Greener and Healthier Development Alternatives

In the Downtown SAP, the City cancommit to alternatives that decreasegreenhouse gas emissions and include featuresthat create healthier and more sustainable communities.Policies to achieve a greener plan include sustainablebuilding practices, compact development that will generateless auto traffic, green infrastructurepermeablepavement, bicycle and pedestrian lanes, and low-impactdevelopment practices as well as the amenities that createcomplete communities.

Creating community parks, inviting open spaces,recreational facilities and wide pedestrian walk-wayswill make it safer and more enjoyable for people of allages to walk to and within the downtown, reducingtraffic congestion and benefitting from an active lifestylewith their families and neighbors. These land use andtransportation changes will have long-term communityhealth impacts as pollution is reduced and behavioralchanges serve as primary illness prevention andcommunity wellness measures.

We also believe that this planning process will offer an opportunity to proactively address hazards such asearthquakes and sea-level-rise for the long-term benefitof the community.

South San Francisco DowntownStation Area Plan Community Benefits Platform South San Franciscos Downtown Station Area planning(Downtown SAP) process offers residents, businesses,workers and local policymakers a tremendous opportunityto envision the Citys downtown and area around the SSF Caltrain station as a transit oriented district that willprovide a full range of community benefits to the peoplewho live, work and do business here. As a PriorityDevelopment Area (PDA), the site is identified by theSustainable Communities Strategy for infill development andis eligible for government grants and other targeted funding.The SSF Downtown SAP Community Benefits Platform thatfollows is a set of principles that will ensure that we achievethe potential of this planning process.

Affordable Homes andHomelessness Solutions

The City has made a commitment to planfor more housing in the PDA. The Downtown

SAP should commit to inclusion as opportunities,such as developer agreements, become available. TheCitys Housing Element identifies nine sites in the SSFdowntown area as housing opportunity sites that can be developed for lower-income multifamily residentialproperties. We expect the City to actively implement theaffordable housing policies committed to in the CitysHousing Element within the PDA. The Downtown SAPshould honor these commitments and provide housingthat is affordable to people who work in SSF at the bio-tech companies, at UPS, in the hospitality and airportrelated industries surrounding the SFO hub and the newand existing retail jobs downtown. An appropriate mix ofownership and rental opportunities and types of housingboth in the neighborhoods immediately bordering GrandAvenue and the neighborhood adjacent to the Caltrainstation will accommodate families and single peopleenhancing our diverse and vibrant community.

In the absence of redevelopment funding, theDowntown SAP must provide incentives for non-profithousing developers and maximize low-income housingfunding opportunities including low-income housing taxcredits and regional grants for housing in PDAs. TheDowntown SAP should include policies to address thejobs/housing imbalance such as impact fees or commerciallinkage fees, the creation of a Community Benefit Districtor set-asides for non-profit housing developers. TheCity should consider selling vacant properties to housing developers at prices that will make affordablehousing viable.

As new market rate housing units are created, existinglow-income residentsespecially renters, single roomoccupancy residents and the newly housed populationsmust be protected so that gentrification does not pricethem out of their homes. Renter protection policies, suchas just cause eviction and rent stabilization are critical inensuring that all downtown residents can benefit fromthe growth and development.

Following a housing first approach to the problem ofhomelessness in our community, we can build on the San Mateo Countys HOPE plan1 and include in our plans permanent housing with access to services foradults, youth, seniors, veterans and families that arehomeless and those that are at risk of homelessness.

Efficient Affordable Public Transitwith Bicycle and PedestrianTransportation Options.

The Downtown SAP should reflectcollaboration with transit operators servingSouth San Francisco and large employers toimprove and encourage transit access andconnectivity to the places where people live, work, andplay in South San Francisco and around the Bay Area.

The Caltrain Station should serve as a point ofconnectivity, bridging the downtown and employmentcenter to the East of 101 with safe and attractivewalkways and bicycle lanes. The area around the stationshould be well lit, offer long-term secure bicycle parking,improved visibility, and accessibility. Special attention shouldbe paid to linking the Caltrain Station to the planned andexisting bicycle and pedestrian networks in the corporatepark east of 101. Many of the large companies haveexisting master plans that include bicycle and pedestrianinfrastructure. Filling the gap between these networksand the Caltrain Station is key to diversifying thecommute mode share, and improving access to andpatronage of existing and future downtown businesses bypeople who work in the area.

Downtown should offer a well-marked bicycle lane to the BART station and a network of bicycle lanesthroughout the Downtown SAP. The short distancebetween the BART station and the downtown should beadvertised through signage indicating the distance anddirection between the two destinations. The DowntownSAP should offer adequate and distributed bike parkingthroughout the plan area.

1 HOPE (Housing Our People Effectively) is a ten-year action plan that brings together the business, nonprofit, and public sector communities to address the challenging issue ofhomelessness at its core, rather than manage it at the margins. http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/humanservices/menuitem.ef2c94fdbdc30bc965d293e5d17332a0/?vgnextoid=b8c0ac14682b1210VgnVCM1000001d37230aRCRD

Given that the airport and many of the biotechbusinesses in SSF operate twenty-four hours, publictransportation options must be efficient and accessiblethroughout the day and night. Public transportationoptions need to be affordable to ensure that they areusable by workers. SamTrans Bus connectors or publicshuttles between BART, Caltrain, the Water TransitAuthority (ferry), downtown and businesses east of 101will be a crucial part of this plan.

We need walkable streets and wide sidewalks that canaccommodate benches, bus shelters, trees, and outsideseating for restaurants and cafes. Future developmentshould preserve and build on the compact style of GrandAvenue, which makes for an attractive street to walk andbrowse shop windows. Marked mid-block crossings andbulb-outs at intersections should be used to make for a safe and convenient pedestrian priority district. Streetsignage should also be utilized to denote populardestinations (i.e. Caltrain, parking lots and garages, City Hall,BART) and distances to encourage walking and bicycling.

The Downtown should adopt a parking managementstrategy that utilizes unbundling2, pricing and signageto ensure incentivize residents and visitors to usealternative modes of transportation but also make it easier to find a convenient spot for those who dochoose to drive. This strategy should be paired withcreating a Parking Management District, whereincreased revenues from parking are dedicated forstreetscape improvements and other features of aCommunity Benefits District that make the downtownarea more attractive for business and residents.

Finally, for those residents and shoppers that may needto drive, we encourage the city to include several carsharing parking spots in opportunity sites like majorshopping centers, Caltrain, and the BART station.

Building Businesses andCreating Good Jobs in Our Community

A strong economy in our neighborhooddepends on the retention of a full range of

businesses in the area and the creation of new businessesthat will provide good jobs with wages, benefits andcareer opportunities for people at entry-level and highlyskilled positions.

The multi-year build out of the development enabledby our new Downtown SAP should provide hundredsof good middle class construction jobs that pay AreaStandard Wages. Our communitys youth will also gaincareer pathways into the construction industry whenapprentices who are enrolled in State of Californiaapproved Apprenticeship Programs are required to bepart of the construction team. The use of a localworkforce and local business sourcing should beencouraged so that the hundreds of millions in wagesand materials used in the construction of thesedevelopments are reinvested into the local economy.

With opportunities for new businesses to come intoour community, we must take steps to retain existingbusinesses, and ensure that big box stores do notdisplace small businesses that are the lifeblood of ourlocal community.

As we create multi-use transit oriented developmentprojects, we must ensure that the retail, maintenanceand hospitality service jobs in large enterprises willcome with an expectation that the workers will have avoice at work and the right to express their desire for aunion by a cross-check election with employer neutralityin the process. These labor standards should bereferenced in the Downtown SAP and adopted as Citypolicy so that local workers will benefit from the planand developers can expect support for these policies.

As we seek to enhance the climate for our existing bio-tech companies and create an attractive home for newcompanies in this sector, we must encourage companies,workers, unions and the public workforce developmentpartners to create and participate in job training programsthat will create inter-firm and cross-firm career ladders forexisting employees and new entry-level positions for localresidents. Collaboration and coordination between SSFseconomic development strategies and the workforcedevelopment strategies undertaken by the County andBay Area workforce development boards and trainingpartners will enhance the economic viability of theDowntown SAP for businesses and local workers.

2 A parking strategy in which parking spaces are rented or sold separately, ratherthan automatically included with the rent or purchase price of a residential orcommercial unit.

Strong Community-Driven and Inclusive Process

The new SSF Downtown SAP mustreflect the diverse needs of the SouthSan Francisco community including the

interests of the low-income residents andworkers who stand to benefit the most from theimprovements articulated by the Downtown SAP.

The planning process must include opportunities fortwo-way communication with residents being informedabout the options being considered and planners hearingfrom residents, local businesses, transportation, economicdevelopment and workforce development agencies andother stakeholders about their vision for this area.

We hope that the plan will contain community benefitsfor all segments of the community. To achieve this end,the process should engage the listed stakeholders andseek out partners including environmentalists, laborunions and their members, affordable housing advocates,public transportation advocates, community-basedorganizations representing low-income people andimmigrants, renters, people of faith, people with disabilities,small businesses, and seniors.

The planning process should reflect the racial, ethnicand linguistic diversity of the community and specialefforts should be made to encourage participation bythose who are not familiar with planning processes.

This Community Benefits Platform is the work of South San Franciscocommunity leaders and theirrepresentatives, with funding from the Great Communities Collaborativeand The San Francisco Foundation.

Friends of CaltrainGreenbelt AllianceHousing Leadership CouncilSan Mateo County Building Trades CouncilSan Mateo County Union Community AllianceSheetmetal Workers Union Local 104Sierra Club Loma Prieta ChapterSilicon Valley Bicycle CoalitionTransFormUFCW Local 5

SAN MATEO COUNTY UNION COMMUNITY ALLIANCE Foster City, CA 94404

PHOTO CREDIT: (ALL PHOTOS) CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO

For more information please contact:Beln Seara, San Mateo County Union Community Alliance (551) 404-8804Clarrissa Cabansagan, TransForm (510) 740-3150 x333