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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

May 2, 2005

Getting on board with TOD

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In the 1950s, San Mateo flourished with tract housing spurred by the development of Hillsdale Shopping Center. A half-century later, the emphasis of the community is moving east to the Hillsdale Train Station where a proposal to develop 83.5 acres into housing, retail and office space will dramatically alter the landscape of the city.

It's called transit oriented development and it's big. Not just because it's proposed to take over Bay Meadows race track, but because it's sweeping the nation and the Bay Area is ground zero.

It's goal is to answer the need for housing by concentrating people in an area with access to multiple types of mass transit and, in doing so, reduce their number of car trips. Beneath the surface there's a push to change people's idea of community and neighborhoods from the 1950s ideal to something more urban.

The Bay Meadows Land Company wants to develop 1,250 residential units, 1.25 million square feet of office space and 150,000 square feet of retail space at the site of the current race track. The 83.5-acre site is located west of the Beresford Hillsdale neighborhood and would extend its two biggest avenues east through the new development.

The biggest battle San Mateo is facing now is trying to sell residents on the idea of TOD and its benefits. But, it's really not a new idea at all.

"TOD was happening for many, many centuries. Maybe without the D," said James Corless, senior planner for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. "We're going back to the future of shopping districts and walking."

Taking a cue from European villages built during the street car era of the 1800s, TOD aims to create an inclusive neighborhood near train stations that meets the demands of its residents. There's no need to get in the car if the grocery store is one block over or the coffee shop is right across the street.

Proponents know it will take a gradual evolution in people's thinking. Some organizations like the Greenbelt Alliance for open space and the Bay Area Council are putting pressure on cities to end urban sprawl and provide more housing closer to offices.

"There is a move afoot to talk about improving our communities and find a way to make it easier to live here. There's more and more appreciation [of] compact developments for people to live closer to work," said Andrew Michael, vice president of the Bay Area Council, an organization aimed at improving quality of life in the Bay Area.

As planners embrace the TOD idea, they are also patiently waiting for residents to take a liking to it too. Some San Mateo residents question the quality of life for people living in apartments without multiple bedrooms or their own front and back yards.

Currently, there are people in single-family units throughout San Mateo who must pull one of their cars out of their two-car garage to run an errand. However, the demographics are changing in the Bay Area. There are more empty nesters, young singles and seniors, Corless said.

That's who TOD is targeting and people are already buying into the idea. Developments have popped up all over the Bay Area - from a 1,400-unit Berkeley project to smaller ones in Fruitvale and Mountain View.

TOD doesn't aim at reducing the number of cars on the street, just the number of trips people take.

A major hurdle is where to place families. TOD usually lacks an area for schools and aren't always close to libraries, Corless said.

The MTC is a strong supporter of TODs and created a policy a decade ago to fund such projects. TODs are popping up so frequently that the MTC commissioned a 12-month study of policies influencing the projects, Corless said.

Another major hurdle of TODs is a lack of consistent policy throughout the region. Many Bay Area developments were built in piecemeal fashion without standard guidelines.

In 1999, the first project to be awarded MTC funding was the Franklin Street mixed-used development in Redwood City. The project included 206 new residential units, 31 of which were affordable for those with low incomes, and street level retail space.

The policy allocates money for projects based on the number of units and their proximity to a train station. Since the project was located within a half mile of a train station, the project received $707,000 to be used for landscaping to temper the resistance of residents in the area, according to a 2004 report issued by the Federal Department of Transportation.

San Mateo will receive a stipend for each bedroom built in the new Bay Meadows development depending on the project's density. A portion of that will be used to add measures to slow traffic on 28th and 31st avenues if the new development brings more cars to those streets. However, studies show traffic on those streets will not be significantly impacted. Both streets will be extended east through the new development to ease the stress on Hillsdale Boulevard.

Residents from the Hillsdale Beresford Homeowners Association aren't so sure the development will better their quality of life. Some firmly believe traffic is going to increase on there streets.

There are no hard facts to prove TODs are reducing the number of car trips. However, if the new Bay Meadows development doesn't reduce the number of trip by 25 percent is will be penalized by a group designated by the city to monitor traffic in the area.

There is no argument that will change the minds of San Mateo naysayers, said Stephen Scott, the city's senior planner helping to shepherd the large project through the public planning process. He's been working on Bay Meadows development since 1998, long before he'd ever heard of TOD.

"I think people have to see a success. They need to walk the place after it's built and in their own minds see their street hasn't been significantly impacted by that project," Scott said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.

Bay Meadows Workshop on TOD will be held 5:30 p.m. May 3 at City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave. in Conference Room C.

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