HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-15-22 Planning Commission Meeting - Item 4 Public Comment forPublic Comment for Planning Commission Meeting September 15th, 2022
City of South San Francisco
Planning Commission
P.O. Box 711
South San Francisco, CA
Re: Draft General Plan & Draft Zoning Text
Commissioners and City Staff:
We submit this comment in reference to the Draft General Plan and Draft Zoning Text that the
Planning Commission is recommending City Council to adopt.
We’ve been the property owners of 701 Airport Blvd since the early 70’s. Over the last 50 years,
we’ve been privileged to be part of South San Francisco’s evolution into one of the most important
BioTech Centers in the world. We believe in the future of South San Francisco and look forward to
another 50 years of positive growth and development.
When the City introduced the Downtown Station Plan in 2015, we were encouraged to see a
conscious effort promoting intermodal transit, most notably the expansion of the Caltrain station. The
studies recognized the Airport Blvd corridor was ripe for increased density, hopefully promoting new and
affordable residential development, amenity rich lodging, and first-class businesses. In 2017 we began to
explore a redevelopment for our site, only to find that the proposed zoning for Airport between California
and Armour did not follow the findings in the Downtown Station Plan. After much discussion with City
Staff to try and provide the highest and best use proposal, we considered pursuing an independent
GPA/ZTA to achieve the density needed along this stretch of Airport Blvd. Roughly a year later, it was
mutually agreed that we should pause our efforts as the city undertook its process for a New General
Plan, one that would hopefully afford the appropriate amount of density to encourage redevelopment.
While we’ve observed and provided past commentary to see what the New General Plan and
Zoning would allow, we’ve reflected on the best use for our site. Our parcel, as well as our neighbors on
Airport Blvd are uniquely positioned with amenity rich sites given their proximity to downtown, transit, and
pedestrian linkages. These attributes make them prime sites for Medium Density Housing. We’ve also
become acutely aware of the dire need for more housing not only to help the city meet their RHNA goals,
but also to address the city’s current and future growth. For these reasons, we’ve chosen to pivot our
original proposal to a residential project.
We recognize the draft zoning presented today affords the site more density than previously
existed – but its our opinion that it’s a very conservative increase and still short of the density in the
Downtown Station from 2015. With limitations of 60du/ac and a max FAR of 2.5, we don’t believe that
these parcels will realize their full potential or encourage property owners to consider redevelopment. In a
previous preferred land-use alternative, this block of Airport was contemplated as Medium-Density Mixed
Use which provided for up to 120du/ac and max FAR of 3.5 with community benefit. We believe this
additional density would promote higher quality residential developments with affordable components,
and further, help extend the edge condition separating 101 from the historic residential neighborhoods.
With the proposed limitations on density, entitlement challenges, and the increased costs of construction,
we worry that these prime blocks of Airport Blvd, all within walking distance of Caltrain and downtown
businesses, will languish.
We would welcome a discussion with Planning and City Staff to understand the pivot from
Medium-Density Mixed Use to Low-Density Mixed Use, and further, discuss how to maximize and
incentivize the development of responsible, high-quality, affordable housing and further support the City’s
efforts to meet their RHNA goals.
We close our comments by showing the existing elevations along Airport Blvd looking back
towards Grand Ave. In the distance you see new, high-quality development, and in the foreground you
see many single and double story buildings – many of which have been long neglected. The dichotomy
paints a jarring picture. We would really like to be the catalyst that encourages everyone around us to
beautify and improve this stretch of Airport. Greater density, supported by zoning that promotes
residential development will be a key component to not only our success, but the success of our
neighbors as well.
Thank you for your time this evening and we look forward to further conversation and
collaboration.
Sincerely,
SICON, LLC – Property Owners at 701 Airport Blvd