South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting – February 7, 2019
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South San Francisco Planning Commission Regular Meeting – February 7, 2019
The Planning Commission met on Thursday, February 7, 2019, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The agenda included a continuance request for a historic building alteration, an update on the Community Civic Campus Project, and the annual reorganization of the Commission. All actions taken were unanimous.
Public Hearing: 304 Grand Avenue – Certificate of Alteration and Design Review
- Staff presented the request for a duct system to accommodate a proposed restaurant in the historic building.
- The applicant's representative requested a continuance to the March 7, 2019 Planning Commission meeting, stating that recent information and meetings with the restaurateur required updates to the architectural plans and the architectural historian's analysis.
- The Commission closed the public hearing and voted unanimously to continue the item to March 7, 2019.
Administrative Business: Community Civic Campus Project Update
- Project consultants Bill Cates and Todd Coley (Smith Group) presented a status update, noting that the project is currently at approximately 5–10% schematic design.
- Key project elements:
- Library and Park & Recreation building: ~$120 million, 75,000 sq ft, plus 5,000 sq ft for community theater and council chambers.
- Police facility: ~$54 million, 43,000 sq ft, 72 secured parking spaces, two levels.
- Fire station: ~$50 million, 9,000 sq ft, 14 parking spaces, single-story, outside current project scope but designed for future construction.
- Total project cost: ~$210 million (excluding fire station). Parking: ~220 spaces total, including ~30 spaces tucked below the building, plus at-grade and on-street parking.
- Open space: ~1.5 acres, including a synthetic turf field (80 ft x 120 ft) for informal classes (e.g., Tai Chi, Zumba), playgrounds, and ADA-accessible paths.
- El Camino Real frontage: ~600 ft, with building massing designed to average more than 15 ft setbacks. Coordination with Grand Boulevard Initiative (GBI) improvements was discussed, including a new bulb-out at Arroyo and El Camino Real and bike lane adjustments.
- Next steps: 100% schematic design package in March 2019; presentations to the Planning Commission and Design Review Board in March; entitlement submittal late March; City Council update on April 24, 2019.
- Commissioner questions and discussion addressed the synthetic turf uses, the removal of a canopy from the project, underground parking configuration, a forthcoming parking management plan, public feedback (generally positive, with concerns about parking, safety, lighting, and crosswalks), and construction cost/bidding strategy. The police facility is expected to break ground in January 2020 to establish market pricing.
Annual Reorganization of the Planning Commission
- Commissioners unanimously elected JulieAnn Murphy as Chair for 2019.
- Commissioners unanimously elected Alan Wong as Vice Chair for 2019.
Key Outcomes
- Approved continuance of the 304 Grand Avenue item to March 7, 2019, by unanimous roll call vote.
- Received the Community Civic Campus Project update for information; no formal action was taken.
- Elected JulieAnn Murphy as Chair and Alan Wong as Vice Chair for 2019, each by unanimous roll call vote.
Meeting Transcript
All at present. Are there any um changes to the agenda tonight? Uh no changes to the agenda, Vice Chair Murphy. So once you know. Umce the first item is um introduced, then I will interject and uh request a continuance um to a date certain meeting. Okay. Um Madam Clerk, do we have any oral communication related to a non-agenda item? We do not. Thank you. Um with that, can you please read the first um item on the agenda tonight? Report regarding a request for a certificate of alteration and design review to construct a duck system to accommodate a proposed restaurant is within the historic building located at 300 304 Grand Avenue. Thank you. With that, I'll open public comment. Thank you. Um Vice Chair Murphy, uh members of the Planning Commission, we would request a um continuance uh of this item date certain to the March 7th Planning Commission meeting. Um in light of just recent uh information that we've uh confirmed, we've met with the restaurantur. Um the architectural plans that have been submitted and the accompanying um analysis by the architectural historian needs to be updated. And uh once that's done, we will bring this item back to you, which we anticipate to be on March 7th. Okay, thank you. Um do any commissioners have questions for staff before I close the public hearing? All right, with that a closed public hearing. Um do I have a motion for continuing this item for March 7th? I'll make a motion we continue the item to March 7th. Do I have a second? Second. Yes. Can I have roll call, please? Commissioner Faria. Yes. Commissioner Evans? Yes. Commissioner Wong. Yes. Commissioner Shahade? Yes. Commissioner Zhang? Yes. Vice Chair Murphy? Yes. Motion passes. Uh we'll move on now to administrative business. Um Madam Clerk, can you read the next item, please? Report on the status of the community civic campus project. Good evening again. Uh I am not uh assistant city manager Marion Lee, but uh in her stead, I will introduce our consultants, the Smith Group, uh Todd Coley, um and and uh Ken to present you with an update of the Civic Campus. Uh they've made similar efforts and provided updates obviously to the City Council, uh to the bike and pedestrian committee and the park and rec commission. And similarly, they're here tonight to give you an update on uh the efforts to um develop the plans for the uh civic campus. So with that, I will introduce uh Todd and Ken. Uh good evening, Commissioners. Um actually my name is Bill Cates from Smith Group.
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