Smart cities are moving up their commercial height limits and building green

Pacifica:  population density is waiting
in line for barbeque, or driving our only
highway through Vallemar/Rockaway.

San Francisco Chronicle/John King, Staff, 9/27/14.  "These development measures are really anti-growth."

It’s election time in the Bay Area, which means ballot initiatives designed to undercut development plans are already in the works. But there’s another way to look at this year’s crop: as confirmation of an ongoing cultural shift in favor of tall buildings and mixed-use neighborhoods with access to transit outside the region’s largest cities.

Vote to improve Pacifica
economic development.
Status quo or less = poor,
  a proven substandard city.

 ....  “We’re starting to see a separation between the traditional anti-growth crowd — 'We want to keep our small-town nature. We want to drive our cars’ — and the other crowd that says, 'We want to have transit-oriented growth and an active downtown, but we want it to be perfect,’” said Madsen, whose organization opposes Berkeley's Measure R as “misguided.”  Where Berkeley’s measure allows taller buildings as long as they’re a utopian shade of green, Menlo Park voters are being asked to change the rules to allow a procession of buildings resembling nothing so much as a row of gap teeth — by intent.

....  The vision emerging is more complex — and, in the long run, more compelling. There’s a hint of this evolution in San Bruno, a city of 44,000 between Millbrae and South San Francisco where a 1977 ordinance capped heights at three stories or 50 feet without voter approval.  November’s Measure N would allow 90-foot buildings around the city’s Caltrain station and increase heights by 20 feet along El Camino Real and 15 feet along San Bruno Avenue. These aren’t towers by any stretch, but they acknowledge a need for housing beyond single-family homes..... “Whether people love the idea of density or not, they’re starting to grasp the benefits that can come from transit-friendly neighborhoods,” Madsen said. “The more we can get away from the fear factor, the better.”  Read article.

Related - Berkeley, CA - Measure R initiative ordinance amending downtown zoning provisions and creating civic center historic district overlay zone,  Ballot Question, revised 2014.  Prior Measure R, 2012.  Berkeleside yes, no opinion.

San Bruno  Measure N, economic enhancement initiative, increase height limits. Greenbelt Alliance, urges a "yes" vote.  "As with other Peninsula cities, San Bruno continues to recover economically. While things look brighter, the city must plan for the future. For several years, the City has engaged in a collaborative, inclusive, and transparent process focused on growing the local economy, generating new city revenue without taxing our citizens, while improving downtown and major transit corridors. The City has adopted a visionary plan for new homes, jobs, and shops in its downtown that will make the community a great place for decades to come." 

Note graphic button from Cafe press.  Photograph from Barbeque1 blog.

Posted by Kathy Meeh