This page features current issues and developments regarding the proposed San Carlos Transit Village (SCTV) Development.

San Carlos Transit Village (In particular, the development north of Holly St along El Camino Real)

Please click here to see the latest letter sent by the GESC Board to to SamTrans/Caltrain/JPBLegacy Partners, San Carlos City Council, and San Carlos City Staff, concerning the San Carlos Transit Village Project.

5/27/08 Meeting 6:30-9:00 PM GESC Laureola Building

SC Transit Village New Design as proposed on May 27, 2008, 7:30 PM at GESC/Laureola Building:

1. The development remains at 4 stories but was slightly lowered from 49 to 47 feet when the pitch of the roof was changed. Unit totals also remained the same around 260 units.
2. Building gaps (or what they call "view corridors") will exist at the end of Springfield, Sylvan and to a lesser degree Inverness and Riverton. This is a change from before.
3. Some discussion of tree planting on the berm as screens occurred and the developers seemed open to planting trees on the berm, but there is no fixed agreement. Also, there are some uncertainties regarding whether the berm in its current form could hold trees that offer shade without affecting the railroad tracks structural viability.

We are well aware of the nearly unanimous negative reaction from all of you that we have heard regarding this project. We also do not feel these changes meet our needs. Therefore, we wanted to let you know that the Board will develop an action plan and present it to the GESC Community in the coming weeks for your feedback.

3/21/08 Meeting

Nearly fifty GESC residents showed up to voice their concerns at the Laureola meeting on 3/21/08. The following is a list of their concerns along with over 100 other NorthEast San Carlos resident's concerns who personally spoke with us during our neighborhood canvass a week prior to the meeting:

1) Building Size and Height - Proposed 50+ foot, 4 story residential apartments. Total of 3 buildings north of Holly St. Approx. 300 ft. long, 50+ feet high with less than 60 feet of broken space in between.

2) Slapback noise from CalTrain and freight trains will significantly increase noise level to our neighborhood.

3) Literal loss of hours of PM sunlight to many homes close to Old County Rd. due to building heigth and length.

4) County and city revenues/expenditures from proposed development. Primarily construction, zoning and taxable property of leased land apartments verses private owned land, condos and or townhouses.

5) Parking and Traffic: This project has a large scope that includes 281 units with potentially 1000+ people added to our neighborhood. Only 1.6 spaces per unit have been allocated. Parking and traffic could be a literal nightmare in Northeast San Carlos. And we can’t even guarantee that one resident will take the train!

6) Significant loss of property value to homeowners in our neighborhood due to the above mentioned concerns.

4-story residential buildings over parking garages, including four buildings north of Holly Street, and two buildings just south of Holly Street. There are a total of 281 residential housing units, including 105 1-bedroom units, 101 2-bedroom units, and 75 3-bedroom units. 15% of the 281 units will be required to be Below Market Rate (BMR) units.

Please see photos below including the updated montages worked up by the architect!

From 5/27/08 Meeting:

From 3/21/08 meeting:

GESC was asked to include this quote from the developer: "Please bear in mind that these are draft images to give a visual sense of the project at the meeting. They do not represent the final design, nor are they a complete analysis. The Environmental Impact Report is the formal analysis that will include visual simulations."