Public Meeting Tonight on San Carlos Wheeler Plaza Project.

Still Alive.

The Wheeler Plaza redevelopment concept is something that has been discussed in quite a bit of detail on this site over the past two years.   There have been several posts, lots of comments, and even a poll that gauged the public’s opinion on the concept (most were positive on the idea.)  There’s even an entire sub-category dedicated to Wheeler Plaza on this site.

Even though there hasn’t been much in the news about the Wheeler Plaza concept lately, don’t think that work hasn’t been going on behind the scenes.   The City of San Carlos along with their development partner Silverstone Communities have been working diligently to create an Environmental Impact Report, and has now drafted up potential options for redeveloping the entire Wheeler Plaza parcel.  If you’ve read through the EIR, there are some very interesting graphical renditions of how the project may look when it is completed, like this one (elevation from San Carlos Avenue)…

Wheeler Plaza conceptual sketch - Laurel Street/San Carlos Avenue

Public Meeting Tonight.

Tonight, the City of San Carlos is holding a meeting to solicit public feedback on the project.  If you have strong feelings one way or the other on the proposed project, or just want to find out more about what’s planned, this would be a great meeting to attend.  Here are the details:

Wheeler Plaza Development Concept Meeting
When: Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Where: San Carlos Library, 610 Elm Street, Second Floor Meeting Rooms
Time: 7:00 PM

Funding Challenges.

One challenge that is likely equally as large as all of the design considerations is how this project is going to be funded, and the purse strings for this extend all the way to the California Supreme Court.   According to Mark Sawicki, Economic Development and Housing Manager for the City of San Carlos, the pending Supreme Court litigation on AB26 and AB27 will play a significant role in funding options for this project.   If the decision does not result in the San Carlos RDA being dissolved, then the Planning Commission want to have consideration of the Wheeler Plaza project ready to move forward as soon as possible.  If the San Carlos RDA is dissolved (if AB 26 stands while AB27 is struck down) the City and the developer will have to look at alternative options for funding, and determine if the project is even financially feasible.
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Wheeler Plaza Development in San Carlos: 3 Reasons Why it Needs to Happen.

Time for a Change.

The other morning while I was making my normal run for sourdough bread at Le Boulanger (if you haven’t tried their fresh sliced sourdough, it’s out of this world), I was struck by how much of an eyesore the rear parking area behind the building has become.  Sure, during business hours it serves a valuable purpose as a main downtown parking area.  But during non-business hours, it’s just vast sea of empty parking spaces that’s sometimes strewn with litter on windy days.  For those of you who may not know, that very area on the corner of Walnut Street and San Carlos Avenue (including many of the buildings), is a city-owned plot of land known as Wheeler Plaza.  And for the past couple of years, the City has been investigating different ways that it might re-develop that entire site.

I hope the City will be able to take one of those solutions beyond the idea stage and actually re-develop this prime area of San Carlos, because there are three key reasons why it needs to happen: >>> Click Here to Read the Full Post
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Public Input Sought on San Carlos Wheeler Plaza Redevelopment.

Community Meeting.

It has been a while since the San Carlos Wheeler Plaza redevelopment concept has been in news.  But the City of San Carlos, along with development partner Silverstone Communities, has been steadily working on concepts of what to do — if anything — with the existing Wheeler Plaza site in downtown San Carlos.  The most recent concept that I saw being discussed was for a multi-story, mixed residential/retail complex where the parking lot is currently situated.    But that may have changed…

A big part of Silverstone’s involvement in the early stages of conceptual development is to gather ideas and feedback from San Carlos business owners and residents about what should be done with this location.   As such, they are holding a community meeting next week to solicit input from those stakeholders.   Here are the details of the meeting, as outlined on the City website:

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
San Carlos Library, 2nd Floor, Conference Rooms A & B

The City of San Carlos has been working with Silverstone Communities to explore the potential for redevelopment of the downtown surface parking lot known as Wheeler Plaza. Several city owned buildings adjacent to the parking lot would also be included in the site area.

This meeting will be an opportunity to brief property and business owners, community leaders, neighbors and interested citizens on the project and to hear and understand the issues and concerns of various stakeholders.

For those of you interested in what our downtown may look like in the next decade, this should be a very interesting meeting!

 
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Sutter Health to Move Forward With San Carlos Outpatient Clinic.

But Hospital Still on Hold.

The San Francisco Business Times reported today that the Board of Directors at Sutter Health has given the go-ahead to build an outpatient clinic and 1,000 space parking structure at the San Carlos location that was originally slated to be the site for their new hospital.  You’ll recall that Sutter put the hospital plans on hold last year, citing a general weakness in the economy.   According to the article, the full-scale hospital plan remains on hold despite the approval to move ahead with the clinic.

The approved construction calls for an outpatient and urgent care center, offices for 120 physicians, the parking structure, an on-site lab, and diagnostic and testing services.  Construction is slated to begin in January of 2011.   For the complete article, click here:   Sutter Health OKs building San Carlos clinic, postpones hospital again | San Francisco Business Times
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High Speed Rail to Run Above Ground in San Carlos

Plan Released

According to the detailed plan that was released by the California High Speed Rail Authority on Thursday, most of the high-speed rail section that will someday traverse the Peninsula and the South Bay will do so above ground, and not in an underground trench as many communities had hoped for.   According to this article in the Daily News, the Rail Authority assigned most Peninsula cities above-ground implementations since they are the least expensive, but that decision was not well received by many community leaders on the Peninsula who were lobbying very hard to minimize the intrusion of the new rail system.

Elevated? Been There, Done That…

While many communities on the Peninsula now face the first prospect of an elevated train track splitting their city, San Carlos is one of the only cities that has at least some experience in this area.   Years ago, amidst a sea of contention, San Carlos opted to elevate the Caltrain tracks through its city limits as a way to alleviate the chronic traffic tie-ups at the railroad crossings.   Opponents to the plan believed that an elevated berm would isolate the east side of the city from the west — a fear many community leaders on the Peninsula are now expressing for their own constituents.

Whether or not this was the net effect on San Carlos is a subjective matter, but what one cannot argue is the fact that traffic flow at the Howard Avenue, Brittan Avenue, and Holly Street intersections is immeasurably better since the tracks were elevated.  They’re still far from perfect, but much better than before.

A Little More Noise?

Aside from the isolation concerns, one of the biggest objections to an elevated track will be the noise impact.   It’s not a stretch to see how the wind noise and rail noise that’s generated by a train that is capable of 200 mph will be far different (and quite possibly louder) than what we’re accustomed to with CalTrain today.   Granted, the train will likely not be hitting those speeds on the Peninsula, but the noise element will be a big concern for many.

In reality, with all of the objections already being voiced by community leaders, it’s easy to see how the whole California High Speed Rail idea could spend the next decade or so in the court system…instead of fulfilling the dream of a high-speed rail backbone in California.

What are your thoughts on the High Speed Rail Initiative?
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Development: It May Be a Necessity for San Carlos

Small Town Feel vs Big Time Deficit

It’s ironic…the very thing that many San Carlos residents have steadfastly resisted over the years — large scale development — may turn out to be the bootstrap that pulls this town out of its financial woes.   For many years, San Carlos has resisted any type of large residential or retail developments for fear that it would erode the “small-town feel” that makes San Carlos a unique place to live.  Certainly, it has only been in the last decade or so that big-box retailers like Best Buy and Home Depot have made any headway into San Carlos, and that’s only on the east side of El Camino.  The west side still remains largely devoid of any retail chain outlets (excluding Starbucks, of course.)

But the current financial crisis in San Carlos may force us to re-think that position.

Cut Costs, or Raise Revenue

At the risk of over-simplification, those are the only two ways to erase a budget deficit.   Let’s take a look at the former — cutting costs.  The City of San Carlos has cut its budget each of the past 11 years, and is now at a point where it has chosen to disband its own police department to save money.   A similar disintegration of our fire department is certainly right around the corner too, as soon the Belmont-San Carlos Fire JPA concludes its divorce proceeding in 2011.

But even after cannibalizing itself, the City will be lucky if it can stay in the black for any significant period of time.  Note to the City Council:  Despite your pipe dream that outsourcing public safety will be provide endless years of savings, the cost of these contracts will go up.  Count on it.  The cost of living always goes up — it never goes down.  So we may very likely be right back at the same table in a few years wondering where that $2M in police savings went.

Raise revenue?   If you’re talking about taxes, there are only two ways to raise revenue — increase the rate that you tax, or increase the gross tax dollars that you take in.   San Carlos residents have made no mystery about their opinion of higher sales tax with the defeat of Measure U, and the Fire Parcel Tax a few years back.  So if a higher tax rate isn’t the solution, the City needs to bring in more raw tax dollars.

And that’s where development comes in, whether we like it or not.

Times Have Changed

The quaint, small town model that has supported San Carlos over the past 85-ish years may not apply any longer.  And San Carlos is not alone in this quandary.  Virtually every other city on the Peninsula is facing the same reality.  Only Colma seems to enjoy a sizable budget surplus, largely because they have lots of dead people and lots of shopping malls .    San Carlos won’t need to take that extreme of a measure, but look for development projects such as Wheeler Plaza, and the Transit Village to take on renewed interest with City Hall and residents alike, as the Town of San Carlos grapples to stay financially afloat in the new economy.
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Legacy Partners Updates San Carlos on Transit Village Plans.

Informational Meeting.

Last week, in a meeting hosted by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce, representatives from Legacy Partners presented an update to their vision of the San Carlos Transit Village.   For those of you not familiar with the Transit Village, it’s a concept being considered by the City of San Carlos to significantly modify the land on both sides of the historic train depot in San Carlos by adding retail space, high-end residential rental units, and additional parking.  Legacy Partners was chosen by the City of San Carlos as the lead developer for this concept.

For more information, visit the City of San Carlos page for this:   San Carlos Transit Village.

Updated Presentation.

In last week’s meeting, which was attended by about 30-40 people (including 4 of the 5 City Council members, the City Manager and the Asst. City Manager), Legacy Partners gave a fairly detailed presentation on their vision of the Transit Village, as well as any changes from previous specifications.  For example, the number of luxury rental units in the concept dropped to 280 units.    There was consternation expressed by representatives of the Greater East Side San Carlos group for lack of any mention of the impact to the residents in Clearfield Park in their presentation.

Timing for this project (if it even moves forward) is still pretty far out on the horizon.  The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) still needs to be completed, discussed, and approved before much else can happen.   Consequently, it’s going to be a few years before the first shovel of dirt is turned….if it happens at all.

Legacy Partners was nice enough to provide me with a copy of their presentation to post on the site.   Click here to download it:  Legacy Partners; San Carlos Transit Village 3-16
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Important Meetings This Week in San Carlos.

Mark your calendars! If you’re interested in the future direction of San Carlos schools or the downtown development, or if you just need a reason to procrastinate your holiday shopping even more, there are a couple of important meetings that are happening this week. I’ve already highlighted them in their respective posts, but it’s worth reminding you of them again:

Town Hall: San Carlos Schools.

Tonight – November 30. This meeting is being hosted by San Carlos School District Superintendent Dr. Craig Baker to discuss the District’s proposal to re-draw the school boundaries in order to alleviate the chronic over-enrollment problems. All of the elementary school principals will be in attendance at this meeting as well. Here are meeting details:

Monday, November 30
7:30 PM
San Carlos Library: 610 Elm Street
Conf Room A, Second Floor

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Wheeler Plaza Community Forum.

The City of San Carlos would love to hear your input on what should be done (if anything) with their Wheeler Plaza parcel, which we know better as the parking lot behind Wells Fargo Bank and Le Boulanger.   This meeting is an integral part of the “listening phase” of the Wheeler Plaza concept, so if you have any ideas about what should be done, including leaving it as-is, be sure to attend this meeting.  Here are the meeting details:

Wednesday, December 2
7:00 PM
San Carlos Library: 610 Elm Street
Conf Rooms A&B, Second Floor

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