San Carlos Transit Village Approved: Construction Could Begin This Year

After years of planning and debate, the San Carlos transit village has officially been cleared for construction.  The development will cover 6 acres of land between El Camino and the San Carlos train station, and will consist of 202 residential units, 25,800 square feet of commercial space, a public plaza adjacent to the train station, and a multi-modal parking structure.

Resident’s Concerns

When planning began, the project was met with opposition due to concerns about how it would affect traffic.  Those concerns have been quelled for the most part as city planners and the developer working on the project, Legacy Partners, assure that its proximity to Caltrain and SamTrans stops will encourage increased usage of both public transit outlets.  Although Legacy Partners has stated that one of their main project objectives is to provide non-auto dependent housing to San Carlos residents, it is inevitable that many of the people moving into the complex will bring their cars with them - even with bus and train stops nearby.  How much of an impact this will have on traffic remains to be seen.

Another concern that San Carlos residents initially voiced to city planners was that the development would cast unsightly shadows over an otherwise sunny and pleasant area.  Legacy Partner’s addressed this concern by scaling down the size of the complex from 4 stories to three, and the number of residential units from 453 to 320, and then again to 202.

What’s in it for San Carlos?

The City of San Carlos will be able to collect property taxes on the land, which they have not been doing in its current form (right now it’s a big patch of dirt).  They will also receive $1.5 million dollars in one-time fees from Legacy Partners – a welcome chunk of money for a city that until now has not significantly benefited from the recent wave of mid-peninsula development.

Further, low inventory has kept San Carlos’s housing market congested for a while now, so the addition of 202 relatively affordable residential units should help ease competition in the area a bit.

According to an article published by the San Francisco Examiner, the project could break ground later this year.

Want to learn more about the San Carlos Transit Village?  The city has uploaded building plans, relevant documents, and videos of public hearings to their website.