South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting: June 4, 2020 - Design Review Modification and Development Agreement Amendment for 233 East Grand Avenue
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South San Francisco Planning Commission Regular Meeting
Date: June 4, 2020
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Teleconference only (due to COVID-19 emergency)
The Planning Commission held a single-item public hearing to consider a Design Review Modification, Development Agreement Amendment, and Addendum to the Mitigated Negative Declaration for a previously approved Research & Development project at 233 East Grand Avenue/328-340 Roebling Road. The meeting was conducted remotely under Governor’s Executive Order N-29-20. All seven commissioners were present. No oral communications or public comments were received.
Discussion Items
- Project Overview: The original entitlements, approved in 2012, authorized a two-story, 105,000 square foot (0.81 FAR) R&D campus with two buildings over tuck-under parking and surface parking. The revised project proposes a five-story, 130,000 square foot (1.0 FAR) building with a more modern design, a three-story parking structure at the rear, and enhanced amenity spaces including a pedestrian plaza, pocket parks, and improved connectivity to the new rails-to-trails path (scheduled for completion in July 2020). Parking would increase from 296 to 364 stalls, all consolidated into the structure. The project is located at a prominent entry to the East of 101 area.
- Environmental Review: An addendum to the 2012 Recirculated Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared, concluding that the modified project would not cause new or more severe significant impacts and remains within the scope of the original environmental document.
- Development Agreement Amendment: The first amendment updates the project description, applies the City’s commercial linkage fee and bicycle/pedestrian impact fee only to the approximately 25,000 square feet of additional floor area (the original 105,000 sq ft remains exempt), and commits the applicant (Health Peak Properties) to participate in a potential Community Facilities District (CFD) for mobility improvements at an annual tax rate of $1 per gross square foot (or the rate for similar life-science projects, whichever is less) if the CFD is formed.
- Design Review: The Design Review Board recommended approval with conditions (e.g., wind mitigation, tree selection). A wind study was conducted; minor adjustments near the drop-off area are required to achieve comfortable seating conditions. Stormwater will be managed through on-site bioretention basins.
- Commissioner Questions: Commissioners inquired about tenant flexibility (multi-tenant possible, from half-floor 15,000 sq ft to single-tenant), wind mitigation measures, drainage handling (20-foot grade change across site), traffic impacts from the additional square footage (deemed minimal per traffic analysis), and the parking garage configuration (two curb cuts for entry/exit). They also discussed the resilience of the life-sciences market during COVID-19, with applicant noting lab space cannot be replaced by work-from-home and that biotech activity continues to grow.
Key Outcomes
The Commission unanimously approved two resolutions:
- Resolution for Environmental Addendum: Findings that the 2020 Addendum to the 2012 Recirculated IS/MND is the appropriate environmental document (adopted by voice vote).
- Resolution for Entitlements: Recommending that the City Council approve the First Amendment to the Development Agreement and the Design Review Modification (DR20-0016), subject to the draft conditions of approval.
Vote: 7-0 (Commissioners Murphy, Shihadeh, Tzang, Bernardo, Faria, Evans, and Chair Wong all in favor; Chair Wong made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Faria).
Next Steps: The item will go to the City Council for final action. The Planning Commission’s next meetings are scheduled for June 18 and July 2, 2020, each with one agenda item.
Meeting Transcript
Call to order the meeting for the South Francisco Planning Commission today for June 4th. For we do the Pledge of Allegiance. Let me just read a couple of uh disclaimers here. Uh so this meeting is being held in accordance with the Brown Act as currently in effect under the State Emergency Services Act, the Governor's Emergency Declaration related to COVID-19 and the governor's executive order N2920 issued on March 17, 2020, that allows attendance by members of the planning commission, city staff, and the public to participate and conduct the meeting by teleconference. Teleconference locations are not open to the public. To provide a live remote public comment, join the go-to meeting from your computer or mobile device. The meeting ID for this meeting is nine, I'm sorry, 795-557-397. Please note that you may need to install the GoToMeeting app on your device prior to joining the meeting. To provide public comments, please use the chat function indicating that you would like to speak. Please wait your turn. And once the staff once staff unmute you, uh please state your name and state residence for the record. You will have three minutes to make your comments.net again, PC comments at SSF.net or call 650 8294669. Uh, and we will read into the record emails or message comments that you provide. Please note that all commission uh time limits and rules of decorum will apply to public comments. All right, so with that, why don't we go ahead with the uh pledge of allegiance? Can you please stand pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands? One nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all. All right, uh Madam Clerk, can we please have uh we'll call Commissioner Faria Commissioner Bernardo? Here, Commissioner Zhang, here commissioner Shahade, here commissioner Murphy, here vice chair Evans here, Chair Wong, here all are present. Great, thank you. All right, so uh everybody welcome to our third teleconference uh meeting tonight. We just have uh one item on our agenda. Um hope everybody is uh staying safe and uh doing well. Umish, do we have any changes to the agenda tonight? We do not, Chair Wong. All right. Uh moving on to oral communications. Uh is there anyone in the public that has anything they want to discuss that is not on tonight's agenda? Again, if you would like to um uh if you would please use the chat function if you would like to make a comment. I'll give a second here. Madam Clerk, is there any comments from the public? No, there are not. Okay. All right, so uh moving on to consent calendar, please. We don't have a consent calendar. Oh, sorry. Can we uh sorry about that? Can we have uh item number one for public hearing? Report regarding consideration of a design review modification development agreement amendment and addendum to the mitigated negative declaration for the previously approved research and development project at 233 East Grand Avenue 328 340 Robling Road in the Business Technology Park Zone District. Great, thank you. Uh before I uh open up public comment and turn it over to staff, I'll just uh ask any commissioners if um uh anyone's had any conversations or contact with the applicants, just uh if they want to use this time to make any disclosures or not. No, okay. Commissioner Faria, no all right. Seeing uh no other disclosures, why don't I open up the public hearing and uh ask for staff should we go to Billy? Uh I think your mic is muted, Billy. Um texting him right now. And then I'm going to ask Daniel to bring up the staff presentation. Bear with us for just a second. Daniel, can I forward through the slides, or will you need to? You want to ask again.
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