Artists and residents urge council to remove Sanchez Arts Center from housing rezoning proposals

Speakers at public comment told the council that the city—s housing element rezoning list includes the Pacifica Center for the Arts campus (Sanchez Arts Center, Mildred Owen Concert Hall, Rotary Plaza and playing fields), and that community members are opposed to any rezoning that would jeopardize the existing cultural and recreational uses.

Cindy Abbott, executive director of Sanchez Arts Center, said nearly 300 pages of public comment letters had been submitted to the planning commission and that residents across San Mateo County objected to the campus being identified for potential residential rezoning. "The community—s voice and values—are clear: the property listed at Sanchez Arts Center should be removed from consideration of rezoning for residential and housing, or at the very minimum strong and specific language needs to be added" to the housing-element materials, Abbott said.

Peter Loeb, among other community members, told the council that the Mildred Owen Concert Hall and the Sanchez Arts Center attract audiences from across the Bay Area and provide subsidized space to artists. He said redevelopment of the site for housing could make new studio space unaffordable and would risk losing a regional cultural asset.

Task force and staff members at the meeting said the city is in the midst of the housing element and rezoning process. Planning and council action on the housing element and associated rezoning are scheduled through upcoming planning commission and council hearings; public commenters urged officials to consider explicit protective language that would lock in continued cultural and recreational use if the site remains on any rezoning list.

Councilmembers did not take final action on the housing element during the regular meeting; multiple public comments signaled this will remain a high-profile local issue as the planning process progresses.