ecomments_export 01042022 Reg mtg

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Dear Council members: I like a lot of what’s proposed in Objective Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Residential Developments, including: New landscaping requirements New open space requirements New language about adhering to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which provides a key to Engineering and Transportation to get developers to pay for pedestrian and bicycle improvements A modified daylight plane, which I hope will encourage developers. Building facades that will make walking an enjoyable experience. However, I’m alarmed by the proposed requirements: no parking minimum and a maximum of 0.5 spaces/unit. This would apply to developments in zones DA and SA which cover the full distance between Georgia Way and 150th Street, east halfway to Bancroft near Estudillo and a few blocks west to San Leandro Blvd near Davis. I ask you to to raise the minimum to 0.5/unit and the maximum to 1 space/unit. I believe that young families will want cars and should be able to enjoy the benefits of living in the lively downtown we foresee, and living within walking distance of Safeway or the Sprouts expected to go in at Centro Callan. I am an environmentalist and, as an advocate for pedestrian and cyclists, District 5’s representative to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Council. As such, I should be applauding the elimination of parking minimums. I’m aware of the many studies that all boil down to “If you don’t build it, they won’t come.” But, this plan is too extreme. Environmentalists should remember: That one can own a car and not use it daily That one might live near BART here, but might not work or go to school near BART. That car owners increasingly own electric cars. Sales of electrics are now 20% of all car purchases and experts predict they will be 50% in just a few years. The Planning Commission and San Leandro 2050 want a “downtown” where people can bike. They forget or don’t realize that East 14th is so dangerous that even the most experienced cyclists are afraid of it. That won’t change. Someday it’ll be possible for cyclists to travel north and south in protected bike lanes on Bancroft. We’ll possibly get another pair of protected bike lanes on San Leandro Blvd. Residents in zones DA and SA can get to those, but they won’t be biking on East 14th. I believe that more than just a very few people will still have cars and they’ll park them on the side streets if they can’t get parking within a development. Cyclists should be using those same side streets unafraid of getting “doored” by drivers exiting their cars. I would like to see a “downtown” favorable to young families. Houses in San Leandro cost a million or a million and a half. Many young people now don’t want to take on a large mortgage. Families may prefer living in apartments or condos. Why should they be shut out from the lively downtown we foresee that’s walking distance to Safeway? They will be if they can’t store their cars. It’s tough being a parent without a car. With no minimum and a maximum of 0.5 spaces/unit, how will parents — mostly moms — get their children to elementary school and back home with project poster boards and popsicle stick picture frames? How will working parents (again, mostly moms) get them to school at 8am and themselves to BART fast enough to get to work by 9? How will they get them across town to the Ballpark for little league? For Aikido? To Marina Park? To the pediatricians on Doolittle, even though their office is still called Bancroft Pediatric? (I’ve done that one. It takes forever and it can get very cold while waiting for the bus.) If they aren’t within walking distance of Safeway, it’s the bus for them. I speak here from experience. It’s no fun mounting the steps of a bus with one hand clasping the hand of a child and in the other hand a bag or two of groceries. A word on process: Members of the community spent hours in workshops and taking surveys. Based on their comments, staff carefully calculated parking requirements that also took into consideration the number of bedrooms in a unit and a development’s distance from BART. At the start of the Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Breslin