Do you have a range in mind?

Or how in other words, how how tall?

Yeah, we we don't have specific um heights recommendations at this point.

Um, to to Jim's earlier point about you know uh incentives to um cre how how to create incentives for um the types of great infrastructure that would help mitigate some of the flooding risk that's in the area, that might be one of those areas, one of those strategies where you allow greater density and greater height potentially in order to to balance the need for um that type of infrastructure.

Um so you know what that's that's one of the strategies we're looking at.

Um but we don't we don't have any uh specific height recommendations quite yet to bring forward.

Okay, great.

And then finally, last question, um, and hopefully quick.

Uh the stuff and just a question about uh Mezi'sville.

Um you say that there's a documented loss of historic integrity of some contributing structures.

Um what so what's the background of that?

Yeah, that I'm glad you brought that up.

Um so I'm gonna we have a few extra slides at the back of this presentation.

So at our um architectural advisory and historic uh resources advisory committee meetings.

Um a few couple weeks ago now.

Um we um our our historic preservation um consultant um talked a little bit about um the the Mesysville Historic District and the fact that um uh a certain percentage of the the um contributing structures that um make up the district um have lost some of their historic integrity.

And you know, they we talked a little bit about with with uh the two committees about you know what are some ways to um maintain you know historic integrity in the area and and document the historic nature of the district and whether you know the question is whether the historic district rema retains enough integrity to still be considered district, um, or whether you know there are uh a different strategy around um designated individual structures um or other types of ways to um mark the significance of the neighborhood and its role in the history of Edward City are appropriate.

And so we we had a little bit of a discussion on that.

Um, you know, I don't think we came to any just uh like really uh any conclusions that night.

Um but you know it's something that we're really interested in in exploring a little bit more with you and with the community um as we go forward.

If I may, through the chair, we need to just do a quick um slide, put up another slide to let folks who might be joining for the special meeting know that we are still on this item.

So we'll just put that on the side uh for a second and you guys we can we can continue here, but we'll just kind of flash that um slide up as well for folks online.

Thank you, Ms.

Xline.

Um right, we'll wrap up the um clarification questions portion uh of our item three.

We have committee member Nova.

Oh, yes, sorry.

Very quick clarification question.

Um looking at the uh slide that shows the mobility and connectivity map.

Um I interpreting this correctly that the bicycle network does not extend to the two future Redwood City Terminal because that is uh Bay Trail extension opportunity and there will be bike affordances on the bay trail that will connect to the rest of the the bike infrastructure in the city.

You're nodding yes, so I'm taking that as a yes.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee member Noga.

Um I will now open the public uh meaning for public comment at this time we will take public comments from those joining us in person only.

Um if you have joined us in person, please fill out a speaker's card and bring it to the staff member.

Um Ms.

Goodall, uh, do we have any further um cards?

No.

No, okay, great.

Um I will call the in-person speaker first, and then we'll turn it over to Staff Liaison to read any public comments that were received by email.

I have received one so far uh for item 3A, and that's Glenn Babbitt.

Um you have three minutes to speak.

Uh good evening, uh commissioners, committee members, members of the public.

Um can't resist adding to the response to uh Commissioner Hunter's question about Mesisville.

Um although I am a member of the Historic Resources Committee, I'm only expressing personal opinion here.

But I think Mr.

Francis's summary is uh very accurate and certainly jibes with my remembrance.

I would only add that so far this idea is a brainstorm in the sense that it is based on a windshield survey.

No detailed study has been done, and I think uh further study would be needed before we could seriously consider decertification just due to the uh the implications.

We have not done that before.

We should really look at what outcomes would be.

Um would it be more difficult to qualify for Mills Act contracts?

Um there are other ways to address the fact that some properties may be losing integrity.

Should we go that route first?

Just to say more study might be needed there.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Babbitt, for your comment.

Um Ms.

Ixline, were there any public comments received by email?

There were not.

Okay.

All right.

If there's no objection, I will now close the public comment um and I will open the meeting for commission and committee discussion.

Um Commissioner Butt, please go ahead.

Thank you.

Um thank you for your comments, Mr.

Babbitt.

Um alluding to something that uh committee member Noga and Commissioner Finch brought up.

Um I do have concerns about this plan in the sense that it seems that we are relying a lot on the north of downtown district for where we are adding a lot of our density and housing, et cetera.

And I also heard comments um tonight that we are asking developers to foot a lot of the cost on this flood, these flood mitigation strategies, open space in that area.

Um there's just various other factors like you know, that area is prime San Carlos Airport, um takeoff space, right?

Uh I I don't even know the viability of how high we can even allow buildings, even if we want to allow that as a concession to developers.

Um it seems at the same time that we are expecting a lot of this development to happen, a lot of this housing, commercial development to happen in this prime flood zone.

We're leaving the area right next to the main transit center um relatively untouched, I would say.

Um it seems that the Centennial District within our slides is described as a explicitly described as a transit adjacent district.

Um but I don't see much plans for pedestrianization.

I don't see much um proposals for high density housing, commercial and instead we're expecting people to live do all that stuff more than a 15-20 minute walk away from our main transit center.

So I just wanted to register my own concerns about how about the viability of that.

Thank you, Commissioner Um But Commissioner Finch.

Please go ahead.

Uh yes, I wanted to um respond to the uh Woodside um question.

Um I oh sorry, first it was such a great report.

I am so excited.

I think it is incredible, and I appreciate all of the community input, and I am very excited for the remainder of the process and how what we say, you know, we get incorporated and and how this will affect the city for you know decades to come.

Um I I think on the woodside question, um, I think it would be great if we could have more um pedestrian crossings.

I I I'm a little hesitant to advocate for the bridges.

I think the existing bridge is um uh it's just it's honestly a long way to walk up and down on both sides, and at night it can be a little bit iffy.

I'm not sure if I would if if I would take it.

Um it it also it just feels so like second class to the to these, you know, to this neighborhood that is it was you know bisected by the by Woodside Road.

And so I think for me it would be great if we could, if we could figure out a way to have some kind of accurate crossing.

Um I'm not, you know, I maybe if we could have um if we could add a lane to Woodside Road on each side, so there's three travel lanes, and then maybe we could have more frequent intersections, because I know that more intersections would cause more delay, but maybe if we added capacity, that could make up for it.

Um and with that added capac um and maybe we could have a pedestrian crossing at each of the the streets that it kind of cuts in half, but only a pedestrian crossing, uh I think extra vehicle crossings would add just a lot of complexity and and vehicle delay on Woodside Road and the adjacent streets.

Um I also think there's a real opportunity to get rid of the El Camino Woodside grade separation.

I think that interchange is just an eyesore.

I don't think it really uh makes traffic flow very like that well.

I mean it dumps uh traffic that is exiting Woodside Road onto neighborhood, small neighborhood streets before you can even get to El Camino.

Um and so it's it's bad for those neighborhoods.

A lot of houses are directly across from freeway ramps.

Um again, I I think if we were to lower uh Woodside Road uh at El Camino, I don't think I I think we could mitigate the traffic impacts by perhaps adding a lane.

Although I'm I'm also skeptical it would cause too many traffic impacts because there are traffic signals on Woodside and ECR before and after the interchange.

Um I was gonna say can I jump in?

I mean, there's a lot of to unpack about Woodside Road.

Um but um I think there's a there's a big question.

I think that the the outreach was trying to find out exactly what the best crossing points of this particular canyon that really separates uh our east uh side of our our city to to our downtown core.

Uh and you know I I know there is improvements uh along Broadway and Bay Street already as part of the current developments to get more pedestrian access, but there's still this continuous canyon all the way to Middlefield with no crossing.

And I think you know, uh if I would put one I would put one on a spring street because it goes directly to Hoover Park, which is the main major amenity for for a park starved neighborhood of Stambaugh Heller.

Um but I feel like overall there's this very large disconnect, uh systemic disconnect of for transportation within Webwood City.

The city council has put a vision of 50 percent alternate modal um uh alternate modes of transport for residents by 2040 or 2050 or whatever, maybe uh yet you know we continue to implement a very large infrastructure projects that prioritize car infrastructure, uh including the the the 84101 interchange.

I'm not denying, I think it should be done.

You know, it's it's a grade F currently by Cal Trans Standards, but we are increasing then the width of the Woodside Road to six lanes.

So asking to have an ad grade crossing at a six-lane road that currently is four lanes, um seems like a disconnect in terms of what our goals are.

So if I wanted to safely cross uh six-lane road, I would rather be on a on a bridge, uh however unsafe it is, versus having to go over this many um lanes of traffic uh or without a media.

So I I think overall we need to just um have right hand and left hand kind of go together rather than build very large um infrastructure project that increase lane traffic and and that mode uh share of the overall uh motor transportation, and on the other hand, um we are trying to incentivize alternate motor transportation.

So I think between those two, especially on Woodside Road, there's this very jarring disconnect as to how they jive together.

That's my particular opinion.

Um Commissioner Koch.

Yeah, that's great.

Thank you.

Um I only have one thing to say about the current overcrossing the bridge that's currently on Woodside Road.

I personally know three people who have unfortunately been attacked on that bridge, two in the morning and one at nighttime.

Because the lighting is bad, there are no cameras, and if we're gonna do something and we want to keep the bridge, I think that's probably a really great idea.

Umeras, safety.

Some way we need to get that refurbished to make it safer and make it better.

I know some moms that walk their children to school and to avoid walking over on the bridge, they walk kind of that hump that goes on Woodside Road and then drops down and then goes on to that um area where you can split off to El Camino.

And there's like this much room.

And their kids are just kind of squished up in the ivy and they kind of follow each other and shuffle along because they don't want to walk on the bridge because they just don't feel safe.

Um so that might be something to keep in mind, just really safety.

And it it feels like not as much as it used to, but as we all know, there are there is a disconnect with a lot of our residents that are on the other side of Woodside Road.

So now this project I think is a wonderful way to sort of start to close that gap and to bring people together.

So let's do it safely and cleanly and do everything we can to help everybody feel like they're part of us.

Thank you, Commissioner Coke.

Um I'm not sure if Commissioner Cornejo or Commissioner Robinson.

Okay, great.

Commissioner Cornejo, go ahead.

I just want to echo the comments on the lack of safety on the um on the bridge, the Woodside Road Bridge.

Um I think it's important to address those safety issues as opposed to adding a new form of connecting those neighborhoods.

I think if uh we were to add something new, it would just make the gap of inequities in that neighborhood larger.

Um but also it's important to make sure that the neighborhood that's on the other side is receiving the resources that they need in order to um increase safety.

So that's just something to keep in mind as we move forward and connecting both neighborhoods.

Thank you, Commissioner Cornejo.

Uh Commissioner Finch.

Oh, Commissioner Hunter, sorry.

Okay.

Um I'm gonna start by echoing Commissioner Finch's comments that I think this is a fantastic vision framework.

Um, you you you John also staff and all of the uh our consultants have done a fantastic job so far in coming up with this, and I think it's exciting.

Um so thank you.

Um so just uh kind of a few bullets here.

So I strongly support in you know um improving Redwood Creek as an open space amenity.

Uh that's one of the things that was really focused on and the questions was about.

I think I mean I've always thought that the creek has the potential to be a crown jewel in our greater downtown area.

Um and I think on the on the Bay side of veterans, um I think this could include creek facing in instead of that uh large uh brick wall right now that's facing it.

I think uh this this has uh we could um we should include creek facing dining and entertainment options.

Um on the downtown side, um I would want to consider like some of the um uh comments in in the public um outreach.

Some of the commentators said um on the downtown side, I would like to consider whether it's practical to daylight additional portions of the creek.

Um I support the vision framework's emphasis on public space and place making.

I think that was a that's been a significant emphasis, and I uh strongly support that.

Um I had never heard of this before, but I uh I support the what uh the new linear park north of veterans uh in the uh innovation and um incubation district.

Um as we've uh talked about some, I think additional open space is definitely needed in the uh uh Stembo Heller district, and um it's definitely already built out, and so I really appreciate your trying to be as creative as you can in in finding places.

Um I think that we should re I support the idea of requiring retail you requiring retail uses in ground floors of all the buildings in the downtown core.

Um I think the community engagement to date has been extensive and impressive.

Um that was a little disappointing though was uh there's been two open houses and to see the attendance drop from 70 to 20 between the first and second open house.

I don't know why that happened.

So I I know there's another a third open house uh scheduled um sometime in the future.

So I would definitely um recommend in doing all you can to increase the awareness of that because I don't know why the uh uh participation uh dropped so much.

Um and then finally uh the Woodside Road Um thing that we we've had many good comments here.

Um I would uh say, and I don't know if this is more or less expensive than a bridge, but I would want to consider an underp a pedestrian underpass.

I mean we have one that goes under the freeway right now, so it can definitely be done.

Um that seems like that would have a l a lot less you know, ramps to go up and back, like if you're pushing a stroller, uh, you know, you just you know kind of go, you know, slight slight dip under the uh under the road and then come back up.

Um so again, I I have no idea what the cost of that would be, but uh that seems like it would might maybe be possibly safer, um easier to navigate than the bridge and certainly easier to navigate than an at grade crossing.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Hunter.

Committee member Noga, please go ahead.

Just echo um all of my colleagues' appreciation for all this work.

It's a huge undertaking.

Um and I will say that I really appreciate the way you're thinking about this as um separate districts that are sort of distinct but all um have an emphasis on mixed use, which I think is really, really great.

Um double down on what Commissioner Hunter said about requiring activated ground floor use because I think that's gonna help keep all of these areas activated 24-7 and not have areas where you know it's just offices and it closes out at 5 p.m.

and there's nothing happening on Saturdays and Sundays because when it is activated, you are getting safety um increases there, and then the emphasis to along with that of all of the multimodal um transportation in those mixed-use areas again makes it safer for everybody 24-7.

So I appreciate that that's already incorporated in all of your designs and just keep that in there and emphasize it as much as you can.

Um you're thinking about ideas of creative ways to do things.

Curious what the possibilities for um privately owned public open spaces and things like a rooftop garden or plaza or a second floor.

I know tenants may not love that for security reasons, but I think that that creates some interesting opportunities for us to create um open spaces where we don't have just the square footage at the moment.

Um then also to second something that Commissioner Hunter said.

I love the idea of um uh daylighting more of Redwood Creek if possible, but if we're gonna do that, I would say that it would be nice to make sure that it's actually sort of usable space and not LA River style um just concrete walls, that it is pleasant to be around.

It's actually serving a purpose for the community or for the environment and is not um an ISOR, kind of the way the Little River Park ended up being.

Thanks.

Thank you, committee maker uh member Noga.

Um Commissioner Finch, you had your vice first.

Uh yes, I maybe building off of uh Commissioner Hunter's comments.

Um I I I think the the retail um I I am I'm definitely in favor of the ground floor retail.

I I guess my only concern is I I I see a lot of empty retail in the um existing ground floor retail that we have.

I I think especially along El Camino, um, but also uh uh in the um in a few of the uh sorry in the in the mixed-use office uh residential building um around Spring Street and uh in downtown as well.

So my concern is just if we have so much of it.

I I just want to make sure that it's filled in.

Um I I it is but maybe it is something that we are planning for in the far future, all of it will be needed, and so maybe it's good to have it in case we want it in the future.

So I'm I'm open to that interpretation as well.

I I do also I I do have a concern with I I saw in the plan it looked like focusing a lot of the retail along the El Camino corridor.

And again, just going back to the fact that a lot of that retail is empty right now, and also just the fact that El Camino is not a very pleasant place to hang out and kind of you know go between shops and kind of linger.

I I'm a little concerned about doubling down on the retail on El Camino.

I I think in the developments that are um between El Camino and Franklin Street, I I think Franklin Street would have been a better candidate for like a retail corridor because it's much quieter, it's much calmer, it's a much more pleasant uh people like walk their dogs there, and it's much more pleasant place to linger.

So I I think if we're if we're looking for a retail corridor um north-south near El Camino, I I think a side street would be better than El Camino itself.

Um although again I'm also open to the the uh idea that it's a very long-term vision and eventually El Camino will be something different than it is today.

But I think that's it's a it's a far off.

Um thank you, Commissioner uh Finch.

I I do want to echo those comments, and I mean there was in the first slide, I think, uh mentioning about takeaways sort of post-pandemic economic realities because of course not our city, but most cities in the state with e-commerce and and things such that of the um the storefront retail, of course, is suffering, and then the question is you know, how do we do this?

Uh and I also want to echo the comment about trying to concentrate because if one spreads the activity over too large, too large of a geographic area, it loses that electricity and that that excitement that really brings people downtown core uh to to both shop and enjoy themselves.

So um not spreading too thin.

Ummittee member Schmidt.

Schmidt, sorry.

Thanks.

Uh big thanks to staff and the consultants.

Uh a couple comments.

Looking forward to seeing more about e-bikes and micromobility in downtown, uh, which does not overlap perfectly with regular bicycles.

Uh, and then some discussion maybe of uh potential for road closure for private private vehicles, which might be increasingly important as it gets denser downtown.

Uh, and and also uh public EV charging, which is important for folks that cannot charge their electric vehicles at home.

Um and then finally, one comment on uh creek daylighting.

Where it might be too expensive at any one point to daylight creeks, it might be still be useful to plan for potential creek daylighting by not situating new development so that it interferes with potential creek daylighting at some subsequent point.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee committee member Schmidt.

Uh committee member bets, please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you very much for putting this plan together.

It really made me excited about imagining the future of what downtown could be.

Uh, for my perspective as someone on the transportation advisory committee, I'm really thinking about how people walking and rolling would interact with the proposed plan.

And one major way that I would like to see a little more attention paid to in the plan is connectivity to and from Caltrain.

Currently, you can't take a bike lane all the way to the Caltrain station really from anywhere.

And a lot of this plan depends on external connections out of the plan area that haven't been built yet.

So I want to make sure that uh pushing forward on that is something we also think about how people aren't just going into downtown, but they're passing through downtown as they go about their lives.

Secondly, uh on that theme, uh, another way people interact uh with on bikes with downtown is that they go places and they spend money.

And to do that, they need secure bike parking.

Uh worrying about bike theft is really a top reason that people who are otherwise comfortable riding on the roads uh don't take their bike downtown.

Uh I read in a local neighborhood group about somebody seeing a bike being stolen in broad daylight behind the movie theater a couple weeks ago.

And if we really want to get people biking downtown, maybe exploring partnerships with uh the bike link lockers that are currently used at Caltrain, uh bike valet services and other ways that we can get people uh storing not only their personal vehicles, which is accounted for on the plan, but storing their bicycles.

Um and one final point uh Chestnut Street is identified as a key corridor in this plan.

However, I think this could be a really big problem for people rolling if the existing train tracks are preserved.

Uh parallel train tracks in the direction of travel are basically the most hazardous thing to a cyclist.

I know of at least three serious injuries that have occurred on this stretch of road.

Uh if you look at Market Street in San Francisco, uh you can see people crashing their bikes there every day on the parallel train tracks.

So I think marking this street as a key corridor uh might not be the best idea unless uh a significant amount of money is spent separating the bikes from the train tracks or the train tracks are relocated.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, committee member Betts.

Um I'm sorry, I have a lot of lot of comments here.

Um I I uh another one I wanted to highlight was um I I think one thing, uh a great thing that the downtown precise plan did was kind of rationalizing our street grid a little bit.

Uh Redwood City is blessed with about five competing street grids.

Um and so I I yeah, it was great to see things um like uh re removing the five-way intersection with Spring Street, uh the plan for Franklin Street running through the sequestation development.

And I I think it would be great to see a few things like that in the new plan.

I think there's there's so many um small triangles of road.

Uh I'm thinking about um Lathrap, Chestnut, and El Camino, uh Cassia, Heller, and Maine, where um three streets come together and just form very tiny slivers of land that you really can't do anything with.

You could maybe make it a small pocket park, but I I don't think it's really worth it.

Um and so I think it would be and and it's it's a it's just it's it's bad to cross as a pedestrian, it's confusing as a driver, um, and I feel like it's a little bit unsafe.

And so I think it would be great to maybe see if we could eliminate some of those small um those small kind of unusable pieces of land.

Um and then along with that, I think another thing could be imagining new streets or um pedestrian connections where there aren't any today.

I'm thinking especially in the north of downtown and the innovation districts, the blocks are very large and there's not a lot of connections.

And so it'd be great to envision maybe some new um roads creating smaller blocks or maybe just pedestrian pathways kind of cutting through the developments.

I'm there's a walkway between uh development and the in and out on veterans, uh, which is a great connection from uh veterans to uh main street.

And so um small paths like that or new roads would be great to see.

Thank you, Commissioner Hunter.

Um I'm gonna continue with uh my comments as well.

Um echoing Commissioner Beth's uh comments about bike infrastructure neckbrook and how it maybe it's incomplete trying to get to our major transit stops, like Caltrain.

Uh you know, we do we did have some implementations including on El Camino Real, but you know, they're piecemeal and they're not sometimes always protected.

So uh sometimes I look at these part uh these particular plans and I'm super excited uh with the vision you guys have presented for us for for the Greater Downtown part area.

I'm always concerned about when you know the rubber hits the road, what exactly implementation happens because you know the devil is in the details and and something working or not working is really in like in a comma or or some small uh detail uh you know in terms of exactly what width it is.

Um so I I um I'm hoping that you know these these grandvisions do produce over years as we as we implement this plan really a workable solution that both brings green streets uh and and multimodal transport.

Um on the open space area, I do support everything that both Commissioner Hunter and and the other spe people have spoken about.

Umcreasing the areas, especially in the uh in the residential neighborhoods.

Um in addition to down on very much the core, the courtyard square, which is a very much open space, it's kind of hardscaped all around.

Uh people do like to have uh respite area because you know you have five to ten thousand people closely packed.

It's very much an extroverts heaven.

Uh if you want to like take a step back, people currently use the Redwood Grove uh next block on over in Hamilton.

Uh kind of there's a you know a green area that's shaded that's kind of picnicy, more family friendly.

Uh so being able to have that uh yin yin-yang within our living room, which is what people describe as our um courtyard square would be very helpful so that you know people who don't want to be you know dancing right next to each other won't have some more space.

Um there were some proposals of pedestrianizing Hamilton Street all the way from Caltrain station to the accounting center.

It's a very much a vertical access that is already half pedestrianized, so it seems like a very natural segue into making it you know a corridor that's that's very much model filtered.

Um and then about greening of um shopping corridors.

Uh I think um John mentioned how people go on Broadway and then take a turn on mainstream and then there's nothing there, it kind of that area.

You know, the big difference between those two is that um Broadway has a very good green infrastructure.

There's large mature trees, they're over 40 feet tall, uh, with large canopy.

When you take a turn recently, we cut down I think seven trees already, so it's a pretty much a concrete corridor with no trees.

There's very good reason why people don't feel safe there uh or protected from the from the elements uh or from the traffic.

Uh so those types of improvements and and really care uh and having enough of a uh tree well, you know, we cannot put a giant tree into a tiny hole and just hope it does well.

You know, it has to be very long-term um planning and give enough soil volume for those trees to really survive over generations and and really become you know iconic pieces uh that would mark our neighborhood.

Um so those types of things I'm very excited about with about these green infrastructure proposals, both for main arterials and for the neighborhood streets.

So hopefully we have enough right-of-way waste to squeeze all that in with some um uh with some compromises.

Um on the transportation side, um, you know, I I know that we have this uh yellow-marked pedestrian area, which everyone kind of likes to go and walk around, and this is where the electricity really happens in our town.

Uh I was hoping, you know, if I think about how to do this, um our veterans boulevard really is a segue of getting people from out of town getting into our city, and there's large both the county garage, the the courthouse garage, uh really at the periphery.

So the idea is to get those people as soon as possible out of cars and then starting to walk or bike or or scoot uh down to into the events area.

Um and similarly, I was hoping that we can have uh other nodes maybe on the south side close to El Camino, such that the idea is that to transport mode switch um at the peripheries that one doesn't have to get 10,000 people right to Court Your Square when the event is happening.

Um similarly to that way, if we have programmatic uh events that we already know, like every Friday night we have music on the square, which is regularly attended by 5,000 people.

Uh I think a proposal of having like a neighborhood shuttle, like a free hop on hop-off shuttle down Jefferson, which is really you know, has a really large catchment area, and people know they're gonna be there for three hours between 5 p.m.

and 9 p.m.

Uh, and that can really much uh alleviate these these high pain point uh issues uh of those particular time periods.

Um finally about um our neighborhood streets with this extra development, of course, there'll be a lot more people coming into our Stumbar Heller and Centennial neighborhood.

I'm a big fan of modal filters, uh trying to put in mid-block.

Uh it would cut any cut through traffic they might try to go there, or people trying to go around and circulate, trying to find parking.

So both street parking permit system within these neighborhoods close to downtown, as well as modal filters will very much reduce this uh extraneous negative uh effects of our larger development downtown.

Um and finally, like a minor point in terms of by corridors.

Vera Avenue is a very good and successful corridor, both for safe route to schools uh and uh getting our uh our community west of El Camino down to um uh Caltrain.

Um currently there's like a very difficult jog that one makes uh crossing El Camino from Vera on to Maple Street, so I don't know what the best solution for that is, but uh that would very much uh help in terms of uh getting more people to be comfortable to cross El Camino Real and continue their bike journey downtown.

So that's a lot, and I spoke really fast, so I apologize.

Um Commissioner Finch.

Um maybe uh I'll just uh blitz through the rest of my thoughts here.

Um the mobility and connectivity section, all of it was uh great.

Um I think uh a great opportunity for street greenery could be some of those wide neighborhood streets um like Stamba.

I think we actually have a lot that are just wide in terms of width, like there it's just two lanes and parking, but it's sometimes as much as 50 feet across.

Great opportunity for for greening.

Um putting some trees there.

Uh I I think yeah, the uh well okay.

Uh the the Caltrain uh great separation, um, you know, maybe this is a comment for uh when that comes to a hearing, but um I think yeah, it'd be great to have like a permeable separation, so maybe it's it's lifted up on concrete um pillars rather than an embankment so that people can pass under it for its whole length.

Um or it could also be cool to have some retail under the tracks.

I I went to Japan and saw they had um storefronts built into the base of like elevated train lines.

That was pretty cool.

Um yeah, broad uh on Main Street.

I think, yeah, um uh definitely the the street trees would help.

Uh I think narrower lanes, um paved medians where there's crosswalks, um, outdoor dining.

I think there's uh possibly an opportunity to reclaim some parking spots um by removing the unneeded left turn uh lane uh onto Broadway from uh from Main Street.

Um we could remove that, add some extra parking there, maybe get rid of some parking in front of the restaurants and replace it with parklets.

Um for Veterans Boulevard, um, I think just the biggest thing is you know, how can we reduce the crossing distance?

Maybe it's um refuge islands in the middle, um uh slowing the vehicle speeds, reducing the turning radii, uh some general thoughts, um, some retail along the creek if it's turned into a park, um some facing the creek, that would be really interesting.

Um, yeah, and and access to the bay would be incredible.

I feel like our bay is so underutilized now, like it is it is a beautiful area.

We have Bear Island, which is um a very beautiful park.

Having some amenities or some kind of um yes, something that utilizes that that bay would be awesome.

Um and finally, I I I appreciate the preservation of the existing neighborhoods.

Um I I think it was it it was a creative way that we found to um add some housing and some new uses in some places while retaining the existing character of uh Stambaugh and Centennial.

Um I appreciate that in kind of focusing the development along the major corridors and preserving that interior as it is.

And I j uh and one final comment.

Uh we just need some catchier names for the districts uh north of downtown and innovation and incubation are just a bit of a mouthful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Hunter.

Uh committee member Chi.

Hi, um I you know I also want to say what everyone else has already is I was so excited about this plan, but I've lived here for over 25 years.

I've gotten excited about a lot of plans.

So um so I still continue to get excited about about the the changes that have come to Redwood City over these years.

Um I just had one very specific um comment um about um uh parking, which is uh you're right.

There's just like the uh I fortunately live uh within walking distance to downtown, so I don't have to drive so much, but um I'm almost don't want to drive down there because some of the parking is so difficult and it's like nestled right in the center of downtown, and and I can see I would love to see uh in a future plan uh in some as some you've already noted on on your parking um map, um kind of putting parking, pulling it a little bit out of like right in the center of downtown.

I think that would reduce the amount of traffic that's down there just to park and you know, uh and and balance that out, of course, like that people still want to be able to access uh the downtown uh without walking you know 10 blocks.

Not everybody is is able to or want to do that.

Um but you know, just to streamline that a little bit because right now it's almost you I feel like you're creating additional congestion downtown just with the parking.

And then um I know this is a vision framework, and and I love that you're thinking big, but um, you know, my heart kind of goes up and down when you're like this looks so fantastic, and then some of the things to come to fruition will require like 10 stars aligning and in in place.

And so as you're develop as we are as this plan is continuing to be developed, I would love to hear some recommendations on um hate to say that phrase, but low-hanging fruit, like what can be done and that would have the biggest impact for um you know, for how we sense the development, and I think there uh people get energized by that, and there's more support that can be um gotten from uh just showing some um quick results, if you will, that are meaningful.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee member chi um committee member uh um yes, thank you to staff and the consultants for a well done report.

Um I'd like to uh second some of the things that Commissioner Chu was um saying about parking not so much centered in the downtown.

Um one thing that strikes me, and we spoke of um shuttles getting people to events.

Um and I know this is the greater downtown plan, but you know, Redwood Shores is part of Redwood City, and there hasn't been any thought or discussion on how to bring uh residents from Redwood Shores to downtown.

Um, really the only way we we can do that is is drive.

And um I I'm very much wanting to get people out of their cars, uh shuttles is great.

Um I'm very excited about Waymo.

I think um Waymo will certainly revolutionize how people get around.

I was just up in San Francisco today, Waymoing around, and um you know, needing drop off spots uh for Waymo's to um to bring people to to downtown, I think would be very helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee member committee member Bendrum uh Commissioner But please go ahead.

Cool.

Uh just two things.

One to explicitly answer the question uh we got about Woodside Road, just to echo what many of my colleagues were saying, and specifically what the chair was saying at the beginning.

Um I think that there are some conflicting priorities at play.

Um where when I think of Woodside Road and all the times that I have made the perilous journey to cross it.

Um it seems that especially in places like the Woodside, middle of field intersection, and these other places where there are nominally traffic lights.

Um there's cars speeding through those traffic lights at 50 miles an hour when it's red.

Um and I've stopped making that crossing because of that.

Um that said, I do think that the pedestrian bridge idea, while it would solve that issue, is also seems dangerous.

I believe that there we have a grade crossing right now in downtown um on Jefferson Avenue, um going towards El Camino, and I've seen many people take the long way around just to avoid that because they fear for their safety, even on that short shore stretch.

Um so if you're asking me, I would say that like, yeah, the way you make that safer to cross is to not make it like a road where cars are going 50 miles an hour, however that may be implemented.

But I do believe that we have some limitations there just because of the need from Caltrans um to keep that as a through fare.

Um so th that's that's just my input there, where it doesn't seem like we have good solutions for Woodside Road at the moment.

Um and my other thing I just wanted to point out as for the end of my thoughts is that for the north of downtown district, um most of that encompasses Veterans Boulevard, um, which does have an existing bike lane.

Um that said, um, I think all the times I've driven down Veterans Boulevard, many bikers prefer to bike on the sidewalk instead of risking that bike lane.

Um so when we're designing these bike lanes, we shouldn't just aim for the existence of them and more is it somewhere where you would personally feel safe biking?

And I do realize that staff and the people working on this are probably taking that consider cu into consideration already.

But just wanted to point out that the existing bike lane on Veterans Boulevard is insufficient.

Thank you, Commissioner.

But uh, I think we will all agree that you know buffered bike lane, whether it was by vertical separators or parked cars is certainly uh more optimal than uh than paint on the road.

Um Commissioner Cope.

Thank you.

Just a couple of last things.

Um in defense of Main Street.

Where can you have a gourmet butcher get gourmet ice cream, craft beer, and awesome empanadas?

Okay, right out the door.

So we may not have trees anymore, but we're still we're still we're still not.

Imagine that, but with trees.

We're still dumbing so you know I know.

I just uh um I live next door by the way, for those of you that don't know.

I live right here on Main Street.

Um we have a lot of parking downtown.

We don't have a lot of free parking, which is the one thing that people complain all the time about directly to me.

I can't fix that.

Um, if you come downtown on a weeknight, use the box garage.

It's free.

You can go over there and you can use the Marshall Street garage.

It's very it's like a dollar twenty-five an hour or something.

Very affordable.

Um and parking in the middle of downtown is great for businesses because a lot of people can use back doors, they can park right in the center, and they can go any which way they want, and that's how they get their customers as close as they can because during COVID, we shut down Broadway.

So most of Broadway, right here.

So people can't drive up and park in front of their businesses anymore.

So they want to be able to park in a centralized location and not have to walk as far as they would if they had to park, you know, far far away or in the top of a garage somewhere.

So that's the reason that people are parking there.

Um and the only other thing I have to say is veterans is scary.

Veterans is a hard, it has a hard edge to it.

You know, it's a hard looking street.

It's honestly it's ugly.

It's almost like brutalist architecture.

It is so to have to have the thought of bringing in some protected bike lanes, some greenery, some nicer welcoming.

It's our main street that welcomes people in off a 101.

To have something that's more welcoming, I think that's amazing.

And I think that would be wonderful, and I hope I get to see that.

Um committee member Noga, please.

Yeah, just to piggyback on um Commissioner Koch's idea about welcoming.

It reminded me of something that I've heard the the council say that I've heard in other conversations too.

This idea of a lot of downtown Redwood City is sort of hidden from our entry points right now.

If you're driving down um El Camino or if you're on you know one on one, you can't really tell that there's a there.

And I really like the way all of these neighborhoods, like I said, are sort of being sort of thought of and built up as being um uh mixed use and sort of multimodal transit, but want to make sure that that connectivity and that idea of like continuing to draw you in from those entry points and then all the way into proper downtown is really happening and not just this idea of a bunch of small connected neighborhoods where like I know there's a there there in north of downtown or in the innovation district, but it doesn't pull you further into the rest of the community and then connect you into the rest of the like El Camino Peninsula corridor as well.

So I've uh I worry that with some of this it might become sort of a section of bubbles rather than a really inviting funnel.

Thank you, Commissioner Noga.

Yeah, I think a comprehensive street design that is consistent to over particular access certainly would would potentially lead them to the such uh leading uh commissioner sorry, can uh committee member Qi, please go ahead.

Oh hi.

Um, so uh com me committee um member Noga just made me think of this.

Um so for in the last uh downtown uh precise plant.

I I always thought there was this sort of unnatural cutoff of Broadway on the other side of um of El Camino.

I mean of the train tracks, and so um uh thinking to her comment about like what is the gateway to Redwood City.

It just felt like El Camino is just you know, it's still our little highway, and I I always feel like there was more opportunity to make it shine as like an entryway into downtown Redwood City, and so in so it was left off as I my recollection I become very correct.

It wasn't really part of that considered downtown back in 2011, and then now it's still considered this transit area, and I'm I'm just uh so it uh just a comment that you know maybe just this idea of inviting people down to Redwood City can be can be um you know thought of in that sort of entryway, uh taking a going down Broadway, Broadway and El Camino.

Um then uh I know this is a vision session, but um there's just so much discussion about veterans.

I have tried to I have crossed veterans.

I run, I literally run every time.

I have no lights, I don't I don't believe any of it.

Um and it just occurred to me, I don't know if the street is wide enough that I, you know, sometimes in certain uh cities, like you actually create like a park boulevard down the center of the road, and maybe not be wide enough, but where you the the biking actually happens in the middle, and it's like a pedestrian way.

Uh when I've had to travel for work to European countries, you know, people literally like are having picnics between two um, you know, what looks like a big freeway to me, but um, but I just I'm just curious if there's an up an opportunity to do something like that, not knowing any of the considerations about building.

But I also think that uh there's a um commissioner cook made a comment about how it feels like this great divide, and it does.

I feel like it's it going across veterans is is it's it's a you know it's a journey not to take be taken lightly, and I think like having that green space in the middle that's closer to you would make it feel like a little bit more accessible.

And I think like having that green space in the middle that's closer to you would make it feel like a little bit more accessible.

Thank you, committee member Chi.

Um any other comments to continue our discussion.

Can just piggyback in on that?

Last last year we were last year at our one of our planning commissioner academies.

I was in Southern California.

I met somebody from Southern California who says, Oh, I come up to the Bay Area all the time.

I have a friend from Stanford who said you have to come to downtown Redwood City.

We have the best restaurants.

He says about four months ago.

I was there.

I got off the freeway, and I got on this big wide, really ugly street.

And I didn't know where to go because nothing looked nice.

There was no signs, it didn't tell me where to go to eat.

So I maybe you turn at the end and I got back on the freeway and continued on to San Francisco.

I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

I just and that hadn't occurred to me either.

Some you know, waypoint destination signage or something would I think be helpful as well.

Okay.

Thank you.

I mean, those are all great ideas.

Yeah, so uh Commissioner Finch.

Yeah, sorry, I really wanted to end on my good joke there, but um I I I uh piggybacking off of Commissioner Koch's um thing about parking.

I I think downtown Redwood City is rich in parking garages, and we have uh they're very underutilized, and I know this was mentioned in the uh in the presentation.

Um I think yet more wayfinding could definitely help.

I think there's also uh a bit of a perverse incentive right now with the pricing of the parking.

Um parking in the garages during peak hours is two fifty an hour, so you do get an hour and a half free.

But even if you're only staying three hours, it's still cheaper to find street parking.

And on Sundays, uh street parking is free, so it it is you you it's encouraging.

I think wayfinding can help.

I think people don't know the garages exist, but I also think parking in the garages is more inconvenient.

And so there should be uh there should be a discount in the parking rate to do use the more inconvenient parking.

And so I think having cheaper rates in the garages than on the street, I think would make a lot of sense and help utilize that more.

Box is free and it's right across from theater way.

Is it free or is it only free for an hour and a half?

It's free.

Uh parking general for like three hours.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

My understanding was the all the garages are an hour and a half.

I think in the evening, it's oh okay.

I mean that that's then maybe we I mean I didn't know about that, so maybe we need to advertise it more.

Thank you, Commissioner Finch.

Um well, I I hope the consultants and the city uh team has uh received plenty of input from from the commission.

Uh I know we we really quickly go down into the weeds just because we have so many interesting things to say that are bothering us at any one time.

Uh so please try to synthesize that into more 10,000 foot level uh extraction.

Uh so yeah, and I really appreciate everyone's comments and participation uh and of course your presentation.

So I um I don't know if the next party is just the German, I guess that concludes the items tonight agenda.

The next planning commission special meeting is scheduled an hour ago.

So we'll take a 10 minute break.

So sorry if you were expecting no input.