Hey ready.

Do it.

Good evening.

Welcome to the City of Belmont, City Council regular meeting.

It is February 10th, 2026.

We're in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, one Twin Pines Lane.

Our published agenda has all the various ways that you can participate and make public comment, including via Zoom and email and also streaming cable Comcast Cable 27, Channel 27.

So we will be going to our regular meeting schedule, which are the items starting at 7 p.m.

Item four is the pledge.

Oh, we should probably do let's do uh call to order.

We have item two is roll call, please.

Good evening, council.

Councilmember Latarello.

Here.

McCune.

Present.

Pang Mayers.

President.

Vice Mayor Jordan.

Here.

Mayor Mates.

Here.

Five through zero.

We're all present.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much.

We did not have any items before 7 p.m., which is item three.

Item four is the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please rise if you're able.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right.

Thank you for that.

Item five is the report from a post-session.

Mr.

City Attorney.

Good evening, Madam Mayor.

We did not have a closed session, so we have no report.

All right, thank you.

Item six, special presentations.

We are observing February 2026 as Black History Month.

And I have a proclamation for Black History Month, which I will read.

It's uh not too long.

Uh and then we will ask Jackie Bruno, Belmont resident and BRSSD trustee member, to join us and at the podium for a few remarks.

The proclamation states recognizing February 2026 is Black History Month, a century of Black History Commemorations.

Whereas 2026 marks 100 years of national black history commemorations, inspired by Dr.

Carter G.

Woodson and the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History to preserve study and share the history and contributions of Black Americans.

And whereas what began as Negro History Week in 1926 grew into Black History Month, now a nationwide tradition recognizing the lasting impact of black Americans on our nation's civic, cultural, scientific, and economic progress.

And whereas these observances honor the struggles, resilience, and achievements of people of African descent and affirm the importance of telling a full, accurate, and inclusive story that strengthens our democracy.

And whereas schools, libraries, museums, and communities across the country use this month to educate, reflect, and celebrate the legacy and leadership of black Americans past and present.

And whereas the City of Belmont values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and recognizes that learning and honoring black history enriches our community and our shared future.

And whereas through his leadership as a Belmont Redwood Shores School District Trustee and his professional career as a school leader, Belmont resident Jackie Bruno exemplifies the commitment to creating an inclusive environment for all.

Now, therefore, I, Julia Mates, Mayor of the City of Belmont, for and on behalf of the City Council and community of Belmont, do hereby declare February as Black History Month in the City of Belmont and especially call attention to this year's theme African Americans and the labor.

We have Jackie Bruno, BRSSD trustee here, to accept the proclamation.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you for the honor.

Thank you for your service.

I was trying to think of why I was here and maybe what I've done.

I've tried to dedicate my life to education and make an impact.

And in a city like Belmont and the places where I work, I figure sometimes the best thing I can do is show up.

And be seen and show my kids a legacy and try to keep being part of building one.

I appreciate your work.

I do know what it's like.

I've been doing it.

We're going through it right now.

And I'm here to to be visible and uh speak for those I can.

And uh I just did.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, let's do one.

Let's do one with Jackie and then we'll bring in the team.

How many of we have a line?

Yeah, we are.

Got it.

Thank you.

So much.

All right, continuing on.

We have special presentations 6B Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan Update.

There will be no photograph after this one.

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Mates and Council members.

Tonight you'll receive a presentation and update from the Sam Trans team for the Central El Camino Real Multimodal Plan.

Again, no action is required tonight.

This team previously presented the project to the council at your May 27th, 2025 meeting.

At that time, the council provided initial feedback and expressed general support for the effort.

The council also demonstrated interest for continued engagement and welcomed future opportunities to provide input as the plan advances through the subsequent development stages.

With that, let me turn it over to the Sam Trans team, Cassie Halls, and Asia Patel who will guide you through the presentation.

Thank you for your time on this tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carlos.

Thank you, Mayor Mates, as well as Vice Mayor Jordan and all the council members here tonight.

And then we also introduced this project in May of last year.

So we have some exciting updates, which Carlos described, but we are interested in getting feedback from you all on design concepts that we have for El Camino and Belmont.

We'll be using this feedback to narrow down concept alternatives, and we'll come back to you in the August-September timeframe to present the selected alternative concepts that will be advanced to the Caltrans project development process.

Okay, so I'm just going to give a quick um reminder of the broader effort and talk about the Grand Boulevard initiative to begin.

So this is an effort that Sam Trans is leading in partnership between cities, countywide agencies, Caltrans, advocates, and business groups, and GBI is serving as the implementing process for local jurisdictions to make necessary safety and mobility improvements on El Camino to ensure that there is continuity along the corridor.

And GBI builds upon local corridor studies.

So the Central El Camino Real plan that I'm talking about today is one of those local corridor studies.

Every city along El Camino in San Mateo County is doing a study like this or has recently completed one.

You'll notice that there are a couple places where, you know, in Burlingame, there's a project under construction.

So a few places are either a little farther ahead or a lot farther ahead with with Burlingame.

But most of the jurisdictions are in a similar place where they're assessing design concepts for inclusion in this process.

Okay, so the Central El Camino Real Multimodal plan.

What we're what we're trying to do is envision a different kind of corridor than what we have today.

So something that is vibrant, safe, people of all ages and abilities can use El Camino.

And the Central El Camino plan is focused on the cities of San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, and a portion of Redwood City.

Our goal is to better serve people walking, biking, and taking transit.

And then one of the things to note is that Caltrans, since this is a state route, State Route 82, as we are doing this process together with all the 15 jurisdictions on El Camino, they require studying multiple alternatives.

So even though Belmont has identified a preferred, you know, alternative in their village in your village plan, etc., this is required that you look at these various alternatives.

So today we are talking to you all about our design concepts.

Going into the summer, we'll be selecting alternatives to be advanced.

We've also done pretty extensive work with the community on assessing needs and developing alternatives.

So I can talk a little bit about our phase one engagement that we did last year.

And we are also right now in phase two engagement.

This says January to February, but we've actually extended it to March.

So we have an online survey that's available now.

We're doing other types of engagement that I'll talk about further.

And then we'll be wrapping up the plan by the end of this calendar year.

And just in terms of how this fits into the bigger picture effort that's underway.

So the Grand Boulevard Initiative effort is going to take six to eight years, maybe even 10 years, to complete the full corridor, the full 25 miles of El Camino.

And this effort fits into this first box that you see here on the left.

So we've recently completed the GBI action plan, which sets the vision for the full corridor.

And this is you know one of the local corridor studies that's being advanced to get into more of the weeds of what that will mean in terms of local local jurisdictions.

And we are will be moving into the design phase in 2027, and that's when we have to make the decision about what the preferred alternative is.

So we have a bit of time, and we have we have opportunities to do more engagement.

So phase one engagement, just to give you a high-level overview.

So we did pop-ups, virtual listening sessions, some highlights is that we did a pop-up at Belmont Music of the Park.

We also did a walk audit starting at the Caltrain in Belmont.

We did specific listening sessions for Belmont, and then we also did a community-based organization meeting with Belmont Midpen Firehouse Square apartments, and got some great input from all of those folks.

And some of the feedback that we heard is here on the slide.

So in relation to the full corridor, the full study area, we heard that there's you know congestion on El Camino at cross streets, especially near 101.

There's a need for separated bike facilities, unsafe pedestrian crossing, narrow or missing sidewalks, also a need for bus stop amenities, higher bus frequencies, and better transit priority infrastructure.

And then for Belmont specifically, we got a good 25% 24% of our survey comments related to Belmont.

There's a lot of interest in separated bike lanes, especially at Ralston and on El Camino, need for improved sidewalks and crossings, and better traffic signal synchronization.

And I called out some of the quotes that we heard from our survey here that just speak to specific intersections where people don't feel safe, such as Harbor Boulevard, O'Neill, and other places.

Okay, so I'm gonna talk quickly about the alternatives, and I know that I want to mostly save time for questions from council, but I did want to just walk through a couple key details about these alternatives.

So all of the alternatives we developed with your staff are building on previous studies that you all have done and that have been done on the county and other levels.

So for example, your comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle plan, the village specific plan, and the CAG bicycle and pedestrian plan, as well as our bus speed and reliability study we completed in 2022.

All of these improvements that I'll show you include spot improvements.

These spot improvements are kind of baseline improvements that will go in regardless of what we end up choosing in terms of the facilities.

So because of the high incident rate of collisions on El Camino, it's very important that we make safety upgrades such as traffic calming, you know, closing traffic signal gaps, adding media's lighting.

There's more here on the slide, but adding things like bus stop enhancements and access improvements as well.

So this is a lot of information, and I'll walk you through each one slowly.

But the top left, so these are all of the alternatives that are being considered.

It's three alternatives plus existing.

So starting with the top left, this is what El Camino.

Oh, I can actually control the mouse.

This is what El Camino looks like today.

So we have two lanes in each direction, and we have parking on both sides of the street.

And then going to the top right, this is a transit alternative that includes a southbound bus lane where we see you know slightly more congestion for the bus, as well as retaining parking on the west side of the street and adding wider sidewalks.

Going to the bottom left, this is a pedestrian alternative with wider sidewalks and more trees, parking retained on the west side of the street, and then the bottom right is a continuous separated bike lanes with concrete protection, wider sidewalks, and this is most aligned with the Belmont Village Plan.

And I won't have a ton of time to talk about these, the evaluation itself.

And once we come back in the summer, we can dive into this a bit more, but just to give you a preview of how we'll be evaluating these alternatives.

We'll be evaluating them on a corridor-wide basis.

So for the entire segment of this corridor, it's under you know being considered.

We have low, medium, and high rankings, and the results will be tally to determine which alternative ranks highest.

Some of these are still under developed under development, such as the addressing community input.

We'll be gathering all the input from phase two and adjusting it based on that.

Okay, I'm gonna pass it over to Asia.

Hi everyone.

Um I'm just going to talk a little bit about the community engagement that we have collected, and we'll we will continue to collect feedback from Belmont residents at Key Touch Points.

As we stated before, we released an online survey in mid-January.

Um we do plan on extending the survey up until the end of March.

So that has been updated.

Um we are also doing community-based organization meetings.

Um we are doing pop-up community outreach.

We did some at the senior center, sorry, the community and senior center.

We are also doing virtual listening sessions.

Um, we are presenting to the city council today, and we are holding a virtual community workshop in on February 26th.

How we are communicating it is mainly through social media, city newsletters.

Um, we also added this information to all of the bus stops along El Camino Real, so Route ECR, printed materials.

We are leaving, I don't know if you've seen, we we've been leaving some materials around City Hall, and we are hoping that people will skip through our code, and um yeah, we are trying to reach residents in many different ways.

So this slide kind of goes over the milestones that we have for this project.

Um, right now we are in the phase two, um, we're in the phase two timeline where we are talking about the concept alternatives, and then hopefully we can bring them back to you for phase three um to narrow down on the alternatives.

We'll have a uh deeper discussion when we get to that phase.

Um, today we're going to be collecting some of your feedback and also incorporating it when before we come back to you.

Um and then after that is the Caltrans process that Cassie mentioned.

So that's the the PID, or also known as the project initiation document.

And then the PA and ED is especially important.

Um right now it says 2027 to 2028.

Um obviously that is to be determined, but that is when we will be uh or Caltrans in coordination with the cities and all of all the stakeholders will be selecting pro a preferred alternative.

And then right now it says 2028 to 2029 for project specifications and estimates.

Of course, that is to be determined as well, but we will be using feedback on specific design details.

So that that deeper discussions will be happening.

Right now we're kind of in this brainstorming phase where we want to hear um as much as we can from residents and council.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for the presentation.

Um, so I just want to make sure I understand before we go to uh comments, uh questions from the council.

Look, it you're asking for input for the alternatives, and that was that slide.

Um can you go back to that really quick?

I just want to make sure.

So this slide, so existing is the top left corner, and then we have the transit alternative, the pedestrian alternative, the bicycle alternative.

Correct.

And depending on the feedback you get for each of those, you will then in the matrix on the next slide, uh, you will what or is that or you will figure out how it it um syncs up with Caltrans' uh with Caltrans' evaluations, or can we make sure that the alternatives already have a preferably high?

Um, you know what I mean, so that we don't again we really all decide we really love a certain alternative that doesn't meet Caltrans's criteria, too.

That's a great question.

So the alternative evaluation is something that we're leading.

Um Caltrans is ultimately the decision maker, but we are working with the cities to determine how we're gonna evaluate the alternative.

So one of the inputs is alignment with Caltrans policy, however, there's also alignment with local policy and all the other things you see there.

That the item that's going to be adjusted is the addressing community input, and those scores might change based on the feedback that we receive.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh council, let's just stick with questions right now.

Any questions for uh staff?

Uh Councilmember Pang Meganares.

So I was I these alternatives are lovely, and I was just in New Zealand, and one thing that they do in New Zealand with their bike lanes is they instead of having north on this side and south on this side, they put them together, and they have north and south going next to each other, which means that parking can still happen on this side, and it felt safer to me as I was walking the city and seeing this happen.

Have we ever explored anything like that?

I'm actually gonna have Ingrid come up who's our design lead on this.

Okay.

They also drive on the wrong side of the road.

True.

True.

Shame on them.

Uh hi everyone.

My name is Ingrid, I'm with Therampier's the consultant team supporting the San Franz team on this project.

Uh, thanks for having me.

Um, yes, that's definitely something that is explored.

I mean, you all have a it's off street, but like the right by Caltrain, you have the two-way cycle track on that side.

Um, and that's definitely something that can be explored.

Uh, one of the downsides of something like that is that then as a cyclist, if you want to access businesses on the other side or anything on the other side, you sort of need to go to the crosswalk and then crossing, and it makes um it can make intersections a little bit more difficult.

Um the other potential downside is sorry if I'm pressing things uh um is that if you have a lot of driveways, um it it's a little bit more difficult to navigate from a safety perspective because um someone pulling out of a driveway is not necessarily expecting someone like a cyclist coming the other direction.

Um so they're all things that can be definitely accommodated and designed for.

Like there's definitely plenty of examples around the Bay Area of this.

Um, but it's just some considerations that we take into account when we decide kind of which facilities to incorporate.

Um, and especially for Al Camino and Belmont, a lot of the attractions are on the west side, and so putting the two-way bike facility on the east side would kind of not allow that access on the west side, if that makes sense.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes, council member.

Oh, Councilmember Latamurlo, and then the vice mayor.

Thanks so much for being here.

This is really appreciated.

If we go to the evaluation page, um, as you guys are kind of re-looking at these scores, I it feels like the one for bicycle under um it says that it's low for public transit, and I think that's kind of worth reevaluating reevaluating.

Because I think if we make it easy for cyclists to get to like Cal the Caltrain Hub or the Sam Trans Hub, that that actually would help people to get on public transportation.

Yeah, that's a great point.

In this instance, we're specifically evaluating Alcamino like transit on Al Camino, so the buses on Al Camino, and the reason it's scoring low really is because if you look uh um the the different alternatives um for the so I will say this is a quarter-wide evaluation, it's not just for Belmont.

And so for some of the segments along the corridor, the bicycle alternative actually remove some travel lanes without uh putting a transit only lane, which would really slow down transit, and that's why that alternative specifically would score low on the transit.

I see.

So the alternatives are actually kind of scored not necessarily against the existing, but against each other.

Uh like the transit one is is gonna score high for transit, but it's not gonna do as much for bikes or whatever.

They're not necessarily against each other.

Um I would say it there's criteria under each of them, and for transit, for example, one of the criteria is: is this like is this going to um make the bus be faster, slower, or same as existing?

And if it removes a lane that the bus can be in, then it makes it slower.

Then exactly okay.

Thank you for explaining that.

I appreciate that.

And I know you guys are doing a lot of community outreach, which is which is awesome across all of the um media that you mentioned.

Um, since we have a full house of San Mateo County people here, is there like a website that they can go to that we can announce?

Yes, so it we have a website here.

Actually, I don't know if I have it on here, but it's samtrans.com backslash central central alcamino.

All one word, all one word, yeah.

Awesome.

Thank you.

And there's a board downstairs that there's a QR code that you all can scan.

Ah, cool.

Vice Mayor, yeah, just a few questions.

Uh, thanks so much for uh sharing this tonight.

So I know you had a virtual meeting on February 4th.

Was that well attended or let me see?

I thought I saw something, right?

Virtual listening sessions.

Oh, yes.

Yeah, I did attend that one, and it was well attended.

We had um, since these are listening sessions, we're seeking a kind of a smaller group, and so I think we had seven people, um, and it's intended to kind of dive deeper into those issues and understand um various folks' perspectives, and we had people representing um uh different uh housing as well as active transportation and um we're trying to remember social services.

So we we tried to draw on a variety of different great and then so the virtual community workshop is towards the end of February for the general public if they want to attend.

Yeah, okay, great.

Yeah, we can get that advertised.

One uh last question.

So in reviewing all the alternatives, and I know you're working with a bunch of different cities.

Let's just say that we here in Balmont, we pick the bike alternative.

What if other cities don't pick that?

So does it will it be continuous?

How how does that work in terms of you know the the city limits if we pick one alternative and other cities don't?

And how how would the biker move around if they if it wasn't all along El Camino?

So that's a great question, and that's why we're giving ourselves a lot of time to make these decisions, because um you know it doesn't necessarily mean you have to do the same thing as your neighbors, but you do have to think about the context and the continuousness of the facilities.

So for example, in San Carlos, there you know they have a similar set of options.

And if if for this segment, you know, San Mateo, San Carlos, Belmont, northern part of Redwood City, if you know two adjacent cities wanted to do bike lanes, for example, let's say San Carlos and Belmont, that would be a pretty decent facility.

I think if it was just one and then the other one was on the fence, that might be a reason to kind of have some back and forth with that jurisdiction.

So I think this will be a great opportunity to um you know expand across just your city boundaries and think regionally and work with all the I know you all do this already, but as a as you know, Sam Trans is is trying to help um create more collaboration across the county in that way.

Perfect.

Okay, thank you.

I'll just add one thing that on the bike specifically, we definitely look at the overall network and not just Al Camino, that's part of what we're doing as part of this project.

Is thinking of backbone bike network through the county and what is Alcamino's role in that network?

And so there might be segments.

If you look at just Al Camino, it's like, oh, it's only you know four blocks, but really is like a critical connection for some of the other uh bike facilities.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Those are my questions.

Any other questions?

Council Member McCune?

Well, yeah, so the section diagrams there, I think are kind of interesting, but the what occurs to me is that El Camino north of Ralston is quite different from El Camino south of Ralston.

And these diagrams all show double loaded, you know, buildings and sidewalks on both sides.

That's true in parts of El Camino south of Ralston, but really not El Camino North of Ralston.

El Camino North Ralston is really single-loaded on one side.

Um, and all of that diagrams show an 10 to 11 foot median.

There are places where El Camino has that now, but there's a lot of places where it doesn't.

It has maybe a skinny little median that just separates traffic.

So these are wonderful diagrams, but you know that they're um they don't describe the entirety of what's going on with with El Camino.

Um so I mean, I know there's a lot of work to do to do yet.

These are conceptual kinds of diagrams, but I once it gets into the details, figuring out what to do north of Ralston, what to do south of Ralston may be quite quite different.

I don't know if there's a question in there, but an observation maybe.

That's a great point, and that's true.

Um there's variation throughout the corridor, not just in Balmont, but throughout the whole corridor, and in order to make decisions about generally what the vision for El Camino is, we try to simplify things at first, and so that's kind of the stage we're at.

Um, but you're right that there's definitely differences, and and once we get to laying it out, we can um dig into those and kind of adjust.

Uh, what would be super helpful to hear from all of you though is what do you feel like those differences, how do you think those should be reflected in what El Camino looks like today?

Because I think that that would be super valuable input for us to then take into the next stage.

Okay, well, thank you.

That that helps us kick off the next um the next round of of comments that we'll give.

Um so this is a special presentation.

It's great we have members of the public here if you're interested.

Uh, looks like there's a numerous ways to participate and also give lens your voice and let Sam Trans know what you're thinking.

Um, colleagues, if we could share our thoughts uh with folks with the Sam Trans folks tonight on alternatives.

Um Tom, why don't uh Councilmember McCune, why don't you kind of go first since you already kind of gave your point?

Oh, should we go to public comment on special presentation?

Okay.

Let's go to public comment first.

Do we have public comments on this item?

Yes, we actually have one speaker.

Um sorry, the handwriting is a little hard to I was like Juliana.

And well, our first public speaker is coming.

Uh, uh if you have comment on this item, if you can fill out a comment card, um, and please give it to our deputy city clerk, and also if you are listening virtually, please raise your virtual hand if you have comments on this item 6B.

You'll have three minutes when you're ready.

I'm ready.

Hey all.

Hi guys, y'all have heard my comments already, but I want to share it with you.

I'm sure that you guys mostly uh would be aware of what they are, but it's a public meeting, so be sharing with everyone.

Um this is freaking awesome.

El Camino as a cyclist is just awful right now.

This is far from perfect.

I've got some comments that I hope uh will make it better, and I hope will make it better.

But I'll take good that happens over perfect that doesn't.

Surprising possibly to you all, but I've mentioned this multiple times.

Um transit is actually the most important thing to me.

Alright.

Um I'm a loon and I'll ride my bike 30 miles.

Most people aren't gonna do that.

You know, they're gonna go a mile or two to get to transit at that point.

Transit has to be the fastest, most convenient, safest way to get there.

And I'm concerned with part of this design with uh BRT being only on one side in one direction, because it doesn't do any good if you're going quickly in one direction but not the other.

Folks aren't gonna use it.

Um, so I sure hope that we can figure out how to make this work both ways.

That said, I sure hope that we can get cycling in here.

If not on El Camino, maybe Old County and similar adjustments uh up and down.

That'll mean making it one way so it's not without uh impact.

Um every road user, every road user needs to be safe, right?

So please figure out how to make it so that I can ride.

Um bidirectional bike lanes, bad.

Well, not bad.

They're better than nothing, but the problem is entering and getting out when you're going from one side to another.

If you've ever seen the Calav bike lanes, it's it's rough.

I'd again something's better than nothing, but if we can do one on each side, it's better.

Um lastly, I know we're doing this in three segments.

I know you all are reaching out to cities individually, but please, it has to be holistic and systemic.

Because if a bike line is there in San Carlos but not Belmont, if BRT is there in San Carlos, but not Belmont, you it is an exponential decrease in the benefit.

Thank y'all.

Thank you.

Uh, you still have 30 seconds, just so you know that was just a warning.

But if you're done, that's okay too.

Okay, thank you.

I'm good enough at this point to know that's a 30 second.

Thank you very much.

Thank you guys.

Do we have any other commenters?

There's no more for six feet.

And no online.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Uh bringing it back to the council then for uh comments.

Do you want to start?

Uh, Councilmember McCune?

Sure.

Um, I'm looking at the conceptual sections there.

The only thing I would have real trouble supporting is the dedicated bus lane.

I I have lived in cities that have bus lanes, for example, London.

It works great there because they have tons and tons and tons of buses that run all day long and all night long, and you know, you don't have to wait very long between buses.

That that's not the kind of bus service we have here.

We have buses that run not very often, and uh you know we we have buses, but uh it's not the kind of system where you have so many buses that you really benefit from dedicated bus lanes.

So the rest of what I'd need to study, but that one to me is a non-starter.

So anyway.

Thank you.

I mean, uh Councilmember Pang McGonair.

The one that makes most sense to me is the bicycle option that provides, you know, bus opportunity, bicycling opportunity.

The others don't provide that variety, so they don't feel beneficial to me.

So it's the bicycle one for me.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Latimella.

Sure.

I have to say I love how holistically you guys are looking at it.

It's not just a nice integration of our previous plans, the bike pet plan, the BVSP, but I appreciate adding in bus reliability.

And what you just said now about how El Camino here factors into a longer route for a bicyclist.

So I feel like you're really looking at it for all from all the vantage points.

Um like, and I agree, let's do it once and do it right.

It's like that old adage measure twice and cut once.

Let us all just cut once, right?

So of the three future options, um, I think I definitely like the bicycle one.

Um I think it reflects the facts of the world we live in.

Like, so I want to uplift what um Councilmember McCune said.

I I don't think a dedicated bus lane makes sense in our current world here.

Um, but I I I think the bicycle one really reflects the facts of the world we live on.

Cars do predominate, but also the world that we want.

More folks on public transportation, more people on bikes, more people on their feet, uh on their feet.

Um, and that one has um all of those on there.

Okay, thank you.

Uh council member uh vice mayor.

Uh yeah, I just I agree with my colleagues.

Uh I prefer the bicycle option the most.

And thank you for looking at it holistically and making sure that it can be continuous, whether it's a zigzag to county or not.

But yeah, thank you.

Yeah, it sounds like uh you've got basically this similar feedback from from most of our council.

I too think that the bicycle alternative uh for me really what did it was looking at the widths of the sidewalk.

So you have uh wider sidewalks, you do have the bike lanes, and then uh so it seems to me like the best of of all of the alternatives.

Um a couple of comments just generally speaking, I think, and you're absolutely right that uh we cities do collaborate on a lot of things because this is Sam Trans-Led, and because we're we're you know already collaborating on so many things.

If you know that you know both San Mateo and San Carlos are also looking at this, or if you can, you know, let them know and steer them this way.

I do think we it makes sense for you know, in 2030, when this starts getting constructed, let's say in 2035, it's more likely you might bike to downtown San Mateo or downtown San Carlos, or they might come into Belmont.

It it makes sense for us to have at least that central portion be very similar.

Um but if Sam trans can sort of facilitate the collaboration, um that would be great.

Um, so we did recently in San Mateo, we had a uh pedestrian that was killed uh on El Camino Real and in Belmont a few months ago, we had one as well.

I know things like this happen.

It's it's a lot of distracted drivers and people who are speeding.

Um I think to the extent that I think what we're looking at these cross sections and sidewalks are great, um, but I do think we also talked about maybe looking at ECR a little more holistically too, and to the extent that we can really talk about how to make those crossings um safer.

And um, you know, I'm also interested in understanding the relationship between Caltrans and SAM Trans and how we do this because right now, if you want to make some improvements, there's a lot of coordination that you have to do with the state, and they're also busy because they've got you know, even District 4 has has a lot of streets under their purview.

So I think that's worth you know mentioning is as this as we start this and as we start construction, there will be more communication.

There will be people things we thought that worked that don't that we may have to go back and work with Caltrans.

Um, so just kind of getting that smoothed out.

And then I think you know, finally, with any kind of plan like this, I think we just really need flexibility.

So 2030 is just around the corner.

We also didn't expect five years ago to see as many automated cars, things like that.

So, to the extent that we can make this flexible, even let's say if we decide to go with the alternative of bicycle, I don't know what 2040 will bring that will maybe make it so that we are going to change things.

So we're gonna have different ways of looking at this, we're going to want fewer lanes or uh dedicated bus lanes.

I mean, it could be that we we have to change things even as we plan.

So I think just to the greatest flexibility that we can.

We are we can't predict the future, we don't have a crystal ball, but I as much as we can kind of think about those things as we talk about this these plans, I think that would be really helpful.

Um I think you've heard from from public and and council.

Is there anything else that we missed or specific questions you wanted to ask?

Is this what you want to?

Great.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Well, thank you.

If you've if you've gotten what you wanted, appreciate you being here and uh look forward to hearing more about the uh process.

All right, then we will move on with the agenda to item seven.

Public comments on items not on the agenda.

Um this portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the body on any city matter not on the agenda.

The period for public comment at this point in the agenda is limited to 15 minutes with a maximum of three minutes per speaker.

And if you do have a uh comment you'd like to make on an item not on the agenda, please raise your virtual hand or fill out a comment card.

Um, I'll just remind everyone our code of conduct for uh public comment on this item and all of item the items on the agenda.

The mayor has the authority to rule any speaker out of order, including speakers during the public comment period.

If the subject raised is not within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council during a public hearing or general business item, if the speaker is not presenting testimony or evidence relevant to the matter, or if the speaker becomes disruptive to the proceedings and conduct of the meeting, the mayor also has the authority to order any person who willfully interrupts the meeting to be removed.

All persons are expected to always conduct themselves with civility and courtesy.

All persons giving comments shall speak directly to the council and address the issues, not individuals.

Personal attacks, cursing, and outbursts from the audience in support or opposition to a speaker are not tolerated to foster an environment where everyone feels welcome to speak.

With that in mind, um Madam Deputy Clerk, any uh public speakers for item number seven.

Yes, we have three in-house speakers and one online.

I'll call up Ellie R.

You'll have three minutes when you're ready.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, mayor and council members.

My name is Eli.

I've lived in Belmont my entire life, almost 25 years.

I grew up here, I went to school here, my family built their lives here.

So I'm speaking tonight, not as a developer, not as an investor, but as someone who loves this town and is deeply worried about where it's headed.

It feels like interests of the majority of the residents are no longer being met.

If the goal is development, why is it being concentrated so heavily in certain parts of Belmont?

While other areas, the West side, significantly more undeveloped land and largely is excluded.

The imbalance doesn't feel fair, and it does not feel like thoughtful planning.

According to city planning documents and recent reporting, multiple large housing developments are being approved or built primarily in the central and east portions of Belmont.

These include roughly a hundred and forty unit apartment project on Masonic Way, a 250 multi-unit family development downtown, and a 37 unit affordable housing project on city owned land.

At the time, much of the remaining undeveloped land in Belmont, particularly on the west side, remains designated as open space or hillside and has not been meaningfully considered for residential development.

Whether people agree with development or not, it's hard to ignore that the burden is not being shared evenly across the city.

The apartment buildings being approved feel less about meeting community needs and more about maximizing profit and expense of the current residents.

The consequences are real, higher congestion, straight infrastructure, declined quality of life, and rising costs with little benefit to the people who already live here.

So I ask respectfully.

Whose interests are being prioritized?

The people who live here or outside corporations and developers.

From where I stand, it feels like we're paying more taxes while getting less representation and less say in the future of our own town.

Belmont is not the place it was when I was a kid.

Back then, immigrants can arrive with nothing.

Work hard, buy a home, and raise a family.

Today, even if you do everything right, go to college, work hard, follow the rules, you can barely make ends meet here.

That's not sustainable.

And it's not the Belmont many of us grew up and here.

The American dream used to be possible here.

It does not feel that way anymore.

And many residents believe that the decisions are being driven more by corporate interests than community values.

I'm asking the council to slow down.

Listen to residents and think carefully about what kind of town Belmont is becoming and who it is being built for.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Up next, Jay Beard.

Thank you, Council, for taking the time to allow people to speak.

I have had the occasion to talk with Gina on the phone a couple times.

And please, please tell me if this is not your purview, I'd be happy to go.

That's fine.

I'm not trying to jump in.

But I've been a general building contractor for 38 years.

Since being in business, my experience is that the Belmont Building Department has the single highest building permit price in all of the county, including San Francisco County.

And that's it.

This is I I'm I'm a specialty contractor, so I'm not saying this is a broad range.

I'm saying in my slot uh I do a lot of building seismic retrofits in the city of Belmont.

The last permit I got was over a thousand one hundred dollars.

The last one I got in Redwood City was 202.78 cents.

There seems to be an imbalance when I talk with the folks in the building department, they say, Oh, that's the finance department.

When I went up to the finance department, they said it's the council.

So I'm here, and I'm not asking for an absolute change.

I'm asking you folks to look at it and be aware.

Um that's all I can really ask.

I wanted to have uh a couple years ago the idea that uh um business licenses would get changed.

They have, um, and they have very much for the better.

But being that I do seven to ten projects in the city of Belmont, the $300 flat fee was actually more beneficial because now I get hit with a $69 charge for every project that I do.

So taking a look at how the funding works, is it equitable?

Is it kind and is it necessary?

But thank you.

I appreciate the time.

I don't really have a lot more.

I just need to have the council and the city be aware because it's it seems like there's a disconnect.

Um I spent this past week with Michael Callahy and Steve Monowitz down in the county building department, and getting those two gentlemen here was quite quite amazing because I sat down with Steve Monowitz for almost two hours and going through how things are working, um, and talking with them about their building department.

I get it that it's difficult that there's multi pieces and multi-layers, but maybe it's time for those layers to start talking to each other and figure it out.

Thank you.

You have a great evening.

Thank you.

Up next, Juliana.

You remind me to drop this thing down so you just have to come out and drop the microphone.

Um, I'll take bike lanes on El Camino.

Um, I maybe we'll chat with some of you to try and convince you that BRT is more valuable, but um as long as we're talking bike lanes.

How am I supposed to?

How are folks who are less confident than I am supposed to get to El Camino when Ralston between South Road and El Camino is exceptionally dangerous.

I've submitted some ideas.

I've continued to submit ideas to the PTSC, but I sure hope that y'all will lead and give direction because the current directive.

Every transit cyclist, not somebody riding recreationally, somebody who rides as a way to get around, finds the notion of riding through two parking lots and down Emmett.

A non-starter.

I don't know who came up with this idea.

It's just loopy.

Have you ever gone down Emmett at uh when the shopping centers are busy?

Yeah, no, I'll um I'm gonna skip eight different entrances with people looking for cars.

I'm gonna skip two parking lots where people are backing out.

Um there's more than enough space on Ralston.

We have over 200 parking spots downtown.

I know, I counted.

Um getting rid of 16 should be a no brainer.

Folks sometimes say that we uh have special events that require them.

The biggest special event in Belmont is the water dog run.

Guess what?

We eliminate parking there for the biggest event we have.

So please, I say this a number of times.

I don't want to get hurt.

I've sent you videos of the number of times that I've had close calls.

And if you really want folks to use El Camino on their bike, they gotta get there first.

Please make Ralston safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other speakers?

Uh we have one online speaker.

Is it Junius B?

It's Julius B.

Oh, good, yeah.

Hi, good evening, you can go ahead and speak.

Junius B.

Good evening.

This is not Judy's B, this is back Max Reinhardt.

I think uh somebody had my Zoom account changed.

Um I'm here to speak this evening about uh certificates of compliance, specifically uh exceptions and viewing uh certificates of compliance, which have been subject to either a lot line adjustment or a merger as being exempt.

In the city of Belmont, they view a lot line adjustment, which is very specifically written into the legislative code from the state of California as an exemption, and it is recognized.

Uh, however, lot mergers are not recognized as being exempt from the need for a certificate of compliance.

And this runs contrary uh to San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and numerous cities within side of San Mateo County's legal opinions and stance that is uh given out to property owners, potential property buyers during the development and planning process.

And you know, having the pleasure of listening to the central ECR multimodal plan being presented here tonight.

You know, I think driving for continuity is a good goal to have, and I think it's reasonable uh to try to understand for me as a citizen and a property uh owner and a real estate agent who deals a lot in the land, in particular in places like the northwest section of the city where sometimes people seem stifled to development.

Uh why there is a differing opinion in terms of why there do not see these as exempt.

And I still have not been provided an answer, and so I hope that the council will look into this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have one more in-house speaker, and I'll call up Chris Liu when you get a moment.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Chris Lew, community library manager at the Belmont Library, and I'm here briefly tonight to share some upcoming programs that reflect the library's role as a space for early learning, teen engagement, and essential adult services.

First, I'm excited to share that the Belmont Library will host the Peninsula Library's 11th annual Young adult Novelist convention, or YA Novcon on Saturday, February the 28th from 11 a.m.

to 4 30 p.m.

YA Novcon is a free half day convention that connects local teens and young adult readers with contemporary YA authors.

The day begins with a teen writing workshop led by novelist Ariel Vinson, followed by a keynote address by author Don Martin.

The programs also include a QA session, three panel discussions tied to this year's themes, fantasy versus reality, escape into fiction, and concludes with author book signings.

In addition to teen programming, we're also offering a special event specifically for children and families on Thursday, February 19th from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The Belmont Library will host Are You Ready to Learn, an interactive music program led by Grammy nominated musician Andre Theory.

This program includes or introduces children and their families to the Creole culture and Zydeco Music of Southwest Louisiana, blending African and Native American blues, French Creole dance music, and Afro-Caribbean influences.

Children are encouraged to sing, dance, and learn about instruments like rub boards, drums, and accordions in a lively hands-on setting.

Your kids will have a blast, I promise.

Finally, I like to let the community know that the Belmont Library will again host free Vita tax preparation assistance for qualifying individuals.

This service runs Saturdays from February 14th through April 11th.

Participants must complete a brief Vita self-screening to determine eligibility, and then they can schedule an appointment by calling the library's customer care line at 833-937-7625.

The self-screening is available online at smcl.org slash taxes hyphen 2026, or you can come to the Belmont Library in person and request the screening there.

Thank you for your time.

I wish you all a wonderful evening.

And I hope everyone navigates the roads home safely.

It's quite rainy and slippery, so be safe, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That will conclude our speakers in-house and online.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Thank you to our public commenters.

Moving on to item eight, council member announcements.

Council members, any announcements?

Councilmember Lauder Merlo.

There is now a new section in our Belmont Weekly News.

Development Corner has the updates on all the building and development projects that are happening now and are coming to Belmont.

And it is delivered right to your email box.

So this new corner helps to make sure that our community stays in the know about construction projects.

And you can sign up on our website at Belmont.gov slash sign up.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Jordan.

I'll just piggyback on that.

It's we do have it on our website, but it's also, did you say it on the weekly news as well?

Yeah, and you can sign up on the website for the perfect.

So I'm sorry, make sure you all sign up for that.

That was all on my announcements too.

Great.

Councilmember, Councilmember McKeon.

Um, I just have a couple.

Uh I attended the Lunar New Year event uh this weekend that was sponsored through our city and uh Parks and Rec, our uh amazing Parks and Rec folks and um the libraries, our library manager still here.

Uh it was a great event, really well attended, um, unicycles and all kinds of just things we hadn't seen before.

Every year I go.

Uh, I think we have more people.

I didn't ask uh about the official count, but hundreds and hundreds.

Um, so a great, great celebration uh celebrating the year of the fire course.

Uh also just a couple of reminders coming up.

Coffee with a cop join the Belmont Police Department on February 11th from 7 30 to 9 a.m.

at Pete's in Belmont on Al Camino Real for Coffee with a Cop.

Um, and then uh shoot 360 ribbon cutting.

Join the Chamber San Mateo County for the shoot 360 ribbon cutting.

That's um a business located at 23 Cairn Road and the ribbon cutting will be on Thursday, February 26th at 4 p.m.

If you do plan to attend, please RSVP to Allison Follett via email at Allison at Chamber SMC.org.

Um, this will be, I think what, the third uh ribbon cutting for a small business in Belmont in the last few weeks.

So uh very exciting.

All right, moving on to item nine, which is consent business.

These um business items are considered to be routineed in nature and will be enacted by one motion unless a council member or staff requests specific items to be removed for separate action, and the city attorney will read the title of the ordinances to be adopted.

Do any council members or staff members have either questions or comments or items that you'd like to be removed on these two um items?

Approval of minutes and eight fifteen old county road apartments resolution.

Oh, okay.

Uh let's go to public comment.

If you have public comment on the consent calendar, please raise your hand or fill out your comment card.

Any virtual or in person?

We have for just this is for the consent.

Yeah, we don't have any speakers online or in-house.

Okay.

Uh then we can go ahead and entertain a motion.

Move approval.

Second.

Roll call.

Council member Lattermillow?

Yes.

McCune.

Aye.

Pang Menganares.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Jordan.

Yes.

Mayor Mates?

Yes.

Consent passes five to zero.

And we do not have any ordinances.

All right.

Then we will move on to item 10, public hearing.

10A is Charles Armstrong's school expansion product project.

And we have assistant planner Ruiz here with us and other in our director, development director, Carlos de Mello.

Yes, good evening, Mayor Mates, members of council.

Thank you for your time on this item tonight.

We have Jeremy Ruiz, our assistant planner, who's going to walk you through a presentation.

He was here before you in November of 2025, and you were kind and gentle at that time for him.

We had a nice uh session on the project.

Again, tonight is the public hearing for the project.

And we certainly are gonna have a presentation from staff, presentation from the applicant.

We would ask that the council hold questions if possible for both staff and an applicant, to allow both of these to occur.

So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Jeremy, and he's got uh about 19 slides you're gonna run through, and then we have the applicant's presentation.

So let me turn the microphone over to Jeremy, and I'm gonna slide this way.

And thank you for your time on this tonight.

Hello, Commissioner or Council members, pardon.

Um this is for 1405 Solana Drive for Charles Armstrong.

So for the presentation uh agenda for tonight, we will go through the project description, followed by background entitlements process, the summary of the entitlements, uh, the applicant presentation, and then followed by lastly by questions.

Uh so for the project description, the proposed Charles Armstrong School Expansion Project will facilitate constructing new buildings in two phases.

Uh, phase one would be requiring the 11,900 square foot academic wing.

Uh, that is projected to be done if it were to be approved uh this year of 2026.

Later down the line, phase two, uh, which features the 11,000 one hundred square foot athletic building is approximated to occur if approved uh during the 2031-2032 time frame.

Uh therefore there will also be additional site improvements that would occur along the way.

These include uh the landscaped plaza, stormwater management system implementations, slope stabilization improvements, as well as just general utility infrastructure uh implementation as well as on-site improvements for the existing uh in terms of proposed school operational changes.

Uh, the school is seeking to increase the year their enrollment cap from the current 260 students to 290 students and extend hours of operations during the weekdays.

They are extending uh their current hour of operation from 7 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

Uh this should be noted that it is an increase of one hour from their current 9 p.m.

closure time and during weekends.

That is their new uh seeking uh for they're going to be asking for a 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

allowance to occur for a weekend access, with as they currently do not have campus access allowed by the school staff.

Uh furthermore, they're seeking to increase their faculty staff cap uh to 85 total, with no projected changes to their administrative and support staff count.

So the required entitlements for this location uh due to the project scope, would be the amendment to the planned development zone property.

This is just to encompass the amended conceptual development plan, which is known as the CDP, which would contribute to the new construction, school operational standards, as well as their increase to development standards by the permitted floor area for the campus, as well as their enrollment gap.

The conditional use permit is required as it establishes the new detail development plan, which is the actual details of what they're trying to propose.

The detailed development plan also will include the project plans and the performance standards as well as conditions of approval.

Design review as they are evaluating the site planning, the buildings and landscaping proposed for the site.

As that is required for their combined excavation and fill as it exceeds the 50 cubic yards that is normally permitted, as well as e-tree permit, which has been revised to remove 36 protected trees to accommodate their development of their proposed buildings, as well as the one-to-one ratio of replacement trees required for mitigation.

And but it should be noted the applicant is currently still proposing 39 replacement trees, which is more than the noted one-to-one ratio.

In terms of background, there was outreach that occurred throughout the previous year.

On August 5th, 2025, the National Night Out Event occurred, and the Charles Armstrong discussed projects with interested neighbors.

October 16th of that year, Charles Armstrong School held their official neighborhood outreach session, which was held on site, and they presented the project specifics and received attendee comments and responded to said questions that the attendees may have had during that period.

On November 4th, the planning commission had a study session where us the staff introduced the project and gave the overview of scope.

The school also made presentations on the project scope, and both staff and school responded to comments received by the commission as well as public receptions.

No commission was required for that action during that study session.

And then if you were to remember of last year in November, following the city council held this item as a general business item, where we, as the staff outlined the project scope as well as the school.

The school also further had their own presentation on the project, and staff in school responded to the council comments and questions and received public comments once more.

No council action was required at that time as it was just a general business item.

Now for the process, this is the proposed conceptual development plan.

In terms of the lot summary, the minimum lot size for this area is noted to be 4.92 acres.

This is 215,350 square feet.

The maximum floor area that will be permitted on this site is a total of 53,579 square feet.

And this brings the maximum floor area ratio to 0.25.

The proposed setbacks for the conceptual development plan will be having a front setback of 30 feet, a left side setback of 25 feet, a right side setback of 15, and a rear of 15.

The maximum height for any of the buildings will be 40 feet.

So they're also proposing conceptual development plan changes to the proposed permitted uses.

Here are the following list.

It notes the private school will be increasing to the 290 students and 85 staff members, which would include that supporting accessory activities as well as uses such as the classrooms, a gym, kitchen, and a multi-purpose room.

We are continuing community recreational use of their current athletic fields and playgrounds and other recreational facilities after school hours.

And then we are noting that there will be extended access for staff in small group activities on the campus until 10 p.m.

on weekdays specifically.

Further noting that they are again asking that allowance for weekend access to the campus for school staff during the hours of 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

Furthermore, they're seeking to allow 12 weekend events annually, which would involve 25 or more attendees.

These would be school-wide gatherings, accredited accreditation visits or graduations.

And outside of that, there is the permitting of three annual Saturday evening events, which could be musicals or alumni gatherings or benefit events, which again would abide by the 10 p.m.

rule.

They're also seeking to do authorized dismissals on nearby neighborhood streets for up to four annual specific events to ease traffic congestion.

The staff here, I will let the applicant will provide further information on that if you have further questions.

And furthermore, they are seeking an official coordination of shared use of the McDougall Park for the limited weekend or additional weekday access, including uh during the school four-week summer program.

This should be noted that they're not asking for additional exclusive use of the McDougall Park.

Uh they are just codifying the coordination of the shared use uh with of McDougall Park, which is noted by the Parks and Rec jurisdiction.

So, in terms of the current operations for a summary, um, this will be for the current and proposed.

Uh, the student population is currently 260 total.

Uh, they're proposing an increase of 30 to 290.

The employee population is currently at 76, going to 85.

The parking is existing of 85 and maintaining that 85 count.

The weekend hours of operations uh will be maintained or is currently from 7 a.m.

to 9 p.m.

and increasing from 7 a.m.

to 10 p.m., one hour extended.

Um they are currently are seeking for weekend access to the school site.

Uh, these will be between the hours of 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

where they currently have none.

And for in terms of events, uh, they are seeking for 12 weekend events with three annual Saturday events.

So in blue, um, in terms of this for color coordination, these are the actual proposed detailed development plans.

Uh, phase one is marked in that blue area for clarity.

Um, that will be the academic building wing.

Uh, that is noted to be 29,677 square feet, and there will be the building A, B, and C for their breakdowns of their proposed square footage.

Uh phase two is the athletic building, um, that is the gymnasium and kitchen and as well as other ancillary support systems for those.

And that total comes out to be 11,126 square feet.

The total proposed floor area for this site, uh, based off the existing buildings as well as proposed, will go to 52,696 square feet, and with the noted FAR of 0.246.

Just a quick clarification for the phase one.

Uh, it's not 29,677.

If you add up the three totals for the academic wing, it's about 11,900 square feet.

So just a slight carryover typo.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're back.

I'm back.

Um, it should be noted that the FAR total of 0.246 is within the conceptual development plan of 0.250 maximum limitation.

For the criteria, uh, this would be the noted CDP standards for the actual development restrictions as well as the proposed project.

Uh, for the height of the conceptual development plan, there is a maximum limitation of 40 feet, with the proposed project having no more than 34 feet two inches for the highest portions of academic building B, and the athletic building being 32 feet, which is in the phase two.

Uh, it should be noted the academic wing is phase one, and that is no, it's about six feet uh less than what is the conceptual development plan is noting, eight feet less for the athletic building, which occurs for phase two, which is approximately 2031-2032 development proposals.

For the setbacks, uh the minimum requirements for the front again is 30 feet, the left side being 25, right side uh being 15 and the rear being 15.

So in this image, you can see the renderings for the campus aerial.

The current existing is the brown roofed uh portions of this uh, there you go, of this trident shape building.

And the new proposed locations for these buildings over here, uh, just north of the trident is the academic wing in the chrome, as well as to the right of it will be the actual athletic building portions uh that will be facilitating for the athletic building as well as that uh ancillary kitchen uh area for cooking.

And this is just a representation for the academic building where you can see the proposed uh new facility and how it steps up and follows the grade, uh, generally talking away their proposed buildings to give a more humanistic scale.

So on January 6, 2026 of this year, the Planning Commission was held in order to hear and make recommendations.

The applicant and staff presented this project and responded to the Commission's questions as well as hearing the public comments.

It was very well attended, and we heard comments for supporting and concerns from the public.

In terms of the conceptual development plan in CQL categoric exemption, the planning commission deliberated on the CDP resolution and affirmed that the conceptual development plan establishes overarching development standards and permitted uses for the full campus project of phase one and phase two.

The commission here unanimously voted 6 to 0 for the recommendation of city council approval on the conceptual development plan and SQL category categorical exemption.

For the detailed development plan as well as the other entitlements, the planning commission was unable to reach a consensus regarding the phase two athletic building.

They discussed sighting, design appearance, and overall just aesthetics for rather than the if the proposed building would be appropriate.

The commission considered several potential amendments and motions.

However, a majority was unable to reach consensus on the phase two athletic building details.

As such, no motions were receiving enough sufficient support, and the commission did not take affirmative action on the detailed development plan or its other related entitlements.

Regarding that though, the applicant did receive feedback and heard from the January 6th Planning Commission meeting.

The general feedback concerns regarding the 22-foot height of the athletic building wall that is closest to the residential areas that it faced, these being generally the San Carlos region, and comments about articulation design of said wall and the proximity of that wall.

For the Charles Armstrong School proposal, the side building closest to the neighboring properties was voluntarily reduced to this 12.5 feet height immediately, and the parapet had shifted approximately 28.5 feet away from the property line and also reduced to an overall height of 19.5 feet.

You can see here that this new parapets area was stepped back for the second story step back to showcase that they did articulate further to address and try to meet the feedback that they heard on January 6.

And in terms of this, this was the original rendering on for the athletic building that was showcased on the January 6th public planning commission meeting.

You can see on the right side of the building that it's predominantly a straight wall.

It didn't have a second story step back, and it did phase close to the residential areas for the right side.

And then you can see how they centralized the massing at this top, reduced the overall height.

They made sure that the walls closest to its adjacency to the residential neighbors were overall also reduced so that way it's not just one straight wall, but instead a tiered system.

So they did address this by changing the landscape plan as well as the tree removal portions and modify them.

So for the landscape plan modifications, they were able to reach out to the arborist and retain three of the existing oak trees clouded in this red area and added and shifted four new trees adjacent to the proposed new athletic buildings to provide further screening to the neighboring properties.

This did decrease the number of tree removals required as initially cited, being from 39 when we introduce it to the planning commission to now 36, where we are introducing to you all.

The skill, the school will, however, still plant 39 replacement trees, which would exceed our code requirements.

In short, the staff recommends that the city council takes the following project actions, which is to take public comments that you will hear today, consider the planning commission recommendations.

Introduce the ordinance approving an amendment to the conceptual development plan for the school, review the resolution approving the detailed development plan, conditional use permit, design review, grading plan permit, tree removal permit for the project, and finding the project exempt under the SQL guideline 15314.

And should this action should occur, this would include endorsing the school's proposed modifications to the rear portion of the phase two athletic building.

That said, I will leave it now to the applicant presentation.

Thank you, Jeremy, and thank you, Carlos.

We really appreciate all the work.

We know you guys have put a ton of work into this over the last year plus, so thank you very much.

Good evening, council members.

Uh, it's a pleasure to be with you.

Um, I want to start out with a few thank yous.

Um, first of all, thank you to all of you.

Uh, we really appreciate your service to the city of Belmont.

I appreciate how much time you have already spent on this project and uh appreciate the deliberations that you're gonna have tonight, which are deeply meaningful to our school.

Uh, I want to thank we have a lot of faculty and staff here who've got to be up early teaching the students, uh, and our board members.

So I want to thank all of them for showing up and being here.

I really appreciate that.

Uh I want to thank one in particular, Alyssa World, who's been our leader of this entire project and has done just an incredible amount of work, literally, I think spending four or five years on this.

Uh, and I want to thank all of the neighbors for being here.

Uh, whether they view things the same as we do or have a different view on this project.

Uh I think we all agree that civic engagement is great, and a room full of people who care about something is frankly good for all of us.

So uh want to acknowledge that.

So tonight, uh council members, each of you individually and as a collective city council will determine Armstrong's future.

You will determine whether we move ahead with academic innovations that will better serve students with dyslexia.

You will determine whether we can offer stronger specialty programs, art, music, PE, to build students' skills and confidence.

You will determine whether we can serve a modest, modest number of additional students, knowing that every additional student we serve changes that student's life, and I'll argue their family's life forever.

I feel confident that you all recognize that the plan we have presented is not really about the buildings.

It's about the academic space to improve our educational program.

As one Belmont resident said to us during this process, quote, one of the greatest things you can do with space is improve educational opportunities.

And I couldn't have said it better.

So let's start by reminding everybody of Armstrong's mission.

Perfect timing term, to unlock the unique potential of students with dyslexia and related learning differences changing the trajectory of their lives.

We love our students and we know their potential.

They're not students you should feel sorry for, they are creative, thoughtful, hard-working, kind, reflective, and more than capable of changing the world.

I hope by the end of the night we are celebrating their successes and the success of our school.

We're a small but very important part of the fabric that makes Belmont's public parochial and independent schools a very valuable city asset.

So what we're gonna do is uh I recognize we're gonna have a lot of people want to speak.

We're gonna try to keep it very concise.

We're gonna try not to repeat anything we said to you back in November, though you've probably done a lot of things by then.

I will touch on a couple of things just to make sure we have some of the facts straight, and then I'm really gonna spend most of my time just giving you the why, why we're doing this and expounding a little bit on my comments from November.

So, in terms of who's gonna speak, I'm gonna get us started.

Saranese uh from our architect is gonna fill a little more detail, though.

Jeremy covered the kind of key changes that we made, and that is really important here.

You know, we listened, we went to the Planning commission, we got feedback really about one very narrow thing, and that is how the back of the gym looked to the neighbors, and we absolutely made adjustments to that.

Then Kelly Sortino, the head of school at Crystals, who also serves on our board, will say a few words.

We're gonna have one of our students, if he's still awake, uh, join us for uh join us for a little bit.

That's not because it was boring, it's just you know, he's an eighth grader.

Of course.

Uh, and then finally, Mark Moore, uh, the chair of our board of trustees, and each of those folks should be speaking just to give an idea for two to three minutes, so we're not extending our applicant time here too too long.

So we can flip ahead to the next slide.

So again, we've covered a lot of this previously, but just to kind of set the stage, uh, we moved to Belmont in 1984, so we are not new to the neighborhood.

We are not new to the community.

I would argue we're a central part of the community.

Uh, we've been here 41 years.

We typically serve 230 to 250 students, grade second through eighth grade, though we are expanding to first grade this year because there's more early identification of students, and we're hoping to give them a place to go.

Uh, we, as you heard earlier, have 76 faculty and staff, 12 of them live in Belmont and San Carlos.

So a lot of them are local, a lot of them would love to live really close to school.

Approximately 30% of our students receive tuition assistance.

Sometimes people think about independent schools and think they're very uh privileged.

We serve a significant uh broad range of socioeconomic students, and we have students who are receiving upwards of 90% of full tuition to come to our school.

We also have approximately 40% of our students who identify as student students of color.

We love the diversity of our student population.

And I won't go through all the details, but as you've heard me say previously, uh, we are different than a typical school.

Everything we do is centered around students with dyslexia, students with learning differences, from the size of our classes to the people who teach to how we speak to the students, and that's what's makes our school special.

We just align everything, and you'll see in in addition with this expansion, we're trying to be very thoughtful and continue to do to do the same.

Okay, skip ahead.

Alright, so the next two slides are kind of the heart of my presentation, which is the why.

And I hit these briefly in November, but want to expound on them a little bit now.

Let's grab a few notes just to be safe.

So there's really six reasons that we can identify.

The first is just uh the first four, frankly, have nothing to do with expanding the number of students we serve.

They're all about just doing a better job of serving our current number and our current and our existing students.

So space absolutely limits our educational program.

Uh we do small group learning for a lot of things, particularly for math and for structural literacy, but really all of our classes are smaller than you typically would see in a neurotypical school.

And the reality is we uh we keep innovating, we keep coming up with great ideas on how to make groups even smaller, try different things, and we have run out of space.

I my middle school director who's here has basically said to me without even doing anything, we're we're already three rooms short for best serving our middle school students.

Now I do have some existing parents here.

I want to assure them we we absolutely still have a program that has full fidelity, but the reality is it takes a lot of work in terms of scheduling, and sometimes we have to shut down ideas because we frankly don't have the space for those ideas.

So, number one reason is our current program is just is space constrained, and additional space would really let us continue to be innovative.

Second, uh, as I mentioned before when we spoke, uh we are really believing a strength-based education, and part of that is having really strong specialty programs.

And what we call specialty programs are things like art, uh, movement, music, P.

I'm probably leaving something out and gonna get in trouble tomorrow.

Design thinking.

Uh, and so those are programs that our students often excel at.

They'll find maybe they really struggle with reading, but they're great with music, or maybe they really have trouble with with math, but they're a great athlete.

And those those are not just a matter of building up skills, those are all about building their confidence.

A lot of what we do as a school, again, that I hope most schools do, but it's particularly important at our school, is building confidence.

And this strength-based programming is a really important part of it.

The problem is we've got a great program, we've got outstanding faculty, but in almost every area, our space to do these things is insufficient and in some ways deficient.

And so we really, uh, as you've seen in terms of how we're approaching it, we will have new space for design thinking.

We'll have uh a new space for art right next to it so there can be a lot of collaboration.

We'll have new space for music.

I won't go through through everything, but we are doing this in part because we realize our current spaces, even relative to a lot of public schools and other independent schools, kind of you name it, a lot of our spaces are smaller and not sufficient for the level of program we want to have here because that is what one of the ways in which we celebrate our students.

So that's number two.

Third, you've heard us talk about this before.

There's just certain facilities we don't have that most K through eight, particularly middle schools, don't have.

We don't have a gym.

Again, a lot of middle schools have gyms.

We don't have a kitchen to prepare meals.

That is all sorts of equity issues, and most schools have an ability to serve their students meals on campus.

We don't have a faculty workplace.

It's absolutely embarrassing.

Faculty will work outside, they'll work in their cars.

It's really kind of one of the things I'm most embarrassed about about our school.

We don't even have a conference room.

I mean, we use every square inch we can for our students, and so these are not some extravagant things.

We're not building 10 squash courts.

These are, I shouldn't make fun of that, but uh, but we are trying to do things that really are core to most schools, and so this is not from some dramatic expansion to do things that are frivolous.

These are things that most schools have that we just don't have.

Fourth, and this is probably the most interesting one, is we've inherited this space, it's great space, and we've certainly improved it over time.

We've never added one square foot, which makes us very different in 40 years.

We've never added one square foot.

Most schools of any kind can't say that.

But what this uh expansion allows has allowed us to do is to work with our architects who have been amazing and design the space specifically for students with dyslexia and related learning differences.

So there's all different elements of that, and I'm gonna read a couple of them: daylight and natural ventilation, natural materials, technology-enabled, uh writable uh surfaces, acoustic enhancement, flexible furniture.

You get the idea.

There's a whole lot that goes into designing space so it can be most effective for students with learning differences, and we've been able to do that here.

We've been able to start for the first time with a blank slate and say, how do we make the space particularly effective for our students and tailored to our students?

And that has been a very unique why in terms of this project.

And then there's two that are related to the number of students, and again, these will sound familiar from November, and they're a little bit different for the younger students and for the middle school students.

Uh, as I mentioned last time, the Senate uh for the for California passed Senate Bill 114 that began mandatory testing of all K first graders and second graders in public schools in California for reading difficulties that just started this year.

Uh by definition, many more students are going to be identified with reading difficulties.

They may not call it dyslexia, but it is dyslexia.

And so we are expecting, and we're starting to already see the beginnings of people that say, Oh, I've had this assessment, what do I do with it?

And I hope we're not the only solution.

I hope public schools are a solution.

I hope every school is a solution, but we do think we're going to be an important solution for some students who can't be served other places.

So we're expecting a wave or at least some level of wave over the coming years for lower school.

We've also seen the research, and we've done our own research to show that early intervention absolutely makes a difference.

There's just no question a student that starts Armstrong in second or third grade ends up in a stronger place by eighth grade than a student that starts with us in six or seven.

That being said, there are still a lot of families, and we understand there's a lot of reasons why who wait to middle school.

And our demand for middle school is just through the roof.

Uh, I've grown it a lot in the time I've been out of school.

We used to cap each grade at 36 students, now we kind of go up to 45.

Doesn't make me popular with the teachers when they're grading writing writing papers, but you know, we're doing everything we can.

The reality is we need more space to serve more students.

We just looked last week at our sixth grade applicants, and we think maybe we can take five, given who's leaving uh after fifth grade.

And the reality is we already know we're probably gonna have at least 10 students who are perfect fits for our school, and we have absolutely no space for.

So we don't want to do that.

We want to serve every student we can who belongs at Armstrong and who fits with our academic program, and right now we can't do that, clearly can't do that in the middle school.

So those are kind of six of the reasons why.

There's probably others, but I thought that was strong enough to make the case.

So as you're hearing from everybody else tonight, you're gonna hear all sorts of things I realize about why to do this, why not do this.

I really hope to keep coming back to those to those six.

Um, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this because I am sensitive to time, but I do want to uh remind you all that we don't take our presence in Belmont for granted.

Um we love this city, it's been great.

We love going down to Lenordies, we know people by name.

Sharon lets us cut in line, Caddy lets us cut in line.

Like we're really well connected there.

Um we live in a and and work in a beautiful, safe neighborhood, and we don't take that for granted at all, especially in today's world.

Uh, and we also appreciate that for 40 plus years we've had access to McDougall Park during the day, during the school day, and we don't take that for granted.

And we also know, and I've I've mentioned before, we also really feel like we're good neighbors and do a lot for the community.

And again, I won't read everything on the list.

We've had over 175 students from Belmont and San Carlos come to the school.

We've done free training for the Belmont Redwood Shores School District teachers around dyslexia.

Again, I can let you read the read the rest.

I will say we had one sort of very visible Belmont resident who will go and name who basically said just as long as I know we can still park for softball in your big lot and there's plenty of overflow parking.

I can live with this this uh I can be excited about this project because we know that extra parking we provide, which we don't have to provide, literally saves these neighbors from having cars parked outside their door all weekend long during soccer and softball season.

So again, I'll I'll leave those for the record and won't go through all of them.

Now, an important part of the neighborhood, I want to mention one one particular thing that's likely to come up, and it's a little awkward to talk about, but one thing that I was sensitive to is when neighbors mentioned emergency vehicles getting to our neighborhood because that is that is a serious that's serious business, and we would never want to interfere with that.

Now I will say this was absolutely not planned, but I do want to share with you.

Literally a week ago, we had an emergency at our school during drop off where somebody we had to call 911 and primary except to come to our school.

And the reality is like they got there, they got there quickly.

The person was able to get to the hospital.

Thankfully, they were perfectly fine and treated at the hospital, and they're totally okay, but it was not intended.

I promise you, we were not uh we're not that uh we're not that motivated to actually get this done, but it was a good test.

And the reality is emergency vehicles can get through to our neighborhood because you know what?

Belmont residents are considerate when emergency vehicles come, they pull to the side of the road.

There's plenty of ways to get up.

I realize there's one way into our neighborhood.

We absolutely respect that.

But the reality is we had a real life example of it, and it is something that I don't think is a legitimate reason not to go ahead with this because emergency vehicles will get there.

So that was part of the feedback, and the other part of the feedback was around uh how far the gym was from the neighbors.

So if you switch to the next slide, I think there should be some.

So I want to call up Sarah Nyes, who uh is an associate principal and the K 12 academic practice leader at Ratcliffe, and she'll just walk through quickly because you've seen it already from uh from Jeremy just a little bit about the project and specifically how we addressed the commissioner's question.

Thank you now.

Okay, we can do the next slide.

Jeremy did a great intro.

Just to orient you again, looking at the site plan in this orientation.

McDougall Park is on the lower left, the existing school is at the top of the page, and we have the lower blacktop where the school currently does the pickup and drop off.

And the proposed project includes the new academic building, which is near the existing classroom building, so that makes a lot of sense from a circulation perspective.

The athletics building maintains an existing fire lane to the north, has a plaza to the east that unites the two projects and maintains the existing pickup and drop off.

The space that Jeremy had mentioned about some revisions is down here at the kitchen area of the gym facing the San Carlos neighbors.

The academic building massing is seen here.

We have this undulating roof, and as he mentioned, the project is really nestled into the hillside, and the view of the gym from the protected plaza area is here.

And I think for most of my presentation, I want to just take a guide you through some diagrams of the revisions that have occurred since the last time you saw the project.

So this is a series of diagrams.

This is a section through the kitchen.

We can look at the one on the left.

This is the athletics building with the gym portion and the kitchen, which is documented here.

You can see this red line depicts the allowable massing envelope per zoning code.

So we have a height restriction here.

We have 15 feet, it's the closest we could be to that property line.

We have previously proposed and continue to propose over 18 feet away from the property line.

And the last iteration of this showed that 22 foot high parapet wall, which enclosed mechanical equipment serving the kitchen.

Since the January 6th meeting, we've uh looked at this again, and together with the school came up with a different plan, which is to create the stepback.

So now at the edge of the entire kitchen uh perimeter, it's 12 foot six.

Then we have a 10-foot uh setback and then seven feet of mechanical enclosure, reducing the footprint overall of the mechanical equipment, maintaining the 18 foot five uh distance off the property line, and again we're under that potential envelope, that red line of where we could be building.

Overall, we're at 19 foot six.

As Jeremy mentioned, we're over 28 feet from the property line at that 19 foot six height.

He shared these uh renderings already, just the before and after.

And also we talked about the trees.

Uh again, there are three existing trees in the easement that are on Charles Armstrong property, but in a PG and easement, those trees had previously been planned to be removed as part of this project.

They're under some overhead power lines.

We're now proposing to keep those there and relocate four trees which were slated to be put in elsewhere north of the school as part of this project and relocate them here down at the San Carlos neighbor site.

Creating more of that visual buffer.

Thank you.

Now I want to introduce Kelly Sartino, who's the head of school at Crystal Springs Upland, and also we are very lucky to have as one of our board trustees.

That's right.

Thank you.

Good evening.

As Neil said, my name is Kelly Sortino.

I'm the head of school at Crystal Springs Upland School and also serve as an outside educator on Armstrong's board of trustees.

Most importantly, I'm the parent of two kids with dyslexia.

I want to start with gratitude.

Nearly a decade ago, my school Crystal stood before Belmont City Council to advocate for the construction of our middle school campus in Belmont.

As the head of school, I have a deep appreciation and understanding of how to successfully work with Belmont on a construction project.

We took your feedback to heart.

We promised to be considerate, thoughtful partners to this city and our neighbors, and I hope our presence since 2017 has proven that we keep our word.

As a current trustee, I know the Armstrong team is cut from the same cloth.

Armstrong has been incredibly thoughtful in their approach to this project thus far.

They're committed to the same level of partnership and deep respect for Belmont's residents as they approach the construction and future academic operations.

If we look at the facts, the project you approved for Crystal was far more complex.

It involved rezoning and building an entirely new campus.

In comparison, Armstrong's request is modest, in addition to an existing zone campus with a very limited enrollment increase.

If Belmont could trust Crystal then, you can certainly trust Armstrong now.

As a parent of children's learning differences, I ask that we don't lose sight of the why.

In the world of planning, we often talk about buildings as assets that depreciate over time.

But these buildings serve people and children are the only assets that truly appreciate.

This project isn't just about square footage or months of construction, it's about the Armstrong magic.

It is fundamentally about people.

It's about the student who walks in feeling broken and walks out realizing they have a superpower.

This expansion allows Belmont to be the home of that transformation for even more families across the Bay Area.

As a fellow educator, I strongly believe that schools like Armstrong are essential to the ecosystem of schools on the peninsula.

Belmont should feel proud that a school with a national reputation is located in its community.

I know we at Crystal are proud to call Belmont our home, and Armstrong is equally honored to be here.

And just like I started with gratitude, I want to end with gratitude to each and every one of you for your commitment to the city of Belmont and its citizens.

You have an opportunity tonight to expand your commitment to the next generation.

I urge you to vote yes to help change the lives of more students with authority and differences.

Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration.

Speaking of the next generation, I'm now thrilled to introduce Sammy Heather and Kinsan, who's going to say a few words.

Good evening, Mayor, Madam, and City Council.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight.

My name is Sammy Heatherington Sand, and I live in Belmont.

I have been a student at Charles Armstrong since second grade.

I am currently in eighth grader and graduating this year in May.

Not only has Armstrong helped me grow and thrive academically, but but the electives offered have helped me expand my interest, encouraging me to participate in sports and performing arts programs.

I think it'd be incredible to see the kids in the future years thrive even more than I did.

And by allowing my school to re-re-well, to build a gym that would that would absolutely contribute to making it possible by letting Armstrong approve and expand the school, the kids would really benefit.

Miss Springs performing arts program really helped me discover myself and the love for theater.

It would be it would be great for more kids to discover themselves like I did.

I have been I have been in many Armstrong Armstrong plays, including Madagascar, Mary Poppins, New Zealand, and this year Footloose.

And being a part of the performing arts program has really helped me be more confident in realizing how much I love being on stage.

The new gym would help, would make it possible to perform on a bigger stage, host community for the performances, and allow more kids to participate.

Another really great benefit of having our own gym would be Armstrong's sports teams and PE classes.

We would be able to have their own proper space, the multi-room, or as we call it, the multi-purpose room.

It's just not big enough.

It can't fit all the kids and teachers from second grade to eighth grade in it at the same time for a school meeting.

It would be awesome to have PE classes to do gymnastics, set up obstacles like the gymnastics equipment, or be able to set up a volleyball court.

It would be great to have a place for recess during the rainy days and cold months and not having to sit in our classroom, not having to sit in our classrooms because it's too wet to be outside.

It would be cool to host some middle school basketball games like other schools do that we play against and be able to have a book fair and student council events.

View our project expertise that the eighth grade presents towards the end of the year and so much more.

It's not easy being diagnosed with dyslexia and being told that being told that you must transfer to another school probably looks and feels very different from where you're coming from.

Even though the teachers and kids at Armstrong are already very welcoming and you feel comfortable being around them, the change is still hard.

Having a gym at Charles Armstrong just feels like another elementary or middle school.

It makes it feel more normal.

And I'm speaking on behalf of the current and future kids of Charles Armstrong.

Please allow our school to build a gym.

Thank you so much for your time.

See all that performing arts work paid off.

Last but not least, Mark Moore, the uh chair of our board.

I'm the chair of the board of the Charles Armstrong School.

This has been an amazing journey for the Armstrong School to get to this point tonight.

To us, this is much more than about new buildings.

This is about our profound responsibility as a board and community and school to ensure the strength and success of our wonderful little school for decades to come.

That journey began 58 years ago when a doctor from Menlo Park, Wilbur Madison, founded the school to provide a specialized education to students with dyslexia that did not exist before, and there were 18 first and second graders in that class.

16 years later, a group of I'd say plucky trustees and parents forged an agreement with the Belmont Redwood Shores School District in the city of Belmont to purchase McDougall Elementary School.

This is a beautiful campus.

We love it.

It enabled us to expand programs and enrollment, and we have been very happy here for 42 years with our campus essentially unchanged.

Our journey continued a few years ago when the board and school leadership began to think about what Armstrong might look like many years from now, 2050 and beyond.

As we dug in, we realize we have vital constraints to what we can do because of the limits of our physical campus.

We must attract the best teachers in the world, but have no dedicated space for them to work or even to eat lunch.

Teaching dyslexic kids in small groups is essential.

We know this, but we don't have the classroom space to accommodate it.

Building community is a perpetual need.

Our kids come from many counties, but we are challenged in our ability to host larger student events.

Our journey has also given us a keen sense for what inspires dyslexic kids, or really any kids, any all kids.

Art and music and tinkering labs, competitive sports teams, performing arts and musicals, these provide the spice that not only help our kids discover what they're good at, but also make their school feel like every other school, as Neil said.

They learn differently, but they're not different.

And yes, we realize in our planning that if we are going to honor our mission for future generations, we must expand enrollment, not by hundreds, but by dozens, sensibly.

This serves the dual purpose of impacting more students and their families while also optimizing our model so we can bring more scale and efficiencies to our program.

We can, of course, continue on our campus in its current form, but we will not prosper over the long term.

Our needs are too great, our vision for what works for dyslexic students too vivid.

Good schools evolve and are always in motion towards something better.

We have a clear plan for this evolution.

It necessitates an upgraded and enriched campus.

So, of course, tonight is about constructing buildings on our five-acre campus.

But I hope you'll agree it is just much more than that.

This is a moment in our journey about how Armstrong will stay viable and thrive across the next 58 years.

One of the highlights of this journey that I speak of has been in recent weeks in this chamber and hearing the almost universal admiration for Charles Armstrong from neighbors and alumni, parents, educators, community members, and students themselves.

Even opponents to this plan, and we respect them uh very much, have often begun their comments with kind words about the Charles Armstrong School.

We are grateful.

This is affirming of our work over the years, and that we are a bright presence in Belmont and the neighborhood.

Our hope tonight is that the profound responsibility that we assume about the future of Armstrong is shared by all of us.

The city, our neighbors, our broader community.

We hope you will join us and make our responsibility a collective responsibility.

Because if Armstrong has made you at all proud over these past decades in the city of Belmont, trust me, you have not seen anything yet.

The future with a refreshed, enhanced physical infrastructure will be an inspiration and source of pride to us all.

We are so very grateful for your consideration.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Does that conclude presentations?

Okay, great.

Thank you very much to staff and to the applicant.

Um, let's just keep plowing forward.

If we need to step off and take a quick uh break, that's great, but let's just uh keep keep on going if that's okay.

Uh let's please, council colleagues, limit it just now to questions for staff and the applicant so we can deliberate after we hear public comment.

Uh does anyone have questions for staff or the applicant at this time?

Councilmember Pang Meganaris.

I just have one.

What is authorized dismissals mean?

That was my question.

It was one of the bullet points that you wanted to have the ability to do alternative streets or something like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What is it?

Sorry, a lot of words.

Um we recognize there's a handful of times.

I think I may have mentioned this uh last time, handful of times during the school year where all of our families are already on campus, and then we need to dismiss the students.

And it is worse for the neighborhood to have us have the parents go to their cars without their students, all drive at the exact same time back into the campus, wait in line, inevitably you're gonna back up on us.

It's almost impossible, right?

In terms of the math, uh, and then pick up their kids and then all leave at the same time.

So we would like the trust that we actually know the literally two, three, four times a year.

Halloween's a class example.

You have a huge Halloween parade, all the parents are there because they have to see their kids, uh, and then they all have to go to their cars and then drive back to the campus.

It creates gridlock that shouldn't isn't necessary.

If they if we made an exception on those couple of days where where we could allow the parents to actually walk their kids to the car, get in the car and just get out of the neighborhood, it would be better for the neighbors, and it would be better for all of us.

It's not something we're gonna abuse, it's something for very specific events.

It's a common sense of a common sense solution.

So right now, yes.

I there right now they would have to go to their car, leave their kid after the Halloween break, go to the car, and then come back to get their kid in the usual format.

But bigger than that, are you saying that the city is placing limits on when you can have children leave the campus?

Yeah, we're not allowed to do any drop-off pickup in the neighborhood.

And so, thank you.

Councilmember McCune.

That was my question.

Authorized dismissals.

That's it.

That's all I got.

Any other questions on this side?

Yes, Vice Mayor.

I I just have one clarifying question.

Um, so the weekend access that they're asking for is not exclusive, right?

If they just want to have access to the campus on the weekends, but it would still be open to the like McDougall will still be open and operating as well.

Correct.

The school staff currently has no access to their campus.

That's what they're asking for from 9 to 6 p.m.

on weekends as of today, they don't have access to their campus.

So they just want to be able to access the campus even though we're still having soccer, we're still having softball, nothing's changing on that side.

Correct.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Council Member Latimerlo.

Yes.

Um, I have just a couple.

Um, we received a number of emails around the project, and a couple of the concerns um I received was about the possible alteration or excavation of the park by the school.

Is the school suggesting any of that?

They are not, they are they're only proposing changes related to their campus plan, their campus academic buildings, and the components related to that.

They're not proposing any changes to the park, they're proposing changes to include trees as part of their project, but not changes to the park or trees to be removed.

From the park.

From the park, correct.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, okay.

Um, my second question is in term of in terms of homeowners' rights.

Um, homeowners own and control their piece of land, but they don't have any rights to a particular view that was there when they bought it.

Is that correct?

Certainly not related to this particular property.

Okay, but the city does have ways that it protects the ownership bubble for homeowners, so things feel reasonable, and that's some of the set packs that we were talking about.

Correct.

Um, so like for example, a neighbor couldn't build all the way up to your fence line because that's unreasonable, so we have these setback requirements.

Um, I just want to do a double check because we saw the school stats on the conceptual development plan on one slide, and then we saw the city's requirements on another slide, and then we had another slide that had the red line that talked about the massing proposed and the massing allowed.

So that information was spread across a few different slides.

So just to double check, the Armstrong stats that are that they're proposing are all within our city's dated guidelines.

Is that correct?

Yes, so as part of the project, they're proposing a conceptual development plan amendment that creates standards for setbacks, height, parking, of which they are not exceeding any of those standards.

They're within all of our guidelines.

They're they're within all of our guidelines for this plan development district that they're proposing to amend through this CDP process.

Okay, thank you for the clarification.

Yeah, okay.

Any other questions at this time?

All right, thank you.

Let's go ahead.

This is a uh public hearing.

Let's go ahead and open the public hearing.

If you have comments, um and you're in the chambers, please submit them to our deputy city clerk.

Um, and then also if you are online and um listening, please uh raise your virtual hands.

Uh Madam Deputy Clerk, how many um comments do we have at the moment in-house and then online, please?

We have 16 um slips for comment, make that 17 in-house, and now we have two online.

Okay.

I think let's go ahead and keep it to three minutes for each speaker.

But I will say, if the person in ahead of you that spoke said almost exactly what you were going to say, it's fine to shorten your comments or say I agree with the speaker before me.

Just given the hour and and length of time of the meeting, that's totally fine.

And let's go ahead and start with our first public commenter, please.

We'll call up Ashley Sullivan.

You'll have three minutes to speak when you're ready.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Ashley Sullivan, and I have been a resident resident of Belmont for over 20 years.

I'm here to express my heartfelt support for Charles Armstrong and its proposed expansion and to share how incredibly lucky we are to have this exceptional school in our community.

Charles Armstrong provides an education that is truly tailored to the unique needs of its students, and that kind of support can change a child's life.

Our daughter Caitlin struggled with her previous schools when she had been where she had to be taken out of class 760 minutes each week.

While those services were meant to help, what she felt most was different from her peers, and over time it crushed her confidence.

At Charles Armstrong, that changed.

For the first time she felt normal.

The supportive environment and understanding staff made all the difference, allowing her to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

After her first week at school, Armstrong, my oldest daughter said, I have my sister back.

Even after graduating, Caitlin has remained connected to the school by working the summer program, giving back to the community that helped shape her.

Now, as a freshman in college, she carries those lessons and that confidence forward.

Families drive from all over the Bay Area to bring their children to school because they know what Armstrong can do for a child.

It's recognized as one of the best schools in the country, and that reputation is earned.

I understand that there are traffic and safety concerned.

As a parent of four daughters who have attended Central, Ralston, Carlmont, Notre Dame Belmont, and Charles Armstrong.

We're four different schools all at once.

I can confidently say that Charles Armstrong is the only school I've experienced that consistently and actively prioritizes the safety of both students and the surrounding community.

As the needs of our children continue to grow and change, the need for high quality education options, especially for children with learning differences, will only increase.

This proposed expansion will provide additional classrooms and a gymnasium necessary to better meet the students' needs.

Supporting education, I'm sorry, supporting this expansion is an investment in our community's future and a statement about what we value.

Inclusion, education, and ensuring ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed.

Charles Armstrong is a true true gem in our community, and we are incredibly lucky to have it here.

Let's not hinder its growth.

Let's support it.

I urge the council to approve the expansion so this vital institution continues serving students and families who rely on it, and so more students can experience what my daughter did.

The relief of being understood, the dignity of belonging, and the chance to truly thrive.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Next up, Russ Sullivan.

Deputy uh Madam Clerk, if you can call up the speaker after that too, so they can maybe position themselves up front and be ready.

Thank you.

After that will be Tiffany.

Okay.

Thank you guys.

I'll just say plus one to what my wife just said.

This school, I mean, the mission is to change the trajectory of students' lives.

And we saw that firsthand with our daughter.

I mean, she was uh just almost broken by the time she got through second grade at Central Elementary, and Armstrong built her back up to the point.

She's just about the most confident kid you could imagine.

Um we used to joke that she had circuits music going through her head as a little kid, and we saw that kind of just disappear through first and second grade through the public schools.

Um, so what Armstrong can do for these kids with dyslexia is just truly amazing, and it's it really is uh a special place.

Um, and I think, you know, you know that kids come from all over the place from Marin, from the East Bay, to go to the school.

We need more schools like this in the Bay Area.

And that we have one here in Armstrong, it's absolutely amazing.

And I think their thoughtful and considerate plan for expansion just shows what a good neighbor they are to Belmont and how much they um appreciate the community they're in.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Tiffany up next, followed by Dana Geese.

Hi, good evening, members of the Belmont City Council.

I'm just gonna plus one these two here.

Um I spent some time writing something, but I'm like, you know what?

I think most of the people covered it, so I'm gonna short, but essentially, I also live across Armstrong, and um for I want to give a shout out to Daniel and a lot of the staff members I see because they really truly do a great job with the efforts to manage uh the traffic, uh, drop off and pick up times or contain within a small window of time.

Um, as Neil mentioned, you know, there was an emergency, everything got good through quickly.

Um, and I've witnessed the staff prioritize when I drive down Solana to drop off um my child at Cipriani, you know, they've stopped the outgoing cars and they let us go right through.

So um, you know, and um similar to what you were saying about the traffic, like it's far worse at Cipriani and my son's at Ralston, and then I have to go through Carmel traffic as well.

Um, beyond traffic, you know, there's a stewardship and respect for the school.

Um, you know, so you're talking about the designated um or authorized um designation time uh at the winter performance.

Parents had to go off campus to get their um cars and then drive back on the campus.

Like, why not just take your children off, right?

It makes it much easier.

Um, and like I said, I'm gonna just keep this short, but I also just you know what like what a great neighbor, um, and I'd rather much rather see Armstrong as a neighbor and to continue to thrive.

I all I did I mention that I also have a daughter, so I have three kids in different schools, a daughter at Armstrong, and the confidence that she has, she doesn't come home saying, I hate reading anymore, and that to me is just worth a million.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dana up next, followed by Karen Shane.

Hi, Council.

Um, my name is Donna Geise, my husband Edward and I live at 644 Dartmouth Avenue, right next door to Charles Armstrong.

We are the San Carlos neighbors.

We have always supported Charles Armstrong and the critical work it does for children with dyslexia and learning differences, but we are really really concerned about this expansion, especially the gym that is butting up to our backyards.

Um, I understand that they've made some revisions, but the proposed new gym is more than 30 feet tall and sits only 18 feet from our backyard fences.

This is unlike any other school in Belmont and will change the feeling of our homes.

It'll reduce privacy and the sense of living on a quiet residential street.

We have not been giving any given any renderings of what it looks like from our sides.

You guys have showed all the different other sides, but what is it gonna look like from our neighborhood streets?

We're so concerned.

We're also concerned they're leaving the oak trees, which we are so thankful for.

But what what is gonna happen to those oak trees under construction?

Please please think about that.

We're deeply attached to these trees.

We take care of the trees, even though they're not ours.

We pay the Chris Wells, we pay to have these trees taken care of.

We're deeply concerned about losing them.

We would ask if you could do an independent route mapping study so their health can be properly assessed.

It is our view from our from our house.

There's also traffic, our streets were never designed for this large amount of institutional traffic and congestion.

We're just concerned about safety.

Um, we're asking asking the city to treat this project with full environmental review, it deserves the curtain current CEQA analysis appears to exclude this 11,000 square foot gym.

Um, we respectfully ask that the council require an initial study or mitigation negative declaration.

We do love Charles Armstrong, that is not the concern, but we love our neighborhood, we love our tree trees, we love our quiet streets, and we're asking if you can please consider what it would be like to have a kitchen right over your fence.

I understand that they've lowered it, but it's gonna be right there.

We're gonna have kitchen smells.

I I we have no idea what this is even gonna look like.

There's been no renderings done from our perspective.

So please consider this.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Karen Shane, followed by Lynn Murphy.

Hi, everyone, thank you.

Ummediately, we need to give these uh staff members access on the weekends.

I don't know if this project goes through or whatever, but we need to change their use permit so they can have access on the weekends.

It's just ridiculous.

That's that's not even an option.

Okay, so uh, how do we get here with the traffic?

Um there's this thing called Prop 13, and when Prop 13 happened, all our buses went away.

So now everybody has to come in cars.

So I respect the issues that you know, some folks that live on um, let's see, uh Desvio Ray and all these dead ends, but that existed long before Charles Armstrong was there, it was there when it was McDougall.

I went there when I was five, sixty some odd years ago.

Um so the tr and the traffic of the 230 students that are there, the uh Charles Armstrong has to get a permit to have students.

So, but Carmont does not, Terra Linda does not.

So those schools can grow as big as they have to.

So I think what's happening is Charles Armstrong, and I would like you to consider this, is being held to a standard that's not being held to the public schools, and the public schools are the ones that are causing the traffic, as well as the fact that we don't have buses anymore, and maybe we should consider paying for buses.

I know folks who live in Danville and other places, those counties they have buses because they've paid for them with the school district and uh parcel tax.

I know nobody likes tax.

Um I'm in total support.

I I appreciate the fact that they've um backed off from the neighbors and um and the trees, even though I've we've lost five trees just in the three houses that are near me.

Big, huge, beautiful oaks, but they've rotted from the down from below.

So anyhow, that's it.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Lynn Murphy.

Sorry, go ahead.

Followed by Jeff Skayswell.

Lynn Murphy.

Lynn Murphy.

That's me.

Okay.

Before you speak, uh, just so we're not disruptive.

If you hear something that you like or that you agree with the speaker, let's use our nonverbal communication so you can do like a thumbs up or my favorite jazz hands, something that allows us to continue to hear folks speak.

Go ahead, thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here and for your work.

I was here um for the January 6th Planning Commission meeting on this topic.

Uh, our family are longtime residents at Belmont and have always supported the growth in the community and the surrounding schools for over 30 years.

We've been big proponents of all the schools in our area that were here prior to us moving here over 30 years ago.

So we knew that.

When discussing the expansion of Charles Armstrong's school, there's no question about the mission of the school.

It's wonderful, and the amazing impact it has on its students.

Lucky enough to attend.

Our nephew graduated from Charles Armstrong, and several of my friends have had students attend.

I've gone to graduations and they do wonderful work.

Excuse me.

They've all had tremendous growth in the testimonies tonight we've heard.

There has always been excellent communication with the surrounding neighbors.

The mission is well respected and valued.

I travel daily, however, the four-ways stop to La Vista, El Solano, El Verano, and I experience the traffic there on a daily basis.

And sometimes there's quick stops, even though there's a lot of effort by the school to monitor the traffic.

But for those students maybe running late for maybe Carmont, maybe maybe Charles Armstrong, with their parents driving them.

Um it can be very cumbersome to be there and scary at times.

The expansion of the 23,000 square foot is the issue.

The removal of protected mature trees indigenous to this site and the added congestion of traffic, the safe egress of emergency vehicles.

I know that was discussed as no problem, but I work, I know and I have family members of a lot of firefighters, and it's very difficult on Austin with traffic time.

So I'm glad that situation expressed earlier worked out very well.

There's public safety driving in the surrounding area.

It's still in question.

I'm concerned that this project includes a request that extends to begin building of the 11,000 square foot athletic building in five years.

What with approval now that's part of this package, a lot can change in five years.

As stated, this building will also be utilized seven days a week, with uh potentially evenings and park and rec tournaments.

Um it's not clear how the 188 seats of this building would impact the limited parking and the overall traffic of the community.

We have beautiful growth at Twin Pines Park, classroom space there, Barrett Community Center, renovations there, the Raw Stin Gym, and so forth.

Um I wanted to just say that it is documented, and currently the cap is at 260.

However, they're not at 260 yet.

So if it's between 230 and 250, that means more people than what is in existing now coming and going.

Anyway, I don't want to take more time, but my concerns are just for more clarity before this is approved.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Jeff Creswell, followed by Ron Ansley.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council.

Um, I'm Jeff Christwell, live at 638 Dartmouth Avenue, next to the Geisies.

Uh so you'll have to bear with me a little bit.

A lot has changed, a lot's been covered already.

Uh, I just first want to say I appreciate what Neil is trying to do in Charles Armstrong to make this project better for the neighbors.

Um that said, what Dana had said initially was this is kind of unprecedented to have such a large building so close to single-family homes uh from a school in the Belmont area.

Um the other schools that I've seen, these athletic centers are generally in the center of the campus and at least 100 feet from the um from other homes.

So I want to bring that up.

Um, we really haven't seen any detail as to why this couldn't be repositioned, maybe on the lower parking lot or an east-west orientation closer to the school, like other schools have.

Uh so I want to mention that.

Uh mentioned the trees being put back, which is great.

I really appreciate that.

We still have a concern because we do have trees on our side of the fence that are mature trees that are right next to these other oak trees.

And we just want to be sure that they're not gonna that their health is going to be good, they're not gonna be damaged by the construction.

And one way to do that is by uh radar route mapping.

We have talked to an arborist in Palo Alto who does do this, and you have to save trees down in Palo Alto through these studies.

So we would recommend that that be done.

Uh Charles Armstrong engage him or someone else who can do that just to be sure they know where the roots are and that the construction is not going to impact those.

Um let's see.

Oh.

One other consideration we have read and understand that there's some um talk about the reduced enrollment in middle school in the Belmont Redwood Shores area, and that in fact, there may be some excess buildings space in some of the middle school campuses, and we're wondering if that could be a consideration uh for Charles Armstrong as opposed to expanding at this present footprint.

Um, all three other schools have better ingress and egress in parking and established athletic buildings.

San Carlos has likewise split their grade levels due to space constraints for their middle schools, and this can maybe even not only solve this current expansion but also any future expansions because I would say based on what everybody's talking about, it's probably likely that this may not be the end of the expansion over the next so many years.

So I just want to bring that up.

Everything else has been covered, so I appreciate that.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Ron Ansley, followed by Hayward fellows.

Thank you, Council.

Um, I had brought visuals, but apparently you guys are going to leave some trees.

This is the view from my front yard, my front windows directly out of the school and where they're gonna build the gym.

I think basically everything is covered, but just for a visual standpoint, the backyard of my neighbors, if I'm at their back fence, the gym is basically where the city of Belmont says right there.

And that's now that they've lowered that site.

And it's basically this distance.

That is overwhelming whether you have a tree in between it or not.

And the fact that there's the kitchen and all that that the guys were talking about, yes, there's gonna be smells from that.

You're gonna hear the toilet flushing because the toilets are right there too.

And most importantly, I want to bring up that it's really extending the hours of the school.

Right now, that you know, school's out at three or whatever.

Teachers can stay and do their thing, but the kids are gone.

This is going to keep the kids at the school much later, whether it's nine or ten p.m., depending on weekdays or weekends.

Um if my wife just brought up the fact that uh Carlmont High School basically has to end everything by 7 p.m.

There are exceptions, football games and things like that that can go to nine.

There's nothing going on at 10.

But I can tell you from my front window, I don't want to be listening to the crowds getting out of the gym at 10 p.m.

or 9 p.m.

or whatever.

I appreciate they they need a facility, but I don't think they need it to be right at the back door of my neighbor's house.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Hayward Fellows, and I'm a resident of San Carlos and a current parent at Charles Armstrong.

I wanted to come tonight to express my support for the building project that's being proposed.

I understand the concerns.

Um, my daughter went to Mariposa, TL, and now goes to Notre Dame and Belmont.

So I am well versed in the traffic situation, having driven it for many years.

I will say that I um agree with folks that there's rarely a backup around Armstrong per se.

Um I think when you drive that area on days when Carl Mont is out, you can really see the difference.

So hopefully the minimal increase in students and faculty won't have an appreciable impact on the traffic that we all experience.

I also think the gymnasium will greatly enhance the experience for the students.

I think Sammy put it really well in terms of we all want our kids to have an amazing middle school experience, and so this will just give an opportunity for parity for the children at Charles Armstrong to be able to experience things like a volleyball game and hosting a basketball game.

I also think in our area, space is really limited, and I know as a parent who's looked for opportunities for their kids to do rec league basketball and rec league volleyball.

Having a gym that in the summer or on holidays could offer camps is nothing but an asset to all of us who are looking for those opportunities for our kids.

I also will say that there are so many kids that struggle with learning differences, and the work that Armstrong does to educate other educators in the community is amazing.

Not every kid will ever be able to go to Armstrong, but by being able to host events and seminars and classes to train more faculty, that benefits the whole community.

Um I tell folks that my son would have learned to read, probably eventually with tutors, but he wouldn't have become the whole person that he is now.

He's a confident, outgoing, thoughtful kid, and he wouldn't have become that without Armstrong, and I am eternally grateful and honestly cannot think of where we would be without it.

And so personally, I feel really strongly about just providing that opportunity for as many other parents and families to experience what we have, and so would really love for you to consider accepting the proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Heather, followed by Don D.

Good evening.

My name is Heather Rainey, and I live on Altura Way.

Directly above the Charles Armstrong School.

Our home has been in our family for nearly 20 years, and we have truly loved raising our growing family in this neighborhood.

I've always believed deeply in the mission of helping children with dyslexia and other learning differences.

In fact, my husband attended Charles Armstrong's school for elementary and middle school, and our family has long supported the school and charities that support it.

At the same time, I understand the concerns by the neighbors regarding safety and traffic.

Anyone who drives through the area in the mornings or afternoons knows the challenges of school drop-off and pickup times.

At the last meeting in January, partly because of those concerns, I stood neither in favor nor opposed to the expansion.

However, my perspective has changed.

At the last meeting, it became clear that all the surrounding schools contribute to the daily traffic congestion, yet Armstrong seems to be the one held accountable, which does not feel fair.

Traffic is a broader issue, and there are common sense safety improvements the city could consider to help use this training during peak hours.

Additionally, there were concerns raised about emergency vehicles access.

Shortly after that meeting, not at the same situation, but there was um I witnessed a fire engine responding to Code 3 and moved through the traffic without difficulty.

That experience helped calm my own fears about emergency ones, and ones that I know the school equally shares since they are responsible for the safety of students and their teachers.

Armstrong has also made a genuine effort to address neighbor concerns.

I had questions about trees, views being impacted, and safety, especially since some of the new buildings will sit directly beneath my home.

Daniel from Armstrong offered to walk the property with me and a neighbor to review the plans in detail.

That was not something they were obligated to do.

That is simply a good faith effort to be a good neighbor.

That conversation eased my concerns and gave me clearer understanding of the impact of the project.

Change is never easy, but I've seen firsthand how the school has worked to address not only my concerns, but those of other neighbors over the years.

While they may not have initially had a landscaping plan for the gym, I have every confidence they will work with the neighbors and add trees and foliage where they need, just as they did when the playground was added.

Armstrong is not just a business in our neighborhood, it is a neighbor, and it has been a good one.

I would much rather live next to a school that serves students with learning differences than face the possibility of a large commercial development like the Harbor Industrial Project.

Many in this community already benefit from the allowed use of Armstrong's within formal gates and residential fences to the school's property.

I have even seen some fences with creative property boundaries.

Armstrong has embraced this community rather than resisted it.

As someone who's begun this process as skeptical, but has become a supporter, I respectfully ask that you approve this expansion.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Um I believe it's Delia.

Followed by Liliana, David, Davidovich.

Uh thank you very much for having us.

Um my wife and I, Kathleen are here in support of Armstrong School.

Uh we have five children.

We've raised here in Belmont.

Um, we've been to all the schools, in the Nesbit.

We've had tremendous support at Nesbitt.

Um, my son went to Armstrong and was a changed man.

He's 22 years old now, and just a wonderful person.

Uh all of the things that we discussed as a building contractor that become obstacles in construction, obstacles in health and safety, obstacles.

Um, Armstrong is such a good steward to this community.

It's unbelievable.

Um pick up and drop off at this school is like uh some type of military march.

It is so precise and so well done, and the parents are nearly fearful of the staff and fearful of stepping out of out of the boundaries of how that works.

So any other campus, Ralston.

Um, I won't go through them all that we had kids, but very, very different uh experience and much, much greater traffic and and and difficulties.

So some of those things I don't want to discount, but I I want them people to be very aware that this is not the hiccup in the community as far as traffic and the traffic passing by I don't know what street it is that goes over to Rawl to uh Carlmont and and other words, but that's a lot of traffic from other schools.

So, nonetheless, the mission that Armstrong is doing for kids is life-changing.

Hands down, it's absolutely life-changing for families, for the community, getting kids that are amazing.

And you gotta remember that.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Liliana Davidovich, followed by Diane Kachura.

Ketura.

Good evening, everyone.

Uh, my name's Liliana Davidovich, and I actually am an alumni.

I went to Charles Armstrong's school back in the early 2000s.

I thought it'd be helpful to hear from somebody who grew up there and is now an adult.

I just wanted to say Charles Armstrong School is a lifesaver.

That school made me who I am today.

I wouldn't be who I am without them.

At Armstrong, they taught me how my brain worked instead of like forcing me to do flash carts or telling me I can't do it.

They taught me I could.

It's just that I have to learn differently.

And it's slightly unfair, but it's the cards I was dealt with.

So they gave me a toolbox of tools that I use to this day to be not only a successful adult, but part of my community.

Armstrong doesn't only teach children.

One of the things that makes them so special is that they teach parents how to parent their child with this invisible disability.

And I know for a fact I was not an easy child.

Being dyslexic and all my learning differences made it even challenging, I am the sole reason.

My parents have gray hair, and I'm one of three children.

Like I am the reason for that.

But with Armstrong's help, my parents took the classes on how to raise me, how to support me, how to talk me through everything that they needed to do.

And that is extremely important, and I don't think anybody has mentioned that today.

And I didn't appreciate that till way into my adulthood, that I had support not only in school, but that support followed me home.

Armstrong taught me that I needed to advocate.

I would always need to advocate for what I need for what I need in my life because people don't know what dyslexia is.

So I'm always advocating for myself, and that's what I'm doing right now.

I am advocating for the future children and the future families who need this life-saving school.

It saved me.

I would not be here today if I did not have Armstrong.

Please, please think about accepting this expansion because 30 more kids getting life-saving education to me is very worth it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Diane Kitura, followed by William Davidovich.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Diane Kitora, and I am a resident of San Carlos.

I'm here to support the Charles Armstrong school expansion because it has given my family a life gift.

When our daughter was nine, she was missing out on life because she could not read.

We were so fortunate to find Armstrong right here in our backyard.

On her first day, she came home and said, everyone is just like me.

It warmed our hearts, but it also broke them to realize how different and alone she had felt until that moment.

In just two years at Armstrong, she blossomed.

She just, she didn't just learn to read, she learned to advocate for herself, performed in musicals, and gave one of the graduation speeches.

Today, she is a mentor, leader, and educator.

Armstrong wasn't just a school, it was a life gift for our entire family.

Think about what you take for granted every day.

Reading a street sign, a recipe, checking the dosage on a medicine bottle, reading a card from your grandmother.

Imagine the vulnerability of having to ask someone to read a menu for you, or being an adult who struggles to tie their shoes or tell left from right.

Dyslexia affects 20% of the population.

That's two in every five people, and it's hereditary.

This is not just a personal issue, it is a matter of state law.

The current school year marks the implementation of California Education Code Section 53008, which Neil mentioned in the Senate Bill 114.

This law mandates that every kindergarten, first, and second grade student in California be screened for dyslexia.

We are currently identifying a wave of local children who feel exactly how my daughter felt, lost and alone.

But Armstrong is that physical capacity.

We cannot mandate that these children be identified and then at that exact same moment deny them a place to learn.

This expansion plan is a responsible, necessary response to that immediate need.

Armstrong has always been a neighbor first school.

They share their playground, their parking, and they even installed an AD for park emergencies.

I urge you to support this project so Armstrong can continue giving children the tools they need to succeed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

William Davidovich, followed by Richard Hughes.

Good evening.

My name is William Davidovich, and I want to let you know that my wife and I enthusiastically and wholeheartedly support the growth and expansion plans of the Charles Armstrong School.

We have been residents of Belmont for almost 23 years.

And the reason we moved to Belmont was because our older daughter, Liliana, who you just heard from, was diagnosed as dyslexic, and we were thrilled when we found out that she had been accepted at the school since we knew how difficult it was to get in.

We were one of the few extremely lucky parents who knew that having our daughter go to Armstrong would make a huge positive impact on her growth, her development, and her confidence.

We're happy to say that Charles Armstrong hit the ball out of the park in all three of those areas for our daughter as well as for the countless other children, dyslexic children who have benefited from attending their school.

Armstrong has helped so many dyslexic children since they opened their doors, but there are so many other dyslexic children who could truly benefit from the wonderful caring environment that Armstrong provides if they only have the space to accept more children.

We've always been highly impressed by the care and compassion these specialized teachers have shown to all the children.

That's one of the many reasons that we continue to support the Charles Armstrong School every year, even though our daughter graduated many years ago.

Every dyslexic child deserves the opportunity, and allowing the proposed expansion of the school will make a tremendous difference in the lives of so many dyslexic children who may not have had the opportunity to attend Armstrong School due to the limited number of spaces.

The Armstrong School is a beacon of light in Belmont, and we are proud that the city of Belmont is where the school has its roots and where I truly hope they can continue to build upon the outstanding work that they do with these children every single day.

We strongly encourage you to approve the expansion plans as proposed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Richard Hughes, followed by Julie Hughes.

My name is Richard Hughes.

I've lived in uh 1532 Desville way for 58 years now.

And I've seen changes come.

I've seen changes since Armstrong School started the school there.

I know they're doing uh good for all the students in that.

Appreciate that, but one thing that has been happening is the traffic situation has gotten worse, and it is horrible for any resident living on uh Desville Way, Solano, Altourway to uh navigate through there between the hours of 3 3 30 when the school's letting out.

It backs up the traffic uh all the way uh up to uh the color of sacks there, and also uh coming from Rawlson Avenue, Rawlson Avenue is backed up with traffic both ways and coming up Chula Vista from Ralston Avenue.

There are times when there's 10, 12 or more cars up to 15, 20 cars on some times at that hour coming down and almost as many cars going up earlier to pick up students there.

Granted, a lot of those cars all come from Carl Mont and from of the other schools, but it backs it up and it backs it up on Solano, and you can't get through there.

You have to wait edge your way going up there at that time.

Also, if there is a fire at that time, I don't see any way possible that a fire engine could get up through that traffic.

Traffic can't move aside because it's Chula Vista and Solana are two-lane streets.

The only way would be to block off the traffic on Solano, or somehow it's impossible to block off the traffic on Chula Vista, which means if there's a fire there and we're in the hills up there, when the wind blows, fire can spread very much faster.

Uh you take for the example LA, the fires recently there last year when uh the winds blew the fires and the houses went down uh just one right after another.

And that's what I fear could happen.

If there's a fire at around three o'clock, and a fire engine tries to make its way up the uh our house on Desville, it's not gonna be we're gonna burn.

And for that main reason, I implore the council to reconsider this.

Also, reconsider all of the reasons that the uh permit was uh just denied at last time in 2005.

There was sufficient reasons to deny it, then those reasons still exist, and there are more reasons now because traffic is worse and the fire danger is there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Julia Hughes, followed by John Keely.

Hello, I'm Julie Hughes, and I live at 1532 Desville.

And I have to say I agree with my husband.

We've always been uh the way our houses are situated up there, we have a lot of woods in back of us, and it they get thick, and during the summer it's dry, and even in September, and if we do, you know, we're all into the climate change, and it can be a big problem with trying to get a hook and ladder truck up there, and on Desville Way, when you come around the corner uh from Solano onto Desville Way, I even had a petition years back to get that corner uh red marked because of a truck, uh cook and ladder truck not being able to get through there if cars are parked on both sides, and I think you really have to look at the streets, and I employ every one of you here to go out and look at the streets, go drive up our streets and drive when that traffic is all bottled up on Chula Vista.

You're gonna sit down there because they're not gonna move.

These cars come early, and they wait for on there for their kids to come out.

The school is a great school.

I mean, we have no problems.

We've been to every event that or whatever that was offered to the neighbors.

We go to that and we listen to them.

But this expansion, you really have to think about that.

And as far as taking out these heritage trees, we can't even do it on our own properties, and yet you're allowing them to take 30 some trees out.

And then from what I heard at the Planning commission, they're gonna come in with five gallon trees to replant.

Do you know how long it's gonna take a five gallon tree to grow after you've taken out these gorgeous big trees?

I mean, come on.

Common sense tells you that doesn't happen overnight.

I mean, it's just I think you really have to look at it and look at the way the buildings are, don't jump to conclusions.

And if we close down any of the schools in Belmont, which a lot of places are closing them down, they should look at expanding the school to another school in Belmont and have a second expansion and not do it there.

Leave us alone.

We're only three streets up there, and God help us if there's a we only have one way going past the school to get in and get out in an emergency, any kind, and fire.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

John Healy, followed by JJ King.

Good evening, Council Mayor and Council members.

Uh John Healy, 626 Dartmouth Ave, St.

Carlos, lived there 30 years, been a neighbor of Charles Armstrong the whole time, nothing but good things to say, and that's because I think the process worked.

Twenty-five years ago we did this same dance for that gymnasium, and the answer was no.

Twenty-five years ago, members of the council and members of the planning commission came to my backyard and stood in my backyard to get that view.

And you're all welcome to come do that.

You've got my phone number on my tag.

Uh so if you want to come see what the view is from the neighbors on the San Carlos side, you can, and I applaud the council 25 years ago for doing that.

Um I'm just gonna speak a little bit about some of the things that, you know, again, I agree, it's a great school.

They do a great commute uh service to the community.

Uh, they brought up this uh thing, and we were talking a little bit about fire safety or emergency safety.

We get to every call.

We put every fire out, but it's how long did it take them to get there?

I would challenge that they got there in the six minutes and fifty-nine second uh requirement that the county EMS sticks on us to do that.

And I would probably say consolidated paid define for that one because they didn't make it, but I don't know that as a fact, but that's an assumption.

Um, secondly, though, what the school had to say, what they've told you is everything that is the rosy side of the picture.

Um the current multi-purpose room has been divided numerous times to meet all their needs, the teachers' breakout rooms and all the other things, which has made the stage smaller for the students and all that.

Uh to say there was no kitchen there when we're sitting in the room at the uh October 16th meeting, and I look through and see all the stainless steel on the side wall, knowing what was once there, uh you know, they're not completely forthright.

They chose not to use that kitchen anymore, and now they want to build a kitchen behind gymnasium in phase two, right behind our house.

Um, it's bad enough.

We all have the rat problem right now.

Currently, it's gonna bring more the noise problems and everything else that Donna Geise spoke about, all those things are gonna increase.

And does it really need to be happen?

What the school didn't talk about is what the obvious answer to me is out there.

They need to expand, they need to split into a small school and a middle school on a separate campus.

Uh, when we did the October 16th meeting, I talked about how Crystal Springs Upland left Hillsborough and put a campus here in Belmont.

Um, they also put their gymnasium subterranean.

They went down three stories with it.

There's a lot of options they can do to instead of building the monstrosity behind our houses that you'll be as high as I've been told your Belmont sign there, but I'm more concerned about the um the kitchen that's being attached to it.

Redo your current molding purpose room and put your kitchen away from the neighbors' houses.

If you need your gymnasium, you need your gymnasium, but you have options and they're not exploring them.

We brought them up as our concerns at the 16th meeting, and kind of sounds like it went to deaf ears, but at least 25 years ago I know it didn't, and I hope you guys don't improve phase two today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

JJ King, followed by Charles Stone.

Good evening, members of the Belmont City Council.

My name is JJ King, and I'm a longtime Belmont resident here to express my support for the Charles Armstrong School Campus Plan and to share why this project is meaningful to me, my family, and our community.

I've lived in Belmont more than 30 years, close to the Notre Dame campus and five minutes away from the Armstrong neighborhood.

And over that time, I've watched our city evolve.

I've seen public schools such as Ralston and Carlmont expand in ways that clearly benefited their students.

I also remember when Notre Dame installed a soccer field and neighbors raised concerns.

Yet I also witnessed many of the same neighbors pursuing significant renovations and rebuilds.

More recently, I've personally observed multiple homes directly across from or nearby Armstrong undergo new construction.

Those projects affected my daily commute and likely created noise that impacted students during the school day.

But to my knowledge, no one in our Armstrong community organ organized opposition to those projects.

I believe when someone chooses to buy property next to a school, it's reasonable to understand that some level of noise, whether from construction or from students, is part of that environment.

Even still, according to the published campus plan, their proposed expansion will be phased thoughtfully over many years.

This careful long-term approach demonstrates respect both for the students and for our neighbors.

Armstrong serves a profoundly meaningful purpose to unlock the potential of students with dyslexia and related learning differences.

Many families rely on this specialized education, but the school is reaching its limits of its current facilities.

Expanding the campus will allow more students with learning differences to access education designed for their needs, something that for families like mine is urgently important.

Because Armstrong represents more than buildings, it represents the possibility of a better future for our children.

I respect our Belmont community and understand that change can be difficult.

But fairness matters.

If we approve home remodels and public school expansions, a school dedicated to helping students with learning differences should be afforded the same opportunity.

To deny that opportunity risks creating the appearance of unequal treatment toward a community serving vulnerable learners.

If we believe that every child deserves access to an education that meets their needs, then supporting Armstrong's growth is one way to put that belief into action.

Thank you for your time and your thoughtful consideration.

Thank you.

Charles Stone, when you're ready.

Are we moving uh to virtual now?

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening.

I wanted to briefly share my perspective as someone who spent nine years on the council, someone who considers Sean Healy a dear friend, and someone who grew up in the household where his mother was an exceptional teacher of those with learning differences for 40 years.

And she's taught a small school, her own school, in San Mateo, about a couple miles from where Armstrong is.

And she had kids with Prater Willie syndrome, autism, cochlear implants, uh severe cerebral palsy, and everything under the and she had some kids, but she always told the parents of dyslexic kids, go to Armstrong if you can.

Because she thought it was not only very good, she thought it was exceptional, and I share that assessment.

There is no such thing as a perfect project that has no impact that is negative for anyone.

It's just not a thing that exists.

And I would urge and implore Charles Armstrong as they go forward if this project is proved to do everything they can to mitigate the effects on the Dartmouth neighbors.

But I'm confident that they will because they have time and time again shown themselves to be exceptional neighbors and stewards of Belmont's trust.

I want to close with something I wrote for the Daily Journal almost 13 years ago.

I recall Councilmember Pang Meganaris liking it a lot because it has a Hawaiian word in it.

A city's relationship with its education partners is symbiotic.

Great schools attract thriving families and draw students from other cities into our town, along with consumer dollars for our shops and businesses.

But our schools need our support to meet and surpass our high expectations.

Our leaders and residents must embrace our education community and treat our public and private schools as integral members of the Belmont family.

To succeed, we need Ohana.

Literally translated Ohana means family.

But the word means something much deeper.

Ohana is a broader understanding of family and extends to embrace those that are intertwined in a community.

The term emphasizes that these families are bound together by interrelationships and must cooperate with and remember one another to prosper.

A thriving education community is an integral part of Belmont.

Sometimes our existing education partners will need to rebuild or expand.

When this happens, they need engaged partners willing to work hand in hand with them to find solutions that accommodate their needs while preserving our open space and suburban characters, character, excuse me.

We must weigh their proposals fairly and thoughtfully with Ohana in mind.

I trust that you will do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brad Peter Salmas, when you're ready.

Reverend Peter Salmus.

Peter Salmus, go ahead and unmute yourself, please and begin speaking.

Okay, we will try you again.

We have another in-house speaker.

I'll call up Juliana when you're ready.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

I'm a neighbor of Charles Armstrong.

I live a couple hundred yards away.

I travel by it multiple times per day.

I strongly support this request to update and upgrade.

Every public school in Belmont has been updated multiple times since uh Charles Armstrong.

The buildings there were built for McDougal.

These are the only buildings in the city that have not been.

Charles Armstrong is a fantastic partner to the community.

As you all know, I'm uh a regional commissioner for Belmont River Chores AYSO.

They have been a fantastic partner to us and to every other youth sports organization that uh uses their facilities.

Charles Armstrong gives the students the equitable education they deserve.

So many of others I've spoken more eloquently.

I won't go on about it, but you know.

Um as you know from the videos I say, yeah, I've spent dozens of hours on Chula Vista because of my cycling uh concerns.

Traffic there is not from uh Charles Armstrong.

I'm sure there's some, but it's by and large cut through traffic and traffic to Carlmont.

Daily, weekly, I have issues with traffic going by uh Carlmont, IHM, Notre Dame, RMS.

The number of times I've had an issue with traffic in front of Charles Armstrong is a half dozen times.

I've probably forgotten some, but it's it's so little that I can I really can't even remember it.

Got a bunch more stuff here, but you've heard it all.

Um, we're a community that supports education.

Please support this request.

Thank you.

Revan Peter Salmas will call up on you, if you are joining virtually and you are under the name Peter G.

Salmus, if you can unmute yourself and begin speaking, please.

Okay.

I think we have to go on if there's other folks.

We can maybe that will be the last comment.

Going one.

Oh.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Yes.

Um, I think uh mayormates in the council.

Um I speak in favor of the project.

Um I'm here at Holy Cross Creek Orthodox Church.

I've been for many years a resident here, and my family was raised here in Belmont.

My daughter went to Notre Dame, and then uh Notre Dame de Maria University received her master's.

She's a learning specialist at Armstrong.

And I have a number of families who have had their children attend the school.

Um, this school is unique in what it offers, helping students with dyslexia and the learning differences.

And so many of us benefit from that, even though we may not have children directly.

We have members in the community who have benefited and continue to benefit from the presence of Armstrong here in the community.

The educational value that it offers our community and the peninsula is unique, and I think we should do everything we can to help support and help the school expand, even the small number of students that they wish to add to the student campus.

And uh I commend the school and those who work with the school to meet every concern of the surrounding neighborhood.

The traffic concerns in Belmont are great, and it's not just Armstrong that has to deal with the many public school systems here in Belmont to affect the traffic more significantly than the school there at Armstrong.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Yes.

Please.

Rob Whedon, you'll have three minutes to speak when you're ready.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Got a little bit of feedback here, so it's a bit of a challenge.

I guess my comment is more of a question.

I'm a neighbor, it's 656 Dartmouth.

Our families had good cooperation and appreciated the school.

We've been here over 10 years, and it's a beautiful campus.

McDougall's a beautiful park.

We support the mission of Charles Armstrong.

I guess being a little bit uninformed here, I don't understand why there aren't alternative proposals that are less impactful on the neighbors that could be reviewed or commented upon because it seems like this is the most impactful design on neighbors for Dartmouth and the upper area in Belmont.

So it just seems like to me the gymnasium can be underground, it can be closer to the main campus, further away from the neighbors, and there can be alternative proposals because I'm going through these proposals and like this is the only proposal, and it just seems like the most impactful on neighbors.

I think it sounds like everybody here supports the school expanding, the mission of the school and the great community service or service to the community and kids and parents that the school provides.

It's just a really much more of a debate around architecture and the proposed design of the buildings and their impact.

And if we could stay focused on that, and there are alternatives that could be reviewed, there are further the what I feel the intrusions are is our limiting.

I was principal at Nesbett, we expanded twice.

Completely and truly appreciative supportive.

On an aside, I'm just wondering how many of you are on staff.

Okay, I asked because tomorrow night, my staff, we're going to our board, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna be like, you know what?

There were like 30 of them there.

So I'm just gonna let them know that tomorrow night they better show up as well.

Thank you very much, Vice Mayor.

Um, yeah, thank you.

Uh I agree with all of your comments.

Um I do want to thank everyone for coming out tonight.

It's it's late, and uh one of the things there's a lot of reasons why I think we all love Belmont, but part of it is that we all we all show up, right?

Whether it's to support a project or to express your concerns, we all show up, we listen to each other, and you know, we do our best to make the best decisions.

So I do want to thank everybody for coming out tonight.

Um I appreciate all the uh opinions, concerns, support.

Uh it's really heartwarming, especially to hear from former students, from parents who had students there, uh, the impact that Armstrong has had on their children, their family lives, and quite frankly, it's not just their these families, right?

These children who grow up, they become productive members of society, so we are all benefiting in one way or another from a school like Armstrong.

I think sometimes we can get caught up in, you know, our vision and our tunnel vision, and that's completely appropriate because we all come from our own space.

But I think as my colleague said, sometimes we do have to look at what's, and that's kind of what we're tasked with, right?

We are tasked with like what is best for the community at large.

So while I appreciate hearing all the comments, uh I do have to say that even if none of the parents came tonight and expressed that, I I think we all know, and everyone in this room has said that Charles Armstrong is a gift, and the concerns, I just want to address a couple of the concerns.

I think a couple of people mentioned safety and potential, you know, for that fire trucks and engines can't get up the streets.

I think they're talking about that today, and I think if that were a situation that I our incredible fire department would probably have already let us know that we we are expressing some having some concerns.

So I appreciate that there were some concerns, but I do feel like we have a world-class fire department, and I support them wholeheartedly.

The second thing someone talked about is traffic, and I I don't want to belabor this point, but one school does not make traffic in Belmont bad, right?

There's a lot of a lot of cars driving, and Giuliano's gonna tell me we all need to start riding bikes, um, but we can't we can't blame traffic on one school.

That you know, we live in a society now where there's you know, someone very early on in the evening said we don't have buses, and even we do have SAM trans buses for the public schools, and it's still traffic is still severely impacted.

Somebody else also mentioned that there's lower enrollment in the school district.

I do want to say that we do not have purview over the school district, um, but even so they the school district would have to then partner with Charles Armstrong, which is a whole different learning environment.

I mean, if you're listening to what they were talking about and the innovations that they have not yet been able to do because they haven't had a chance to do any expansion, that they then we would be hindering them more.

I mean, that's a decision for Armstrong, but if you think about all of the technology and all of the things that this that the, I was on the school board for many years, and all the advancements that our public schools make, they have not been able to do because they've been hindered by things like our their conditional use permit and you know other opportunities.

So the view of the gym will detract from the tranquility from the neighbors currently feel and concerns around the kitchen.

I hear you, and I appreciate it.

They're such a good neighbor that they move their setback even more.

They lowered the height of the building.

I implore the community to just continue to work with Armstrong because I do feel like they are bending over backwards to try to make sure that the community as a whole feels good about this expansion because we all should feel good.

Again, I think Charles Armstrong is a gift.

They've been looking at this situation entirely holistic.

They have not been looking at the lens from their current students.

They're looking at what the past has brought them and what the future can be, but they're also looking at it in terms of what is it gonna give Belmont?

How are we a good partner?

They train the public school teachers on how to work with dyslexic students.

These are all incredible, incredible gifts that I think for a lot of us we just take for granted.

And the last few things I'll say is: every kid is a gift.

Every child has something special about them.

And whether it's the arts, whether it's athletics, whether you know you want to go be a dancer, every kid has that.

And allowing them to do this expansion, which isn't big, is gonna allow more children to have more opportunities to find what their what their groove is, what their jam is, you know.

Growing up is hard, and giving kids more opportunities to explore and to find out really who they are and who they want to be just something.

I mean, we should all be applauding this effort.

And I can go on and on.

So I'm gonna just stop and I'm just gonna say thank you for being such a good partner and working so hard to make this effort work for everybody.

I really appreciate it, and I can fully support this effort.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, colleagues.

Council member McCune.

So one of my best friends has a son with a really serious learning problem.

It's not autism, it's due to a known genetic anomaly.

But school did not work for this kid.

It never worked, and he tried.

This kid was gonna flunk out of eighth grade.

And if he'd flunked out of eighth grade, he would have never gone back to school.

Due to some parents that just never gave up on this kid, and a special school that they got him into, not Charles Armstrong, but a school a little bit like that.

Today that kid is a straight A senior at UCLA.

And if you had known this kid when he was in eighth grade as I did, you would have said, no way, there is no way this kid will ever graduate from high school, college, no way.

UCLA, no way, straight A no way.

Well, yes, way, thanks to a special school a little bit like Charles Armstrong.

We need more schools like this, not fewer.

And the schools that already exist need more capabilities to help more kids.

The other part of my comment is in my day job, I've now been a working architect and construction manager for 50 years, and that includes some school buildings when I was younger.

And I've built them, I've renovated them, I've reviewed a lot of plans.

When I review the plans for this proposed project, I see a good project.

The height is okay in terms of the normal standards, the floor area ratio is okay, the setbacks are okay, and the parking is okay, and the landscaping is okay.

Will things change a little bit for some of the neighbors?

Yeah.

Yeah, they will.

Every construction project involves some change like that.

Is there anything here that is going to catastrophically excuse me devastate the neighborhood?

No, there isn't.

These are gonna be some normal changes like you have with every project that will, you know, people will get used to, and they will be worked into the neighborhood, and they're not catastrophic, devastating changes.

So I'm happy to support this ordinance that modifies the planned development standards and allows the project to go forward.

All right, thank you very much.

Thank you for uh your thoughtful comments, colleagues.

I'd also like to thank the planning commission and our staff and the Charles Armstrong school team for the tremendous amount of thoughtful and careful work that's gone into this project.

It has been a long process, I know.

I also want to thank those who have engaged with us uh through public comment, both written and verbal on this issue over these months.

Um, all of the written comment was also read and is part of our uh public record.

The level of engagement, responsiveness, and collaboration throughout this process has been real and meaningful.

I support the recommendation for Charles Armstrong School to move forward with the proposed modifications.

This project is at its core about students.

The kitchen that they are hoping to build is to serve students, to feed children.

The campus improvements are about giving students the same basic opportunities that every other school has: space for children to play and exercise, an appropriate workspace for teachers and staff when they're not in the classroom.

Charles Armstrong School has made every reasonable effort to listen and respond to neighbors.

They have spent time, energy, and real resources incorporating community feedback, adjusting sighting, creating buffers, and working to minimize impacts whenever possible.

The administration has truly bent over backwards to address neighbors' concerns while still meeting the needs of their students, making changes to their athletic building as recently as January 6th after the planning commission's comments.

As I shared from this day as before, two of my children attended Charles Armstrong School.

I have seen firsthand how it changes the lives of students and their families.

I've also seen firsthand how strict they are about efficient drop-off and pickup because they are so concerned with not being in compliance with the city's rules.

They are not asking for anything exceptional.

Only the ability to operate and serve children the way other schools in our community do.

And stepping back, and this this is bigger than just one project.

Although we're a relatively small town, in Belmont, we have an educational inst educational institutions that serve preschool through university level.

A small town like ours, preschool students through university level student students, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to academics, and it's part of what makes our city so special.

Education is not peripheral here.

It's central to who we are.

It is so fundamental that we enshrined it in our vision statement that says, quote, that we facilitate lifelong learning in its academic, artistic, and social dimensions.

Our unwavering, deeply rooted commitment to education is right there in our vision statements.

So I'm proud to represent a city that stands firmly, unapologetically, behind its academic communities, both public and private.

Supporting this project is not just appropriate, is exactly what a city that believes in education, believes in students, and believes in its future should do.

And so for all of these reasons, I fully strongly and unequivocally support moving this project forward, and I'm proud to do so.

And if there are no other comments, then we can entertain a motion.

I move approval.

Second.

Roll call.

Councilmember Leonard Malone.

Yes.

McHugh?

Aye.

Pang Menganeris.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Jordan?

Yes.

Mayor May?

Yes.

Motion passes five to zero.

Thank you very much.

All right.

We'll move along.

Alright, we'll move along to item 11: General Business.

There is no item on that on that agenda item.

Item 12 is a brief verbal reports from members and staff, verbal reports from council members on IGRs and subcommittee assignments.

Let me look down to first to Vice Mayor.

We had our housing subcommittee earlier today, and we talked about some of the cool things they're doing at the beginning.

So I'm good.

Great.

Yeah.

Thanks for you.

Okay.

Councilmember Pang McNaris.

I do.

I went to the local policymakers group a couple of weeks ago, and right now they're really focused on corridor crossings, how to make train tracks and streets safe.

And I am so thankful that we live here in Belmont because we tackled this problem 20 years ago, and we are not currently like all the other cities on the peninsula having to deal with figuring out how to fund multi-multi-multi-multi-million dollar projects.

All right, thank you.

Councilmember McCune, any serve it for next time.

Um it is not an official IGR, but I have been made uh chair of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority starting uh this past month.

And um so that's yeah, that's kind of exciting.

And uh we've had a couple of other meetings, but at this late hour, I will leave those for next time.

Uh item 12B, verbal report from our city manager.

I think uh you covered a f quite a few things, but I do want to kind of highlight two items uh kind of in keeping with our centennial celebrations, uh, applications are open for our happy hydrants and utility box uh art programs or uh if folks are artistic in any way and interested in uh taking us up to paint the city uh all kind of different ways.

This is a great uh chance to kind of uh submit your application and get in uh the fun.

Uh also our SMC Fire and American Red Cross are doing a campaign to uh kind of check and install uh free smoke alarms for our residents, and that's scheduled for February 21st.

If you're interested, please reach out to uh it's on our calendar and uh website, but you can call 650 259 1769 to schedule an appointment, and folks will show up and install uh fire uh smoke alarms uh at your residences.

Great, thank you so much.

Good reminders.

Uh item 13 matters of interest clarification.

We do not have any items.

Um 14 is our adjournment.

I'd like to adjourn tonight's meeting in memory of Lillian McCune, mother of council member Tom McCune, who passed away recently at the age of 103.

Many of us first met Lillian in these council chambers in 2019 when she proudly swore her son into the city council.

In 2023, at age 100, Lillian became one of Belmont's newest and oldest residents, moving to Belmont from the Midwest to be closer to her son.

Over the years, she attended many city functions as a friend and supporter.

Lillian was a lifelong educator and mentor, first teaching business education and later elementary school, and she remained intellectually sharp and engaged well into her later years.

She spent her final months at San Carlos Elms, where Tom and his wife Terry were able to visit her daily.

We extend our condolences to our colleague Tom, his wife Terry, and the entire McCune family, and to all who knew and will miss Lillian.

Please join me in a moment of silence in memory of Lillian McCune.

Thank you, and we're adjourned.