RWC: Broadway Plaza Proposal Amended to Add 120 Affordable Units

Earlier this week, Redwood City council voted 6-1 to approve a study that will look at how amending the General Plan to allow residential in one of the city's light industrial areas would impact nearby businesses and traffic.  This comes on the heels of the Sobrato Organization announcing a partnership with MidPen Housing to build 120 affordable housing units on two parcels of land currently owned by Sobrato, located in the southeast corner of Woodside and Bay Roads.

These 120 affordable units are part of an amendment made last month to Sobrato's massive Broadway Plaza redevelopment proposal, and would help fulfill that project's city-imposed affordable housing requirement.   Sobrato's "Broadway Plaza" proposal calls for the redevelopment of the aging shopping center located at Broadway and Woodisde Road, currently home to CVS, Big Lots & Foods Co.   It would replace the existing retail strip mall with 400 market rate residential units, 420,000 S/F of office space within three 5-story buildings, and about 19,000 S/F of retail space (which will include a new storefront for the existing CVS).

City Council was enthusiastic bout Sobrato's partnership with MidPen Housing, a non-profit affordable housing developer with a great local reputation.  Just a few weeks ago MidPen purchased a 55 unit apartment complex on Rolison in Redwood City for $17.1 million in order to maintain them at below market rate.

Still, even with the MidPen partnership, this project raises some concerns.  After you take into account the 120 affordable units, Sobrato's proposal would introduce 520 new residential units around the already highly congested Woodside Rd/Highway 101 junction - where there was no residential previously.  Add a busy 420,000 S/F office complex into the mix and you've got yourself a recipe for a permanent Woodside Road parking lot.

Janet Borgens, the one Redwood City council member who voted against the study, expressed concerns that going forward with Sobrato's proposal would set a precedent for "spot-zoning", which over time could replace our industrial spaces with residential.  The southeast corridor of Bay Road, where Sobrato hopes to build the affordable housing, is a light industrial area, but it has also become something of a startup incubator.  Borgens worries that introducing residential along that stretch of Bay could threaten the incubator environment, which brings something unique and difficult to replace to our economy.

Do you have concerns about this project?  If so, you'll have plenty of opportunities to voice them.  City staff confirmed that between the citizen committee, Planning Commission and City Council meetings required for a general plan amendment, there would be seven to eight more public hearings where community feedback could be considered.

Stay tuned!

Robot Delivery Pilot Program Underway in Redwood City

In December of last year, London based Starship Technologies rolled out a 9-month pilot program of their robotic delivery service in Redwood City. Masterminded by Ahti Heinla, co-founder and former Chief Technical Architect of Skype, Starship Technologies hopes to provide autono-mous food and grocery delivery that can be implemented by existing third-party delivery services like Door Dash and Postmates (both of which became the Starship’s first official US partners this year).

At this point, Starship reports their robots have reached 90% automation, only needing remote assistance while crossing streets.  However, if you happen to run into one in the streets of Redwood City, it will likely have a human “handler” in tow. This is in part to ensure safety while the robots are still mapping out the city, but also to help with community engagement.

We recently caught up with Starship’s Head of Operations in California, Justin Hoffman, who filled us in on his company’s mission and future in Redwood City.   He informed us that while the robots currently only operate within about a 2-mile radius of their office at 234 Marshall, they hope to expand their service area by setting up additional charging hubs at various points throughout the city.   As of right now, Redwood City residents cannot specifically request robotic delivery, but Hoffman did say there’s a possibility Doordash will offer that feature by the end of the 9-month pilot.  For now, keep an eye out for these robots as you pass through Redwood City!

Read below for a complete transcript of our brief interview with Justin Hoffman:

How far do the robots deliver from your office on Marshall?

--2 mile radius is what we are initially beginning with

Are there plans to open additional charging hubs to allow a greater service area?

 --In the mid-to-long term we aim to have automated charging/delivery dispatch hubs in a given city to broaden service areas and enable greater efficiency amongst the network of robots

Which elements of the delivery process have not become fully autonomous?  When do your handlers have to step in to help?

--When a robot reaches a crosswalk, for example, the robot will ping a robot "operator" (a remote operator who sees through the robot's cameras to guide it in difficult situations) to assist it when crossing the road. Handlers currently help us engaging with the community, assisting with mapping, and managing day-to-day operations


Are Redwood City residents within your service area currently able to request robotic delivery?  If not, will they be able to at any point during the 9-month pilot?

--We currently operate through partners such as Doordash (and very soon Postmates), and at some toward the end of the pilot, you may be able to request a robot specifically for your order.

Will Starship’s delivery service ultimately be integrated into existing third-party delivery services like Door Dash?

--We actually are currently integrated already with third-party commercial partners such as Doordash. As we build more partnerships, we will be available for a variety of types of deliveries, including groceries and (e-commerce) packages as well.

Do you have plans to expand into other Bay Area cities any time soon?

--Yes, we are currently in talks with a variety of other cities in the Bay Area. We shall announce names over the coming weeks/months.

Rent Control Update: Burlingame, San Mateo, Mountain View

At the time the last RealSmart Newsletter was released, residents of San Mateo, Burlingame, and Mountain View were about to cast their vote on rent control measures. Let’s take a look at how each of those measures fared:

BURLINGAME - MEASURE R: DID NOT PASS
67.44% of Burlingame voters said no to rent control in the November election. Measure R would have tied annual rent increases to the consumer price index, but no more than 4% and no less than 1%. The rent control restrictions would apply to only multi-family homes built before Feb. 1, 1995. Also included in the measure was a just cause eviction provision which would have applied to all rentals other than owner occupied duplexes.

SAN MATEO - MEASURE Q: DID NOT PASS
60.44% of San Mateo voters rejected Measure Q, which which would have applied the same restrictions on rent increases as Burlingame’s Measure R, and a similar just cause eviction provision. No new construction, single-family homes or owner-occupied duplexes would have been subjected to either rent control or just-cause eviction.

MOUNTAIN VIEW - MEASURE V: PASS
Mountain View’s rent control measure passed with 53.6% of the vote. HOWEVER, city council has since put a temporary hold on the measure after the California Apartment Association challenged its constitutionality. The CAA subsequently filed a preliminary injunction against the measure, which will be heard by a judge March 19th. If the injunction is approved, the measure will not be enforced. If it is not approved, Measure V will take effect, tying annual rent increases to the Consumer Price Index (between 2-5%), and rolling current rents back to what they were October 19, 2015.

Rent control may have failed by a fairly large margin in both Burlingame and San Mateo, but it succeeded in gaining significant grass roots momentum. Should housing issues persist, I would expect the movement to return in force by the next election. For the sake of full disclosure, we were contributors to the $1 million+ that was spent collectively by SAMCAR and the CAA opposing Measures Q & R leading up to the election.

If you follow our newsletter, you’re probably familiar with our stance against rent control by now. But it bears repeating that while we are sensitive to the social issues driving the argument for rent control, we strongly believe it only serves to exacerbate the underlying causes of the housing crisis. For an elaboration on our argument against rent control, read our previous newsletter at: www.realsmartgroup.com/fall-2016