SFPUC details $420M plan for Millbrae operations center; council and residents demand clearer alternatives and rate impacts

SAN MATEO COUNTY — The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday presented a multiyear, multibillion‑quarter‑million project to remodel its Millbrae Operations Center, a plan that drew sustained questions from Millbrae City Council members and sharply critical public comments from local residents and business owners.

The SFPUC said the project — which staff repeatedly described as ‘‘very large’’ — would consolidate staffing from an aging Rollins Road facility, expand laboratory capacity, rehabilitate the administration building and adaptively reuse the Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) building as a south shop. SFPUC staff said construction would happen in three phases, begin as early as November 2027 and conclude in late 2031. The project cost presented by SFPUC staff was roughly $420,000,000, with construction dollars on the order of $250,000,000.

Why it matters: The site sits on 17 acres on El Camino Real and houses neighborhood retail tenants and businesses that residents say provide local jobs and services. The council and residents said the scale, timing and likely wholesale rate effects on Millbrae ratepayers require fuller disclosure — including alternative sites, detailed rate modeling and parking plans — before the project advances.

SFPUC presentation and commitments SFPUC assistant general manager Steve Ritchie and project staff told the council the Millbrae Operations Center is a key regional hub that supports three divisions (water supply/treatment, water quality and natural resources) and a primary laboratory that processes about 100,000 samples annually. Ritchie said the project would bring roughly 100 additional staff to the Millbrae yard after consolidating a seismically unsafe Burlingame (Rollins Road) facility.

Ritchie said Clark Construction was engaged as construction manager/general contractor in March 2025 and that SFPUC expects to proceed in three phases: adaptive reuse of the OSH building as a south shop, construction of a north‑side lab and office building, then rehabilitation of the administration building. "This is gonna be a big project...construction dollars, you know, probably 250,000,000, maybe more than that," Ritchie said during the presentation.

SFPUC also pledged local commitments: participation in Millbrae’s proposed downtown/El Camino Real Community Benefit District, honoring a 2% for‑art obligation locally rather than transferring those funds to San Francisco, and providing a Millbrae staff point of contact to work on project details with the city.

Council and community concerns Council members pressed SFPUC on practical and procedural issues: parking capacity for the added staff and heavy equipment; emergency response planning; the number and location of alternative sites considered during planning; and whether listing the project in a capital improvement program would equate to project approval.

Vice Mayor Rinaldi summarized the council’s concern: "There needs to be careful consideration for alternatives," and requested clear financial disclosure and alternative analyses for Millbrae ratepayers. SFPUC responded that San Francisco’s planning department would lead CEQA analysis and that a CEQA document was expected in 2026; SFPUC said project approval would remain an individual action of the SFPUC commission, not automatically granted by listing the project in a CIP.

Residents organized their concerns during public comment. "I oppose the plan to remove OSH and KFC. These are two paying tenants that provide dozens of local jobs and offer convenient everyday shopping for Millbrae residents," said resident Stella Lau. Multiple speakers described Orchard Supply Hardware (referred to at the meeting as "OSH" or "Orchard"/"Outdoor Supply") as a regional draw used by public‑works staff and families and urged SFPUC to keep the retail uses or find alternative sites.

Financial transparency and rates Speakers and council members repeatedly asked whether the project’s costs would be shared among regional wholesale customers and how wholesale water rates might be affected. Anne Schneider, Millbrae’s Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) representative, said member agencies would pay a large share of the project cost and urged a town‑hall or study session so Millbrae residents and ratepayers could see the analysis. SFPUC said rate projections for wholesale customers are being prepared and that its rate staff would issue projected wholesale rate letters soon.

Council action and next steps Vice Mayor Rinaldi asked SFPUC to return to a future council meeting with rate‑analysis staff, alternative‑site studies and clearer fiscal numbers. SFPUC’s representative said he was willing to return; the council then took a formal request to agendize SFPUC’s return. The motion to agendize SFPUC’s presentation/return passed 5–0.

What remains unresolved: The council and the public asked for a full alternative‑site analysis, precise parking counts and a clear wholesale‑rate impact estimate. SFPUC identified the City and County of San Francisco as the property owner and noted some land‑use authority differences, but the council’s legal staff said the city attorney would provide a legal opinion about Millbrae’s review authority where appropriate. SFPUC expects to circulate CEQA materials in 2026.

The council directed staff to schedule SFPUC to return with financial and alternatives information so the public and council can review detailed analyses before further approvals.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A at the Jan. 13, 2026 Millbrae City Council meeting and public comments recorded during that meeting.