Belmont planning panel recommends certification of EIR and rezoning for 1301 Shoreway project

The Belmont Planning Commission voted 5-0 on Jan. 20 to recommend that the City Council certify the final environmental impact report and approve rezoning and design permits for a proposed two-building office and life-sciences campus at 1301 Shoreway Road.

Christopher Dalkomos, a consultant planner with Good City Company, told the commission the project would redevelop a 6.9-acre site east of U.S. 101 at the southeast corner of Shoreway Road and Sem Lane into two buildings totaling about 542,035 square feet, served by a nine-level parking garage and publicly accessible amenities along Belmont Creek. "In exchange, the applicant would contribute $6,300,000 in cash for community benefits that the city could decide to use on a community center or other sorts of facilities," Dalkomos said during the staff presentation.

The project package that the commission recommended includes certification of the final environmental impact report (EIR), rezoning the property from Regional Commercial to Planned Unit Development (PUD), approval of a conceptual and detailed development plan, a development agreement, and related permits including design review, grading and tree removal.

Danae Hall of Kimley-Horn, who presented the EIR process, said the final EIR (published Jan. 8) responded to seven draft-EIR comments and identified mitigation measures that would reduce potentially significant effects to less-than-significant levels. Hall also noted the EIR considered a range of potential uses, including life-science uses up to biosafety level 3, in the project description.

Applicant Bruce Burkhard, a partner at 4 Corners Properties, and the design team described site organization and public amenities, including a roughly 850-foot trail segment along Belmont Creek, exercise nodes, seating, a multiuse sports court and a small trailhead with five vehicle spaces and 10 public bicycle stalls. Gary Levers, DGA design principal, said the two buildings step from seven to eight stories with an internal courtyard and architectural articulation intended to reduce the perception of height.

Commissioners pressed the applicant and staff on several substantive points before voting. Commissioners asked why the PUD would retain many Regional Commercial uses that appear inconsistent with office or laboratory tenants; staff said the broader use list was intended to preserve flexibility and align with anticipated future revisions to the RC district, while the detailed development plan would control substantial changes. A commissioner asked whether the EIR and project design accounted for biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratories; the applicant said the buildings are planned as a warm shell with higher floor-to-floor heights and rooftop capacity for future laboratory mechanical systems, and that a tenant intending a BSL-3 lab would add specialized systems such as airlocks, negative pressure and in‑building autoclaves.

The commission also discussed environmental and design trade-offs: staff reported the project would remove 157 trees (53 meeting protected criteria) and plant 166 new trees, 141 of which are proposed to be California natives, and that the site grading includes about 8,000 cubic yards of fill to raise the site above base flood elevation. Labor and community benefit terms in the development agreement include a requirement that the general contractor be a union signatory and make reasonable efforts to ensure at least 30% of the construction workforce are San Mateo County residents.

Assistant City Manager Kathy Kleinbaum clarified public art funding: "The public art fee is 1% of the total project valuation, which is estimated to be $5,400,000," she said, adding the fee structure requires a minimum amount for off-site public art with remaining art funds available on-site.

After deliberations the commission took three separate 5-0 roll-call votes to recommend: certification of the final EIR and adoption of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program; rezoning to Planned Unit Development and approval of the conceptual development plan and development agreement; and approval of the detailed development plan, conditional use permit, design review, grading plan and tree removal permit. The clerk recorded "aye" votes from the commissioners listed in the roll call.

The commission's recommendation now moves to the Belmont City Council, which staff said is tentatively scheduled to consider the project on Feb. 24. The Planning Commission adjourned at 8:12 p.m.

Votes at a glance: certification of final EIR (motion moved by a commissioner; seconded; vote 5-0), rezoning to PUD and conceptual development plan (motion moved by a commissioner; seconded; vote 5-0), detailed development plan and design/permits (motion moved by a commissioner; seconded; vote 5-0).