Recent Letter Sent to the City of San Carlos from GESC Board on behalf of Greater East San Carlos

June 4, 2008

Honorable Mayor Brad Lewis,
San Carlos City Council,
San Carlos Planning Commission,
San Carlos Traffic and Circulation Commission,
San Carlos Economic Development Commission,
San Carlos City Staff,
SamTrans/Caltrain/JPB,
Legacy Partners,

Concerning: San Carlos Transit Village Project

Based on the consistent input from many GESC (Laureola) residents, the GESC board is requesting that the following be either included as part of the development agreement, as part of the Redevelopment Agency Plan with a defined timeline or solved prior to approval of the San Carlos Transit Village Project. We have tried to break down the issues by whom we consider the appropriate parties and offer ideas to establish realistic solutions as well.

SamTrans/Caltrain/JPB (As landlord for the Project):

1) Parking Problems

Solve the parking problems throughout the GESC (Laureola) neighborhood caused by raising the tracks and the removal of existing free parking on Old County. This can be accomplished working with the city through the use of residential parking stickers, permit parking, signage and enforcement. We also want to ensure that the new plan includes adequate parking for the cars now being parked in the neighborhood and future increases in ridership.

2) Shuttle Problems

Solve the shuttle problems caused by having a new shuttle stop on the east side created when the tracks were raised. Problems include shuttles idling for long periods of time and racing up and down residential streets. Working with the city and requiring all shuttles to use a planned new drop off location on the west side can solve this issue. We would also prefer to see taxis use the new drop off location.

3) Noise Problems

We would like to see a mitigation plan for the increase in existing noise due to the raising of the Berm as well as a plan for the expected increase in noise from the planned project. We expect to see a plan that involves replacing windows, doors and installing chimney baffles on homes as well as ways to decrease noise from passing trains for residents enjoying their yards. To see an example of a successful noise impact mediation program we suggest contacting Dave Carbone with the Airport Community Roundtable who works on noise mitigation of homes and businesses around the San Francisco Airport. Mr. Carbone can be reached at 650/363-4417.

4) Transit Issues

Since the project is called San Carlos Transit Village, we believe
that all possible avenues should be utilized to encourage the
residents of the new project to use transit. We would also like to see
an increase in transit options for the current residents including
more trains that stop in San Carlos.

Legacy Partners (As Project Developer)

1) Height

While we acknowledge that the developer has made some changes to the
development, we feel that the developer has not addressed the height
issue in any substantive way; therefore we still need to work with the
developer to address ongoing neighborhood concerns that the
development is still too tall.

2) Landscaping Plan

We expect there to be 4 layers of landscaping between the project and
the neighborhood. The first will be working with the city to plant
trees along the east side of Old County Road (this will involve
removing some parking spaces, undergrounding utilities and shrinking
the width of the road). The second is to replace the trees on the west
side of Old County road east of the railroad tracks with appropriate
sized trees. The third layer will be just west of the tracks and the
last will be next to the project itself. We would like the landscaping
plan (including types and size of trees, irrigation plans and
maintenance plans) in place before project approval and to be included
in the development agreement. The first, second and fourth layer must
be guaranteed and adequate to screen the project as we realize that
the third layer may disappear if the bullet train is ever approved and
additional tracks are installed

3) Project Parking

We believe that the current parking Plan of 1.6 spaces per residential
unit is not adequate. We also have a concern that parking for the
retail/office buildings and plaza maybe inadequate. Given the existing
parking problems, the failure to solve those for the past 10 years and
that once the project is built we will have no recourse to solve any
parking problems that develop, we want the project to have parking for
residential units comparable to that required for an average
residential home (2.0 spaces per unit) or a plan for solving existing
parking conflicts and those that arise after the project is approved.

4) East Side Parks

Set up a fund for Laureola Park and future trail and park development
on the East side. Since Laureola is the Park closest to the new
development, the developers should contribute to a fund that will
maintain the park and replace outdated equipment.

City of San Carlos:

1) Holly Street Intersection

Improve Holly Street intersection to match (pavers) what is planned
for Holly / El Camino, San Carlos Ave. / El Camino and the Old County
Street Crossing from the train station. With the new development more
individuals will be crossing Holly Street to get to the park or
businesses located on the East side, this intersection is very
difficult for many residents and needs to be upgraded.

2) Improvements to Old County Road

Replace sidewalks and underground utilities on Old County from Brittan
to Harbor. As part of raising the tracks, utilities from west of Old
County were moved under the sidewalks on the East side of Old County
and haphazardly patched leaving multiple levels of concrete. When you
combine this with the existing telephone poles located in the middle
of the sidewalk, the large number of posted signs and the failure of
the public works department to repair crumbling sidewalks and curbs,
it leaves us with a sidewalk that is difficult for the elderly, people
with strollers and the handicapped to navigate as well as a challenge
for the average individual.

3) Traffic Calming on Old County

Slow down traffic on Old County. Since the tracks have been raised
there is a significant increase in the speed of vehicles traveling
down Old County road. Putting stop signs at Taylor and Terminal way
and lowering the speed limit between them to 30 mph can accomplish this.

4) Garbage

Code Enforcement for all the garbage that blows into our neighborhood
from the train station and other surrounding businesses. (At minimum
additional street sweeping and cleaning at the train station)

Additional List of items the GESC (Laureola) would like the city
consider.

5) Additional Park on the East Side as well as Urban trails.

6) New Community Center to replace Laureola Building (One that would
be useable by the neighborhood for events other than our meetings)

7) More parking at Laureola Park for Sporting events

8) Clean Sidewalks (This concern will disappear if we underground
utilities)

9) Paint curbs red instead of continually posting signs and enforce.

10) A viable plan with timelines for fixing Holly Street working with
the homeowners prior to approval.

11) Enhancements to facades of Old County Shopper businesses, and
landscaping.

We would be happy to discuss any or all of the above.

Sincerely,

The GESC (Laureola) Board

Scot Marsters
Tim Hilborn
Ben Fuller
Sam Herzberg
Lorrayne Murphy
Jim Vick

Please check back for the latest updates of meetings and developments affecting the Greater East San Carlos area.

5/27/08 - GESC Residents Meeting planned at Laureola Building with SC Transit Village Developers, PAMF, and GESC Board

May 08 - Canvassing started throughout Greater East San Carlos with a continued focus on areas to be affected by SC Transit Village. For a detailed report, please visit "canvassing" portion of the GESC Website.

4/28/08 - After receiving letters from the City that the City would be widening Holly Street in front their Homes, several residents of Holly street met with City Staff about the widening of Holly Street. Staff let the residents know about surveying that would begin the following week. Many questions revolved around why this was happening now.

4/1/08 - Online discussion on housing in San Mateo County. Registration for the online dialogues will begin in April. For more information, visit http://threshold1510.org

3/12/08 - Update of our meeting with the city, Legacy and SamTrans: The GESC board met with the City, Legacy and SamTrans last night to discuss the neighborhood's concerns received during our last canvass of the neighborhood and outspoken comments by the almost 50 residents who attended the last GESC meeting on 2/21 at the Laureola building.

Please click here for the document outlining the agenda and talking points for the 3/12/08 meeting.

The main concern centered around building height, mass, parking and traffic. The GESC board came away with a cautiously optimistic feeling from the meeting. We made it clear that we were not going to wait for the EIR to come out in 9+ months and requested subsequent meetings to discuss changes to the development plan. We are scheduled to meet again in the next few months with the developers and city to "brainstorm" GESC's desired changes and try to formulate an outcome acceptable with GESC, Legacy, SamTrans and the City.

3/3/08 - Laureola Board Meeting

The newly-elected Laureola Board met to complete some unfinished business including electing Jim Vick as the third SESC rep. The board also discussed emergency plans and began a process of creating a more updated emergency plan for our neighborhood. Discussion also included the upcoming meeting with the SCTV developers on how to best address the needs of our neighborhood. Lastly the board voted to change the community association name from Laureola to Greater East San Carlos Resident's Group (GESC), in order to better represent the entire neighborhood.

2/21/08 - Laureola Community Meeting with SCTV Developers.

The latest proposed developmental plan for the San Carlos Transit Village was introduced to community members at the Laueola neighborhood meeting. This included Legacy Partners Residential, Inc., SamTrans, and representatives from Metropolitan Planning Group. Nearly fifty neighborhood residents attended the meeting to voice their concerns about the size and scope of the proposed SCTV development (primarily North of Holly St.) Please check our San Carlos Transit Village page for a complete summary of concerns raised by our neighborhood residents and the latest photo montages created by the architect.