The South San Francisco Planning Commission met via teleconference on August 6, 2020, at 7:00 PM Pacific Time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission considered four main agenda items: a four-story residential project at 428-432 Baden Avenue, a second amendment to the Development Agreement for the Gateway Business Park Master Plan, the Phase 4 Precise Plan and Design Review for Gateway Business Park, and modifications to the Phase 5 project at 475 Eccles Avenue (Gateway of Pacific Phase 5). All items were approved.
The Commission held a public hearing to consider a proposal to construct a four-story residential building with 36 units at 428 and 432 Baden Avenue. The project included a density bonus of 10 units (from 26 to 36) and three units reserved for very low-income households (50% of Area Median Income). The applicant, Rocky Shin of DNA Design & Architecture, presented the design, emphasizing walkability, community gathering spaces, and transit connectivity. The project is located in the Downtown Station Area Specific Plan (DSASP) area and was found to be categorically exempt from CEQA under Government Code Section 65457 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15332.
Commissioners asked about the affordable unit mix, density bonus waivers (parking, utilities undergrounding), and tree replacement along the adjacent city parking lot. Staff clarified that the density bonus waivers must be granted under state law. The Commission urged the applicant to ensure a mix of unit types for the affordable units. There were no oral public comments, but one written comment was received expressing concern about low-income housing and environmental impacts; Commissioner Murphy countered that the project provides much-needed affordable housing in a transit-oriented location.
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Items 2, 3, and 4 were related to the Gateway Business Park (GOP) campus owned by BMR (BioMed Realty). Staff planner Billy Gross presented the three items collectively.
This item proposed minor modifications to the Development Agreement for phases 1-4 of the Gateway Business Park. Key changes include extending the agreement expiration date to 2030 and updating the park fee to reflect the city’s adopted 2016 park and recreation impact fee. The project remains consistent with the General Plan and zoning, and no additional environmental review is required.
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The Commission considered Phase 4 of the Gateway Business Park Master Plan, which includes two five-story Office/R&D buildings totaling 182,000 square feet, a six-story parking structure, and site improvements at 850-900 Gateway Boulevard. The design maintains the campus aesthetic established in earlier phases. A 2020 Addendum to the 2009 EIR concluded no new significant impacts. The Commission also received an errata to conditions of approval to align with earlier phases.
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This item involved modifications to the previously entitled project at 475 Eccles Avenue (now designated Gateway of Pacific Phase 5). Changes include reorienting the two five-story Office/R&D buildings (262,287 sq ft total) to better integrate with the rest of the campus, adding a public access easement for a multi-use trail along the former Union Pacific rail spurs, extending the development agreement expiration to 2030, and updating the project description. A 2020 Addendum to the 2012 EIR found no new significant effects.
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No public comments were made during the meeting.
No additional items were raised.
The meeting was adjourned.
They need and help satisfy a greater amount of the current resideny a greater amount of the current rental housing demand in the city. Therefore, staff recommends that the planning commission determine that the project is statutorily and categorically I'm from CEQA and the project is consistent with the adopted downtown stationary specific plan EIR and does not require a subsequent environmental document and approve the entitlements request for a conditional use permit and design review subject to the draft findings and draft conditions of approval. This concludes staff's presentation. Thank you for your time. Staff is available for questions and the applicant uh is also available for their presentation as well. Great, thanks Jasper. I'll turn it over to the applicant if they wanted to make a presentation. And I believe Gasper said uh Rocky. Hi, this is Rocky Shin of DNA design and architecture. Um I've got a uh presentation to show you. Should I just show my screen, share my screen with the Zoom tool? Uh sure. Okay, that's your presentation, yeah. All right. Um is everyone able to see the screen? Yeah, we can see it. Okay. Well, uh welcome again, members of the planning commission, uh city staff. Um it is an honor and a privilege to present to you um Baden Station. We're calling this project uh Baden Station to pay homage to uh the city of South San Francisco's transit history. It used to be called Baden Station at one point, as I understand. And um we really wanted to um take on that theme and really highlight uh the growing nature of the city and really participate in uh the growth of the downtown area station uh station area plan. Um I'm gonna walk you through uh a series of slides, some of which um Gaspar has done a really good job already determining. Uh so I'll just kind of walk through some of those real quick. Uh the location is as uh briefly previously mentioned is in the downtown residential core. It's highlighted for you uh in this amber tone on this map. Uh just a few landmarks for orientation, signal hill, grand avenue, oyster point, and city hall, and then with the image on the left, uh kind of a zoomed-in uh image of where the boundaries of that downtown residential core area are located, and then also where the project site is. Uh, we feel like this is a really uh great opportunity to participate in the urban compatibility of um of having this type of use within the city. Hey Rocky, sorry if I could just uh interject. Can you make your screen full screen please? Uh yes. Uh see here. Thank you. See if I remember how to do that. Bear with me a second. Would it help if I just zoomed in like this? I I think if you go to view, you might be able to do it from there. Uh I'll uh can run in and share my screen. If you can, it's not a problem. We can just continue with the presentation. Is it legible at this size? Yeah, it's good. Okay. Thanks. So my body. Okay, so uh just continuing on. Um it's the the project is uh really uh strong in its participation in oops. Okay, looks like uh okay. So if you could um scroll down to uh two more slides. Great, thank you.