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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
September 20, 2005 Bay Meadows draws crowd But City Council takes no vote on huge project By Tara Ramroop, STAFF WRITESAN MATEO - It was a battle of green and white Monday night in Council Chambers. Green "yes" stickers urging Bay Meadows Phase II forward went toe-to-toe with white bumper stickers and T-shirts lobbying the City Council to "Save Bay Meadows." It was standing-room only at Monday's meeting, as the people sporting these items packed in for the council's first public hearing on the controversial issue. Bay Meadows Phase II is a housing, retail and office village slated to replace the 83-acre Bay Meadows Race Course. Dubbed "transit-oriented development," or TOD, the project aims to get commuters out of their cars and into the nearby Caltrain. Planning Department head Ron Munekawa told the crowd early that the council wouldn't be making any decisions Monday night. Nonetheless, the sometimes unruly crowd remained, applauding and cheering and booing despite Mayor Jan Epstein's stern warnings to stop. The Planning Commission finally approved the huge project last Thursday after three marathon meetings, hours of public testimony and painstaking review of the development contract. The council will ultimately decide the project's fate. Several groups came to support the project: local labor unions, the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce and San Francisco-based environmental group Greenbelt Alliance. A number of residents, however, remained against it. Some raised the issue of how the city firmly shot down the only way to keep the racetrack - slot machines and casino-style gambling - citing an increase in crime and traffic. Resident Donna Bischoff believes the council is now using casinos as an excuse to move forward with the development. "I guess George Bush has his weapons of mass destruction, and the San Mateo City Council has its casinos of mass destruction," she said, eliciting laughs. Mayor Jan Epstein cut off public comment around 10:30p.m. Density and affordable housing dominated a council study session two weeks ago, when council members asked city staff for more concrete figures on both issues, among others. They got their answers in a hefty staff report that the council started reviewing after more than an hour of public comment. An independent fiscal analysis finds that the project will generate approximately $14 million more general revenue than the racetrack would over the 20-year development time frame. Councilwoman Sue Lempert asked last time for densities of local transit-oriented developments - the city has since found those range from 21 units per acre at The Crossings in Mountain View, to 60 at The Crossing in San Bruno, to 62 at the Prometheus in San Mateo. Bay Meadows Land Company (BMLC), the racetrack's owner, promised the project would have at least 10 percent below-market-rate housing units. Ten percent would definitely be spread out through the development, with 5 percent possibly used for seniors or other special needs groups. BMLC estimates it would lose approximately $19.7 million if such units increased from 10 to 15 percent. So a push for a state density bonus - which would increase the density and below-market-rate units - is unlikely, BMLC representative Chris Meany said. The complete staff report is available online at http://www.cityofsanmateo.org.
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