Thursday, July 20, 2017

131 Townhouses Proposed Along RWC Waterfront

On Tuesday night Redwood City Council discussed a proposal to develop 131 three-story townhouses at 1548 Maple Street, a 7.9 acre stretch of land running along the city's waterfront.   The project would be adjacent to the Docktown Marina, which currently houses about 65 floating homes that the city is currently in the process of vacating/relocating.

The proposal also includes improvements to the section of the Bay Trail that run through the site.

Tuesday night's meeting featured the usual concerns that surround new residential development in Redwood City: affordable housing and traffic.  All 131 of the townhomes would be offered for sale at a market rate, so as it stands the project offers no consideration for affordable housing.  Commissioner Connie Guerrero asked that the developer come back with a proposal that included affordable housing, as well as an alternate proposal for a downsized project.

Another member of the Planning Commission, Shawn White, requested information on how school enrollment at Taft Elementary, and traffic along the 2.5 mile route to the school, would be affected by the development.  White suspected that since the project consists of single-family townhouses rather than apartments, it is more likely to attract young families with children.  Taft would be the elementary school that most families living at the complex would be assigned to.

The project's approval would also require the city to grant a zoning change from tidal plain to mixed-use.  The Planning Commission has already spent quite a bit of time studying zoning changes in that area during their drafting of the Inner Harbor Specific Plan, and while the IHSP was never completed, the hopes are that they can use those reports to guide them in studying a zoning change for this project.

Comments and concerns about the environmental impact of this project can be sent to lcostasanders@redwoodcity.org through Aug. 7, with future opportunities to weigh in once an environmental impact report is prepared and subsequent public hearings are held.


No comments:

Post a Comment