20081028_es

COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT

DATE:

October 10, 2008

BOARD MEETING DATE:

October 28, 2008

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Lisa Grote, Director of Community Development

SUBJECT:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Consideration of a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the Principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

VISION ALIGNMENT

Commitment: Redesign our urban environment to increase vitality, expand variety, and reduce congestion.

Goal: Goals 10, 11 and 12, which state that: public transportation choices should be convenient, affordable, accessible and safe; new housing should be clustered with jobs and commercial services along transportation corridors, and that land use decisions should consider transportation and other infrastructure needs as well as impacts on the environment and on surrounding communities.

Response: The Grand Boulevard Initiative Guiding Principles encourage: targeting housing and job growth in strategic areas along El Camino Real; developing El Camino as a balanced multi-modal corridor to maintain and improve mobility of people and vehicles along the corridor; promoting compact mixed-use development; and pursuit of environmentally sustainable and economically viable development patterns along the corridor.

The El Camino Corridor is one of the County’s primary transportation and transit routes. By encouraging targeting of housing and job growth along the corridor, the Principles would help increase the convenience, affordability, accessibility and safety of public transit for residents and employees along the corridor. Encouraging housing and job growth and compact mixed-use development on El Camino Real matches the County’s goal of clustering new housing with jobs and commercial services along transportation corridors, and encouraging development along El Camino Real would support land use decisions that take into consideration transportation and infrastructure needs. By prioritizing compact development, the Principles would also help limit impacts on the environment.

BACKGROUND

Proposal: Adoption of a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the Principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

The Grand Boulevard Initiative (GBI) is a collaboration of 19 cities, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, local and regional agencies, private business, and labor and environmental organizations united to improve the performance, safety and aesthetics of Highway 82 on the Peninsula from Daly City to downtown San Jose. The Initiative encompasses 43 miles of El Camino Real, and also includes the area within 1/4 mile of either side of El Camino, forming the “El Camino Real Corridor.”

GBI utilizes a committee system to ensure widespread participation in developing specifics of the Initiative. The Task Force, made up of elected officials and executive-level staff from regional agencies and CalTrans, sets policies and makes policy decisions. Detail work is performed by the Working Committee, made up of assigned staff members from member agencies. San Mateo County is represented on the Task Force, Working Committee, and GBI subcommittees.

The first major work of the GBI was creation of The Existing Conditions Report, which examined City and County planning documents related to El Camino Real and identified common themes along the entirety of the corridor. These themes formed the basis for the Guiding Principles, which are the following:

1.

Target housing and job growth in strategic areas along the corridor.

2.

Encourage compact mixed-use development and high quality urban design and construction.

3.

Create a pedestrian-oriented environment and improve streetscapes, ensuring full access to and between public areas and private developments.

4.

Develop a balanced multi-modal corridor to maintain and improve mobility of people and vehicles along the corridor.

5.

Manage parking assets.

6.

Provide vibrant public spaces and gathering places.

7.

Preserve and accentuate unique and desirable community character and the existing quality of life in adjacent neighborhoods.

8.

Improve safety and public health.

9.

Strengthen pedestrian and bicycle connections with the corridor.

10.

Pursue environmentally sustainable and economically viable development patterns.

The Principles have been approved and recommended by the GBI Task Force. The Principles are intended to maintain each jurisdiction’s maximum flexibility while adhering to a set of common goals.

Two portions of the corridor are in unincorporated County jurisdiction: in Colma, from just south of Valley Street to approximately D Street, and North Fair Oaks, from Northumberland Avenue to just northwest of Wilburn Avenue. Both areas are higher-density areas of the County, with existing public transit access and multi-modal and mixed-use development, and with priorities addressed to a significant extent by the Principles. The Principles are consistent with those already adopted by the County in the Colma Area Plan, which guides land-use policy and planning for this area. The North Fair Oaks Community Plan has not been updated since 1979, but the County is in the initial stages of an update, and input from residents gathered during a series of outreach meetings in 2007 indicates that community desires are consistent with the Guiding Principles.

Endorsement of the Principles is consistent with the County’s housing, transportation, and environmental policies and goals. A resolution of endorsement would express the County’s continued support for these goals and reflect the County’s interest in prioritizing the El Camino Corridor as an appropriate location for infill, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development.

FISCAL IMPACT

The proposed project would have no direct fiscal impact on the County.



COUNTY OF SAN MATEO Inter-Departmental Correspondence

PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT


DATE:				October 10, 2008
BOARD MEETING DATE:				October 28, 2008
SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:				None
VOTE REQUIRED:				Majority

TO:			Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:			Lisa Grote, Director of Community Development

SUBJECT:			EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Consideration of a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the Principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

VISION ALIGNMENT
Commitment: Redesign our urban environment to increase vitality, expand variety, and reduce congestion.

Goal: Goals 10, 11 and 12, which state that: public transportation choices should be convenient, affordable, accessible and safe; new housing should be clustered with jobs and commercial services along transportation corridors, and that land use decisions should consider transportation and other infrastructure needs as well as impacts on the environment and on surrounding communities.

Response: The Grand Boulevard Initiative Guiding Principles encourage: targeting housing and job growth in strategic areas along El Camino Real; developing El Camino as a balanced multi-modal corridor to maintain and improve mobility of people and vehicles along the corridor; promoting compact mixed-use development; and pursuit of environmentally sustainable and economically viable development patterns along the corridor.

The El Camino Corridor is one of the County’s primary transportation and transit routes. By encouraging targeting of housing and job growth along the corridor, the Principles would help increase the convenience, affordability, accessibility and safety of public transit for residents and employees along the corridor. Encouraging housing and job growth and compact mixed-use development on El Camino Real matches the County’s goal of clustering new housing with jobs and commercial services along transportation corridors, and encouraging development along El Camino Real would support land use decisions that take into consideration transportation and infrastructure needs. By prioritizing compact development, the Principles would also help limit impacts on the environment.

BACKGROUND
Proposal: Adoption of a resolution endorsing the Guiding Principles of the Grand Boulevard Initiative, and directing that the Principles be incorporated into future plans involving El Camino Real.

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
The Grand Boulevard Initiative (GBI) is a collaboration of 19 cities, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, local and regional agencies, private business, and labor and environmental organizations united to improve the performance, safety and aesthetics of Highway 82 on the Peninsula from Daly City to downtown San Jose. The Initiative encompasses 43 miles of El Camino Real, and also includes the area within 1/4 mile of either side of El Camino, forming the “El Camino Real Corridor.”

GBI utilizes a committee system to ensure widespread participation in developing specifics of the Initiative. The Task Force, made up of elected officials and executive-level staff from regional agencies and CalTrans, sets policies and makes policy decisions. Detail work is performed by the Working Committee, made up of assigned staff members from member agencies. San Mateo County is represented on the Task Force, Working Committee, and GBI subcommittees.

The first major work of the GBI was creation of The Existing Conditions Report, which examined City and County planning documents related to El Camino Real and identified common themes along the entirety of the corridor. These themes formed the basis for the Guiding Principles, which are the following:

	1.	Target housing and job growth in strategic areas along the corridor.
	2.	Encourage compact mixed-use development and high quality urban design and construction.
	3.	Create a pedestrian-oriented environment and improve streetscapes, ensuring full access to and between public areas and private developments.
	4.	Develop a balanced multi-modal corridor to maintain and improve mobility of people and vehicles along the corridor.
	5.	Manage parking assets.
	6.	Provide vibrant public spaces and gathering places.
	7.	Preserve and accentuate unique and desirable community character and the existing quality of life in adjacent neighborhoods.
	8.	Improve safety and public health.
	9.	Strengthen pedestrian and bicycle connections with the corridor.
	10.	Pursue environmentally sustainable and economically viable development patterns.

The Principles have been approved and recommended by the GBI Task Force. The Principles are intended to maintain each jurisdiction’s maximum flexibility while adhering to a set of common goals.

Two portions of the corridor are in unincorporated County jurisdiction: in Colma, from just south of Valley Street to approximately D Street, and North Fair Oaks, from Northumberland Avenue to just northwest of Wilburn Avenue. Both areas are higher-density areas of the County, with existing public transit access and multi-modal and mixed-use development, and with priorities addressed to a significant extent by the Principles. The Principles are consistent with those already adopted by the County in the Colma Area Plan, which guides land-use policy and planning for this area. The North Fair Oaks Community Plan has not been updated since 1979, but the County is in the initial stages of an update, and input from residents gathered during a series of outreach meetings in 2007 indicates that community desires are consistent with the Guiding Principles.

Endorsement of the Principles is consistent with the County’s housing, transportation, and environmental policies and goals. A resolution of endorsement would express the County’s continued support for these goals and reflect the County’s interest in prioritizing the El Camino Corridor as an appropriate location for infill, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development.

FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed project would have no direct fiscal impact on the County.