SAN MATEO
REDUCING DRIVING
San Mateo is carefully addressing
parking and traffic issues in the plan area.
Minimum parking standards are noticeably
absent. Instead, every development
project above a certain size must prepare
a transportation demand management
study to determine parking needs and
traffic mitigation measures. The cost of
the study is likely to be outweighed by
significant savings to developers from
not having to build unnecessary parking
spaces. This innovative method ensures
each development comes with a plan to
encourage alternatives to driving.
A number of developments are well on their way under this plan. The largest is the redevelopment of Bay Meadows. In 2005, the City Council unanimously approved replacing Bay Meadows, an aging horse-racing track, with a new mixed-use community close to the Hillsdale Caltrain station. The racetrack’s closing was controversial, but it withstood the threat of a referendum. Phase I of the development, around the racetrack’s periphery, has been completed, and has won awards for design, planning, and landscape architecture. Phase II covers the racetrack itself, replacing the track and large parking lots with a mix of office, retail, and several housing types, with more than the city’s minimum of 10% designated as affordable homes.
Pedestrian Promenade
San Mateo has invested significant effort
in its downtown; this too falls under the
heading of transit-oriented development.
The city’s Downtown Transit Center
includes a bus stop, restaurants, and a
police station clustered around the San
Mateo Caltrain station. The city has
revitalized its historic “Main Street” area
with a first-run movie theater and a
pedestrian promenade lined with murals
and old-fashioned streetlights. San Mateo
has also stepped up housing density in
the downtown with attractive buildings
of four stories or more, most of which are
mixed-use.
The City of San Mateo met its limits to outward expansion earlier than some other Bay Area communities. It has demonstrated that not only can it continue to grow, but it can use growth to increase transit use and reduce driving. San Mateo’s innovative approaches to reducing traffic and encouraging good development will help its plans for livable, walkable neighborhoods to become reality.
A Central Focus San Mateo has embraced its central location at the intersection of three Caltrain stations, three freeways, and the job centers of San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and San Jose. It is actively working to meet the need for more housing and jobs on the busy Peninsula. The city is using transit-oriented development as a guiding framework for long-term growth, and with specific plans already in place, it is focusing on their successful implementation. Surrounded by adjacent cities and the
San Francisco Bay, San Mateo could
only grow inward and upward. The
city decided to focus new development
around its Caltrain stations and along
El Camino Real, a major thoroughfare
and planned Bus Rapid Transit line. In
2005, the City Council adopted a Rail
Corridor Transit-Oriented Development
Plan, to create mixed-use neighborhoods
within easy walking distance of several |
“I think the residents have generally liked the concept of
transit-oriented development. They may not always agree with
developers’ plans on how it gets implemented, but they can agree
it makes sense.”
– Lisa Ring, Senior Planner, San Mateo