Redwood City Council Meeting - January 23, 2023
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Redwood City Council Meeting - January 23, 2023
This meeting of the Redwood City Council on January 23, 2023, at 6:00 PM began with recognition of the Lunar New Year and somber reflections on recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay. The council then conducted a consent calendar, celebrated student achievements in water conservation and adult high school graduation, held a public hearing on a 130-unit housing project at 1330 El Camino Real, received an informational update on a proposed 108-unit extremely low-income supportive housing project at 1580 Maple, approved annual appointments, and heard reports including a storm recovery update.
Consent Calendar
- The council approved the consent calendar (items 6A, 6C, 6D, 6F, 6G, 6H) by unanimous roll call (7-0). Councilmembers Howard and Aguirre recused themselves from item 6B (speed hump project) due to proximity; item 6B was then approved separately by a 5-0 vote (Howard and Aguirre recused). Items included a resolution to apply for $4,450,000 in grant funds for the downtown parks and bay connectivity project, updates to the city investment policy, continued state of local emergency for hybrid meetings, rejection of a liability claim, approval of previous meeting minutes, and claims/checks.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Consent and general comments: In-person speakers included Ed Stansel (shared video of family and volunteer work), Kenneth Doe (Carpenters Union Local 217 – urged the city to adopt labor standards for developers/contractors to ensure livable wages and local hiring), and Jimmy Hedges (raised flooding concerns about Cordilleras Creek, noting insufficient clearance under Industrial Road bridge and lack of maintenance for 23 years).
- Zoom speakers: Andy Ramroth (Redwood City resident and teacher – described flood damage to his home, insurance claims denied, urged city to maintain creek and consider concrete lining); former Mayor Ian Bain (celebrated Hip Housing calendar and urged support); Greg Biles (G Street resident – criticized city for not clearing creek despite website promise, requested all bridges be upgraded); Michelle Barlow (environmental consultant – stated she maintains her portion of creek but cannot do heavy work, expects city to protect residents through annual clearing); Julio Martell (longtime resident – echoed need for city to clear creek and prevent future floods); Chris White (West Farm Hill resident – reported burglaries, asked for license plate readers/cameras at highway corridors); Denise Kwaji (G Street resident – had flood damage on New Year’s Eve, asked city to coordinate with San Carlos and county).
- Public hearing on item 7A (1330 El Camino Real): One in-person speaker (Dylan Finch) expressed strong support for the project, citing housing needs, transit proximity, and limited parking. One Zoom speaker (Brian Shields, Carpenter’s Local 217) emphasized the need for labor standards and highlighted worker abuses on nearby projects.
Discussion Items
- Item 7A – 1330 El Camino Real Housing Project: The council held a public hearing on a proposal to construct a 6-story, 130-unit rental building (26 below-market-rate units, 20% affordability) at 1330 El Camino Real. The project required a Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP) amendment to remove the Recordman Building from the historic resource list (evaluations and peer review concluded it is not historic). Staff and the applicant (Toby Long, Joshua Jewett) presented the design, which includes underground parking, bike storage, a community garden, and rooftop amenities. The council discussed unit sizes (81% studios), bundled vs. unbundled parking (ultimately unbundled), relocation of existing tenants (state law applies, no local ordinance), and the possibility of prevailing wages. Councilmembers asked about ELI units and union labor. The city attorney clarified the city has no prevailing wage requirement, but an existing policy offers a 25% fee discount for projects using area standard wages. The council voted unanimously (7-0) to approve the resolution, including the DTPP amendment, community permit, tentative map, concessions/waivers, and affordable housing plan.
- Item 8A – 1580 Maple Supportive Housing Informational Update: Assistant City Manager Alex Kojikian, along with County Housing Director Ray Hodges and MidPen Housing’s Abby Goldware-Potlery, presented a conceptual plan for a 110-unit (108 studios + 2 manager units) extremely low-income permanent supportive housing project on a 1.5-acre remnant parcel from the 2021 city-county property exchange. The project would serve formerly homeless individuals, with on-site services, all-electric design, solar panels, and a target construction start by Q1 2024 via SB 35 streamlined approval. The council provided feedback on design (requested varied facades, heavy landscaping), community engagement (encouraged outreach to future neighbors and transportation partners), and programmatic items (prevailing wage to be included in ground lease, local preference for Redwood City residents to be written into the agreement, receiving RHNA credit). No vote was taken; the item was informational. Staff will negotiate the ground lease and return to council later.
Key Outcomes
- Votes:
- Consent calendar (excluding 6B): Approved 7-0.
- Consent calendar item 6B: Approved 5-0 (2 recused).
- Item 7A (1330 El Camino Real): Approved unanimously 7-0.
- Item 9A (2023 regional appointments): Approved unanimously 7-0 (with correction that Councilmember Howard is a representative, not alternate, on Redwood City Together Leadership Council).
- Directives and next steps:
- Staff to hold a neighborhood meeting for Cordilleras Creek residents to discuss maintenance and future options.
- City manager will bring an updated emergency operations plan in spring 2023; planning commission recruitment opened through February 28; police chief recruitment underway with community input.
- For the 1580 Maple project, staff will negotiate ground lease terms including local preference, prevailing wage, and landscape maintenance agreements; a four-party agreement with Carlisle (adjacent developer) and others will be pursued to coordinate construction timing.
- Council to discuss prevailing wage and labor standard policies at the February 11 retreat.
- Public encouraged to report storm damage to the county for potential state/federal assistance.
Meeting Transcript
Well, good evening and welcome to our council meeting of January twenty-third, twenty twenty-three. It's great to see a full chamber. I think it's been years since we've seen a chamber like this. So thank you for joining us this evening. I'm Jeff Gene, the mayor of Redwood City, and it's great to see everyone tonight. Uh also wanted to take uh the moment to say Gonghey Fat Choice, Sun named Fi Look, happy Lunar New Year. And there's several lunar new year celebrations planned already for this past weekend and the next two weekends that hopefully many of you can can take up, you know, time to participate in. As a reminder, we are holding meetings tonight in a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual participation for council meet council members and the public. Items will be taken in the order they are listed on the agenda. With our hybrid meeting format, the public comment procedures are as follows. In-person speakers will be called first in the order in which speaker cards were turned into the city clerk. The city clerk is over here to my right. Speaker cards are located at the back table in the council chambers and must be turned into the city clerk at the day. City Clerk, could you please take the roll? Certainly. Councilmember Aguirre. Councilmember Howard. Here. Thank you, Councilmember, for leading us in the pledge. I know tonight's a celebratory event, but I need to take a moment to recognize the events that just not only happened this weekend, but even as recently as this afternoon in Half Moon Bay. You know, Saturday was the eve of the lunar new year, the year of the rabbit. The lunar new year is probably the most important holiday in the Asian community. It's a time of family, friends, food celebration, and hopes for the new year. In the city of Monterey Park, a community where nearly two-thirds of the community is of Asian descent. They're wrapping up Saturday's Lunar New Year's celebrations. For the seniors in the community, ballroom dancing is a major part of the social life. Socializing with friends, exercising, being out for a fun evening. This is who they are. This is how they celebrate. On Saturday evening, the weekly routine for many, and the welcoming of the new year was shattered by a person with a gun, who now has killed 11 individuals and injured nine others, and has devastated a closed-knit community. The tragedy could not have been worse, could have been worse if it were not for bystanders who disarmed this individual as he went to another ballroom dance club with ill intentions. Another community is seeking answers and is asking why. Why us? Why here? We need to work together to find answers to gun violence in our communities. As we subsend our support and strength to Monterey Park, and I sent an email to the mayor this afternoon. We need to move beyond thoughts and prayers and condolences. Yes, we send those to our elected colleagues and to the residents of Monterey Park. But we need to learn to stand together and say enough. This violence must stop. Too many families, friends, and communities have had their lives impacted forever. And just on our way here, we heard about the shootings in Half Moon Bay, with at least four that were killed. As we take a moment in our hearts to seek solace for those affected by the tragedy in Monterey Park, I hope, I really, really hope that together we can find a path forward to peace in our cities across the country. And it's going to take all of us working together to find that path. This is just so saddening and so angering, but we need to find a better way. I'm very hopeful that the year of the rabbit can show us the path to peace. Thank you, Council. Thank you for letting me say a few words this evening. As we turn now to the celebratory part of our agenda, I'd like to turn to item 4A to the recognition of winners of the annual water conservation poster contests by the City of Redwood City's public working. Let me get my notes here, correct ones.
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