More than three years after Greenbelt Alliance endorsed Station Park Green in San Mateo, the City Council unanimously gave its support to the project on January 18, 2011.

Station Park Green is a 599-home, mixed-use development slated for 12 acres along the 1700 block of Delaware Street. The development will include 90 new below-market-rate homes and 60,000 square feet of new retail space for existing and future shops. This project will replace an underutilized, Kmart-anchored, big-box shopping center with gratuitous surface parking with a vibrant new transit-oriented community.

Adjacent to Hayward Park Station, the most underutilized Caltrain station in San Mateo and one of the most underutilized in the entire Caltrain system, the site enjoys enormous potential. Station Park Green will replace a large, pedestrian-unfriendly, surface parking lot behind Kmart with walkable, compact development centered on a two-acre public green, with easy access to Hayward Park Station.

The LEED Gold certified project design has earned the developers a number of awards as well as praise from smart growth and environmental groups.

Alan Talansky, a vice president for EBL&S and the firm’s lead manager on the project, told council members that the project’s perks include a community room, electrical lines installed below ground, and tree plantings along 19th Avenue – in all, $3.5 million worth of benefits to the city that were not part of the original proposal. EBL&S proposes to give future residents Caltrain passes so they can enjoy a transit-oriented lifestyle. Thoughtful design of this site has resulted in an environment crafted with the pedestrian in mind — parking is provided in moderation and will be concealed behind building facades or underground, and residents will also have the option of living carfree due to on-site car-sharing services.

San Mateo City Council member John Lee said, he is “absolutely in favor of this project. It’s a dynamite project, 599-units right next to the train station. It’s outstanding,” he said. “We need the housing, and it ties right in with the jobs Hines is going to create right next door. We feel the housing market is going to make a comeback and people will want to live in a place that is next to transit, shopping and jobs.”

Now that the plan has been approved, EBL&S Development can start seeking financing for the project, which will be built in phases. Greenbelt Alliance looks forward to following the progress of this development and its ultimate effect on the Hayward Park area.

For more information about the development, visit the City of San Mateo’s website.

~Alessandra Davidson,
Sustainable Development Intern, Greenbelt Alliance