True confessions

Sleepy little Belmont is waking up. This visibly began in mid-2016, with the groundbreaking of two condominium projects on the west side of El Camino Real near the city’s northern border. The Ashton, a 73-unit complex, although not quite done, is now selling condos. Nearby Belmino’s 32 condominiums and large ground-floor retail space are not far behind: That project’s developer was hoping to finish up by the end of this year, but early next year seems more realistic. In any case, these two projects are seemingly the first substantial projects in Belmont for quite some time.

Independent of these two projects, although likely informed by them, in late 2017 Belmont’s City Council and city staff adopted an updated General Plan and a Belmont Village Specific Plan. These plans portray a vision for how Belmont hopes to grow, and include specific guidelines for how development projects in the city should be done. The Belmont Village Specific Plan, in particular, details how commercial and residential projects in the vicinity of the intersection of El Camino Real and Ralston Avenue should be structured and designed. Since the Specific Plan was put into place, though, no significant new projects have been approved within the Belmont Village area: The Ashton and Belmino both broke ground before the plan was approved, and both lie outside the Specific Plan area.

Recently, I learned about what will likely be the first development introduced under the Belmont Village Specific Plan. That project, dubbed Artisan Crossing by its developer, Windy Hill Property Ventures, is an attractive four-story apartment building featuring 250 apartments, 15 percent of which will be affordable at the low-income level. It would be located on Old County Road, and bordered by O’Neill Avenue, Karen Road and Elmer Street (one parcel at the corner of O’Neill Avenue and Elmer Street is not part of the project).

Today the site houses a mix of buildings and parking, and is almost entirely surrounded by commercial buildings — although there is a good-sized pocket of single-family homes and apartments very close by. The main buildings on the site, which are apparently empty, once housed a company that made plastic composite products.

Artisan Crossing has a lot going for it. In addition to the 38 affordable units, one of the project’s community benefits is enabled by the building’s design, which is cut at an angle at the corner of Old County Road and O’Neill Avenue to leave a large triangular plaza. This plaza is envisioned as a public gathering space, and may also serve as a spillover area for one of the project’s other public benefits: a handful of rooms that the developer intends to be used, rent free, by the Community School of Music and Arts, a Mountain View-based organization that works to make the arts and art education accessible to all.

On the O’Neill Avenue side, the building will include a “bike kitchen” that will be usable by both residents and the public. This workshop will be equipped for individuals wanting to work on their bikes, and will feature a vending machine or two stocked with bicycle parts.

Pedestrians and cyclists, whether they live in this new building or not, should be interested in another benefit: Windy Hill plans to give $100,000 toward the feasibility study for a proposed railroad undercrossing at O’Neill Avenue. This undercrossing would simplify access to Belmont’s Safeway shopping center for many of those living and working on the east side of the Caltrain tracks — but note that the city doesn’t envision actually building the undercrossing for at least 10 years. Hopefully the feasibility study shows strong demand, spurring the city to build the undercrossing sooner.

For all its appeal, the project does have its detractors. Fearing “intensification,” some are concerned that projects like this will change Belmont’s essential nature. I won’t pretend to speak for that city’s residents, but as a non-resident, I will say that if the Belmont Village Specific Plan is implemented through projects like this, Belmont may well become a destination in its own right. It certainly will no longer be a place I drive through just to get somewhere else.

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.