12/2: Share your thoughts for San Mateo's General Plan 2040
General Plan 2040 Update
Sunday - December 2, 2018
1:30 - 3 pm
King Rec Center, 725 Monte Diablo St., San Mateo
Community input is vital to helping shape future polices affecting housing, transportation, open space and other issues central to our community. Share your thoughts as we develop a “vision statement” for our General Plan 2040.
Participate online through this link, and consider including some of the listed points below. You can include 500 words and input as many times as needed.
San Mateo-wide suggestions:
* 7000 San Mateo residents have signed the city-wide petition to protect the height, density, and affordable housing in San Mateo in the future with Measure P.
* Inclusionary affordable housing insures developers build and spread A/H equitably around San Mateo and not target the 100 per cent affordable projects into one or two neighborhoods on the east side. This is what was happening prior to Measure P. Learn more at: https://www.smartergrowthsm.com
* Protect the Downtown Historic District and ensure the new projects blend in size, scale, and architectural style with the Downtown’s historic past. Continue the 25 years of demonstrated effectiveness of Measure P. For example, the Essex Mixed-Use Project at 5th and San Mateo Drive looks much more attractive with reduced heights than the previous 75 ft. version across from Central Park.
* Preserve the residential neighborhood’s character with compatible architectural styles, high quality materials, and attractive drought tolerant landscaping in new developments and remodels.
* Protect the residential neighborhoods by installing traffic calming in the residential neighborhoods before the new housing and office projects break ground for neighborhood preservation and pedestrian safety. In particular, install bulb outs at 5th/S. Delaware and 9th/S. Delaware before Essex Mixed Use, MidPen Housing and Downtown garage get built.
* Promote transit screens in new developments and Clipper Cards for the SamTrans Express Bus on El Camino Real and more Caltrain use.
* Ask Caltrain for more frequent scheduling of trains in the PM hours and weekends to increase the Caltrain ridership.
* More bike lanes and bike boxes on residential and commercial streets in the Bicycle Master Plan to help increase bike ridership in San Mateo.
* Install lighting in the center pedestrian and bicyclist lane on the 3rd Avenue Overpass. It is currently too dark and unsafe at night for walking and biking across the 101 Freeway.
* Have Caltrans clean up the trash around the sound wall entry to San Mateo and cut the high grasses and remove the fallen trees to improve the image of San Mateo.
* Increase the width of public sidewalks in the new developments for pedestrian safety. The Hines Office development lacks public sidewalks and promotes vehicular traffic and discourages walking.
* Request developer contributions for more neighborhood traffic calming, historic green pedestrian lighting, neighborhood bike lanes, and pocket parks for recreation.
* Publish the high accident numbers from Hexagon at San Mateo intersections on the City of San Mateo web-site. There have been 273 accidents on 3rd, 4th, 5th Avenue intersections from S. Humboldt to S. Claremont in the last 16 years. More transparency is needed to reduce high accident numbers.
* Reduce the vehicular speed limits in San Mateo.
* More open space and recreation for the residents in San Mateo.
Central Neighborhood-specific suggestions:
1. Circulation - By reclassifying two streets, we can qualify two more streets for traffic calming for pedestrian safety and neighborhood preservation. There is increased traffic noise and air pollution with 10 more projects proposed in our area. There have been over 106 accidents in the Central Neighborhood.
* Reclassify S. Grant from collector to local street from 4th Avenue to 9th Avenue.
* Reclassify S. Humboldt back to a collector street. In 1995, S. Humboldt St was changed to an arterial and we have had 16 accidents in the the last 5 years at S. Humboldt and 4th Avenue. This is the worst intersection in our neighborhood.
Bike Master Plan - A bike barn at S. Humboldt and 4th Avenue - will get the bikers off the eastern side walk on the 400 block of S. Humboldt to the overpass. A bike barn would encourage more biking through the neighborhood and help reduce the high traffic accidents at 4th at Humboldt. There have been 16 accidents in the last 6 years.
Large Truck Traffic - Large trucks should use the 101 Freeway to Interstate 92 to El Camino Real to the Downtown and back the same route to 101. We have too many traffic accidents at residential intersections on 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 9th Avenues in the Central and North Central Neighborhoods.
2. Land-use and residential compatibility
*Rezone S. Amphlett from 5th to 9th Avenue to residential R2 - duplex zoning - increase workforce housing along the freeway and reduce the environmental impacts to our surrounding neighborhood. Town homes like Arbor Rose in Sunnybrae and Ryland Homes in Bay Meadows have been built housing along the 101 freeway.
*No electronic billboards on 600 S. Amphlett along the 101 in the Central Neighborhood. Alcohol bill board advertising like Coors Beer are allowed in Industrial zoned areas on 101. This alcohol advertising does not present a positive image for our neighborhood and San Mateo.
*Rezone S. Delaware from 5th to 9th Avenue to R2 - duplex so it is compatible with the other side of the street and to preserve our single family homes. When streets are over-zoned at R3, R4, and R5, developers will purchase an entire block of homes through lot accumulation. The Prometheus developers purchased and demolished 25 single family homes on 3rd and 4th Avenue and built The Metropolitan Apartment Complex with over 212 units with an underground garage.
3. Parks and Recreation - A pocket park at S.Delaware and 7th Avenue for the children and seniors. We have a public parking lot on S. Delaware in the middle of the block, that is being used for commercial parking for S. Claremont auto repair businesses. S. Delaware is residential on both sides of the street and our neighborhood lacks recreation for the families with children.
4.Noise - The current 8 ft sound wall on S. Amphlett is inadequate for the residents in Central and Sunnybrae. The low sound wall on S. Amphlett needs to be raised to 14 - 16 ft with vegetation to reduce adverse environmental impacts of noise and diesel particulates from the 101 Managed Lane Project with Express Lanes.
