose Longfellow's proposal in the strongest terms. Longfellow is fond of tossing around the word "mitigation" when residents or the two groups (Stop Redwood LIFE and Save the Shores) opposing the project raise objections. Mitigation is lessening the severity of a problem not fixing it. If I was poking you with a sharp stick, would you want me to poke you fewer times or would you want me to stop?
You have captured some key objections to the Redwood LIFE project. Longfellow proposes to raise the levee next to its campus. It's uncertain whether raising the levee at that point would protect Longfellow's tenants in the event of an earthquake along the Hayward fault. Longfellow's offer to fortify the levee will not offer additional protection to neighborhoods, including an elementary school, east of the build site.
Longfellow says it will put a clay cap over the landfill. That's just more mitigation talk... it will not solve problems caused by deep pile driving. I'm not a geologist, but disturbing that unlined landfill could force toxins to shift underground toward nearby neighborhoods.
In my view, Longfellow's pledge of $85 million to build 850 new housing units may be tantalizing in the City Council's eyes, but that housing is tied securing future state and federal grants. There is no guarantee those grants will materialize. The 850 units would be built over the life of the project. That means we would not see all of them until 2045 maybe 2050. It's not likely if Longfellow's project was green lighted any appreciable number of homes could be built before 2030 which is the target time period to achieve the Council's goal to add nearly 7,000 new homes to Redwood City.
Traffic congestion created by this project will be a nightmare. It will be the snarl of vehicles we can anticipate that will be caused by the 101/Woodside overpass project on steroids. Why? The snarl during commute times will be never ending. Those thousands of employees you mentioned work in labs, and most of them will drive to work. Longfellow proposes to run plenty of shuttles from Caltrain stops to its campus, but the shuttles will not be full. Longfellow's transportation plan is more mitigation... the plan does not solve the problem.
And there are other significant reasons to say "No!" to Longfellow...
"bridge Belmont Slough, and connect Island Drive (which bisects the campus) to Edgewater Boulevard (which connects with State Route 92) in Foster City."... That was me. I've been advocating for this for a few years. It was the original master plan for the Foster Family. It should be a local TMA to run the bridge with an excessively high toll with 100% of the toll refunded to residents of Foster City and Redwood Shores. It would help save the dying Edgewater shopping center and Redwood Shores Marketplace... And it could even be the basis of a joint FC and RWS High School District
Here is what Google Bard says.... (Not sure where it got the cost at $1 Billion!!! LoL 🤣)
Tell me about the Foster City southern crossing idea.
The Foster City Southern Crossing is a proposed bridge that would connect Foster City to Belmont and Redwood Shores. The bridge would be located at the south end of Edgewater Boulevard and would cross over the San Francisco Bay.
The idea for a southern crossing has been around for many years, but it has never been built. There are a number of reasons for this, including the cost of the project, environmental concerns, and opposition from some residents.
However, there is renewed interest in the project in recent years. The city of Foster City has been working on a plan to improve transportation in the city, and the southern crossing is seen as a key part of that plan. The city has also been working to address the environmental concerns associated with the project.
It is still too early to say whether or not the Foster City Southern Crossing will ever be built. However, the project is gaining momentum, and it is possible that it will become a reality in the future.
Here are some of the benefits of building the Foster City Southern Crossing:
It would improve transportation in Foster City and the surrounding area.
It would reduce traffic congestion on the existing bridges.
It would make it easier for people to get to and from Foster City.
It would boost the economy of Foster City and the surrounding area.
Here are some of the challenges of building the Foster City Southern Crossing:
The cost of the project is estimated to be $1 billion.
The project would require the construction of a new bridge over the San Francisco Bay.
The project would have a significant environmental impact.
The project would face opposition from some residents.
Overall, the Foster City Southern Crossing is a controversial project with both benefits and challenges. It is still too early to say whether or not the project will be built, but it is a project that is worth considering.
"bridge Belmont Slough, and connect Island Drive"- that sounds like such a bad idea, why would any sound-minded Foster City resident want to eat Redwood Shores' commuter traffic? Does Foster City have street capacity available? Not that I know. If they had they wouldn't work so hard against the cut-through traffic coming from Hwy 101 going to 92.
What would Foster City even get out of a deal that brings cut-through traffic, noise, air pollution, microplastics, speed, vehicular violence, etc. to their streets?
That said there are plenty of Foster City residents working in Redwood Shores and vice-versa. Currently they might be stuck on Hwy 101 a lot. A narrow-one way bridge bike/ped bridge over the slough could incentivize people to use a bike instead, which should be a main goal these days. It could accommodate some shuttles or buses and if there really was an emergency, it could be opened temporarily for one-way car traffic.
Hello, Gerd
I agree with you... connecting Foster City to Redwood Shores with a bridge primarily for the purpose to serve biomedical commuters does not benefit Foster City. The cut-through traffic would just make things difficult for FC residents. Those biomedical commuters, as a rule, would not be stopping to shop in FC... they would be focused on getting either to work or home via 94404. BTW... Foster City folks and residents in that tiny piece of Belmont east of 101 will hear the deep pile driving loud and clear. .
Watch the meeting as to what I said. Nothing about commuters.
It is common knowledge under good city planners and leaders that more streets and more connections don't provide congestion relief, it just creates more cut-through traffic, more noise pollution, more air pollution, more speeding, more vehicular violence. Anybody promising otherwise should be un-electable.
Foster City and Redwood Shores are like big cul-de-sacs, people usually have a good reason to use their streets. People however make all kinds of [good or bad] decisions about where the live and where they work, it isn't in the interest of the public to support all of these decisions with new streets and bridges. Not in Redwood City where they connect Inner Harbor to Bair Island with a commuter bridge harming both neighborhoods; and certainly not between Foster City and Redwood Shores. More Bike/Ped bridges - yes. More one-lane bus/shuttle/emergency response bridges - maybe. More commuter bridges - absolutely not.
Btw. we can also stop now discussing about "alleviating traffic" on 101. With the 101 HOT lanes, congestion on 101 is now a must have - in fact the success of the express lanes is based on congestion. Otherwise nobody switches to carpooling or public transit, which are two of the main goals of the project. And nobody would pay for the express lanes either - which means no revenue to pay back the $600-$660M the project cost. Without congestion the project would miss the three most important goals.
There are a few thousand new housing units planned litteraly across the water from this in deep Foster City. Connecting the two along with connecting two populations that have dying retail centers & two populations that want a high school, .makes sense.
with bikes - yes
with buses - yes
with cars - at this point only corporate interest and/or climate change deniers would try to make that claim
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