AgdaPkt 2021.02.08 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

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7.A. - Page 28 of 36 SPUR affirms that Sequoia Station: ✓ Is located at an appropriate location for development, near transit and infrastructure and not on a greenfield site. This downtown site sits right at the Redwood City Caltrain station, one of the Bay Area's most important regional transit systems today and one that will be even more critical in the future after electrification and high speed rail. This plan also includes land dedication for future Caltrain expansion, which supports Caltrain's 2040 business plan and the ongoing vitality of Downtown Redwood City. ✓ Provides an appropriate mix of land uses of residential and retail, contributing to a diverse stock of housing, fostering economic development, and providing amenities and services to the surrounding community. This is the right location for concentrating jobs. Office jobs tend to cluster, and commuters are most likely to use transit when their job is close to the transit stop or station. The Sequoia Station location – in the downtown core and at a transit station – is ideal for a jobs -heavy mix of uses. The plan will maintain the site's Safeway, add a significant amount of retail as well as 10,000 square feet of on-site daycare. In addition, the proposed project would bring a large number of new affordable housing units—fifty percent of which would be family- serving—to downtown Redwood City, close to market -rate housing. ✓ Provides sufficient density at the site supporting adjacent transit and preventing underutilization of land, serving the future needs of Bay Area residents. This project makes good use of this key downtown site, which has been until now a single -story shopping center surrounded by parking. ✓ Creates a good place for people and contributes to a walkable environment with active ground floor uses and planned improvements to the street network. We are encouraged by the project's commitment to eliminate surface parking, improve bike lanes, create new walkable streets, incorporate art, improve connectivity and create new community gathering spaces. Notably, the updated plan will include a new central plaza; create multi -modal connectivity for cyclists and pedestrians through the implementation of the El Camino Real Corridor Plan; and enhance overall connectivity between the site, nearby neighborhoods and the Downtown Entertainment District. The SPUR Project Review Advisory Board finds this development proposal to be an appropriate set of uses for this location and endorses the updated Sequoia Station proposal as it is currently envisioned. This is a key site for transit -oriented development in the region, and this proposal shows great potential to create an exemplary station area in Redwood City and to support the city's broader visioning process for the Transit District and central Redwood City. The downtown location and adjacency to transit make this site highly appropriate for office, and we are happy to see a significant number of affordable housing units included in the plan. 204