The Burlingame Voice

Art & Jazz on (Howard) Avenue

I still cannot get used to the new name for the Art & Jazz on the Avenue (it's ArtzFest) but I look forward to it nonetheless.  With the Avenew redevelopment project going great guns like this

I was thinking the Chamber will have to move it.  Turns out the plan is to use Howard Ave. for the August 10-11 festivities.  That should be interesting since the vibe is quite a bit different on Howard Ave.  Maybe that will focus more of the attention on the vendors and stages than the stores.

 

Dear Feds-- Please Ignore Us

Monday's City Council vote to try to skirt additional protections for the historically significant downtown Post Office building was quite disappointing.  As the Daily Journal writes

Most of the Burlingame City Council wants the sale of the downtown post office to be free of federal historical preservation requirements that can tie local control with the exception of Councilwoman Cathy Baylock, who disagreed.

During its meeting Monday, the council voted 4-1 to send a letter to the U.S. Postal Service requesting that preservation covenants not be added as a requirement of sale for the property at 220 Park Road. Doing so, the majority said, would tie local control and the historical considerations would be covered under the California Environmental Quality Act. Baylock, on the other hand, said the practice is customary and could act as an extra form of protection for a historical aspect of Burlingame’s downtown.

Let's hope the Feds do what the Feds do best in this case--ignore the letter.  Either of the "Top Two" proposals on the table would mangle the downtown as we know it and may not past muster on any sort of preservation of the building.

Historic Confusion

I was struck by the contrast between the SRO Historical Society meeting about Eichlers on Thursday night (see next post) and the Joint City Council-Planning Commission meeting on Saturday morning.  Thursday night more than 100 residents showed up to learn about the history of the Eichlers up in Mills Estate.  Saturday morning in the very same Lane Room, Russ and I were the only regular residents to show up to hear staff, council members and planning commissioners discuss a historic properties ordinance.

The annual joint meeting is the one time each year when a free-flowing dialog between the three groups of public servants happens.  There is no voting, just giving of direction to staff and the Planning Commission.  I was also struck by how many council members still appear (and some even admit) to being confused about the basics of a historic properties list in B'game.  Many cities and towns in California already have them, there are lots of sample ordinances--two were provided on Saturday.  And yet the sum total of the guidance was "Start small in the downtown, mostly commercial district and make it voluntary and simple".  Also, the Planning Commission should oversee it.  That's all good, but after almost a decade of thinking about it, an hour of discussion and all the work on the Downtown Plan as well as the news swirling around CEQA and Gov. Moonbeam's attempts to gut that state law, you would think there would be more clarity and direction.

I'll revisit why a voluntary, simple, residential option would be good for residents' tax bills and for the integrity of the neighborhoods another time.  My guess is plenty of the crowd on Thursday would agree even if it does apply to them or their house!

Here's the Staff, the Planning Commission (one absent) and the Council this past Saturday:

Making It at The Melt?

I'm fascinated by the old Towle's location that went from the old time coffee shop-style restaurant to a very successful seafood place to a Burger Joint and now The Melt focused on grilled cheese.  I happened by on Thursday night around 8:15pm and it looked just like the Burger Joint used to look.  After weaving my way through a packed house at Mediterranean Kebob last night around 7:15pm, The Melt had all of one table with customers.  The dining competition on the Avenue isn't going to get any easier in the coming months as The Plant and Delfina arrive!

Post Office "Remarkably Well Preserved"

There is big news about the main B'game Post Office on Park Rd.  Its future has been in doubt due to the financial condition of the Postal Service that is leading to elimination of Saturday delivery in August among other actions.  But the local site has special characteristics that may (should!) affect what can be done with the building.  The news is that a Historical Structure Report prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc. in Oakland has determined that the Post Office is eligible for National Register of Historical Places status on two different criteria:

Criterion A: The Burlingame Main Post Office is significant under Criterion A for its association with the New Deal-era public works programs and policies under the significant theme of Politics/Government, as defined in

National Register Bulletin 13: How to Apply the National Register Criteria to Post Office.

Criterion C: This property is significant under Criterion C within the historic context and significant historic theme of Politics/Government. The property embodies distinctive characteristics of a post office designed and constructed between 1930 and 1942 in plan, structure, design, and ornamentation. The Burlingame Main Post Office contains many distinctive elements of its type — post offices constructed between 1930 and 1942 by the federal government, as exemplified by the standard interior spatial arrangement, and high-quality materials and workmanship.

The report notes the building's Spanish Eclectic architecture, but is especially glowing about the interior: 

The interior of the post office has been remarkably well preserved. Though many post offices retain "high style" interior features such as marble wainscoting, few remain as unaltered as this one. Original bank-teller style service windows have been retained in contrast to the usual policy, which replaced these windows at most post offices with open counters for service decades ago. Most post offices have also replaced the original post office boxes, but Burlingame retains the originals, which match the metal trim so prominent in the lobby. Details like metal-trimmed bulletin boards, the service desks discussed above, and even pen holders have all survived the post office’s 71 years of use.

Most of us already knew this was a building with special original features and a warm, bronzed feel about it that reminds one of a time before post offices started to feel like a Kinko's...a time when the postal eagle flew proudly.

Watching Millbrae's Example

I found today's Daily Journal article titled "Alleged Shoddy Construction Brings Lawsuits" interesting to B'gamers for two reasons.  First, I constantly hear comments about how rigorous the single-family residential building inspections can be in B'game during construction.  100+ units appear to be a different story.  Second, we could easily be looking at one or more projects like this on the Post Office site or nearby.  So this excerpt about the Millbrae big condo projects' inspections caught my eye

Two Millbrae condominium developers with units between $599,000 to $1.28 million recently faced lawsuits over shoddy construction that includes severe structural issues, water damage and cracking — and although city inspectors signed off on the projects, they are immune from legal action.

The two developments each have more than 100 units along El Camino Real — 88 Broadway and Park Broadway. With Peninsula housing demand growing, land at a premium and a regional goal of transit-oriented multi-unit development, such housing is becoming more popular but can lead to a series of legal tangles once problems are revealed in time. While one group was able to reach a settlement, mediation continues for the other. But there may be a trend in the need to seek lawsuits.

Building up comes with different challenges than single-family homes. California has building codes, most recently adopted in 2010, regulating anything built in the state. Cities that have issued building permits are charged with inspecting the buildings to meet those codes. However, the employees and the city are immune from legal action if problems are found with that construction.

Millbrae officials declined to comment on the requirements of building inspectors. Neighboring cities also declined to comment about the requirements of their inspectors. Experts say the challenge appears to be the inability to really watch over every detail on such large projects. Ultimately, California law puts the need to fix problems to the developer. Developers are also given a chance to address the issues under California law and must be invited to mediation before legal proceedings can really begin. Mediation has become a clearly defined process.

Something to think about as we perhaps will looking at something of this scale in our downtown

 

Parking Hunt - Where or If?

From the City's e-News we get this reminder about tomorrow's meeting

The City is in the process of studying the feasibility of various options to address the parking needs of the Downtown Burlingame Avenue business district. The City is interested in obtaining residents and other stakeholders input in the Study. This is an opportunity for Burlingame residents to review options of potential sites to build a future downtown parking structure. The Burlingame City Council has requested staff to explore options and make recommendations concerning the preferred location of a new parking structure that might be built to meet increased parking needs in the downtown business district.

The meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Lane Room at the main library from 6-8 pm.  Let's hope someone suggests that the perceived need for a parking structure is way overblown and that will all that is possibly changing downtown at the Post Office and elsewhere, this is premature at best.

Night Dig on the Avenew

PG&E started phase 1 of the Avenue renewal last week.  The City announced

The City anticipates that PGE will complete their work before the Burlingame Avenue Streetscape contractor begins construction at the end of March, 2013. PGE plans do to all construction work for the gas and electric line relocation project at night. We hope there will be minimal disruption to the downtown during this construction.

Here's what it looked like on Thursday night after the restaurants had all closed

Parking Inventory on the Ave.

I've had several conversations with people in town about the forthcoming changes to the streetscape on the Avenue.  It's been in the works for awhile as you can read here or on the City site here.  Construction bids are being worked on now.  One of the issues in contention is parking and how many spaces are there now and how many will be lost, so I got my pitch-counter out (lap-counter for you swimmers) and walked the Ave. today.

For the record, there are 120 spaces on the Avenue including handicapped spaces and 24 minute slots.  None of the motorcycle spots are directly on the Ave.  61 spaces are on the North/West side and 59 on the other.

Trees have taken a hit from storms and for some other reason I'm not aware of, like these two stumps on Primrose.

And something finally appears to be happening at 329 Primrose which is under interior construction.  That space seems like it has been empty for at least three years since All That Glitters moved to B'way.

It's a great Tudoresque space and when refilled will add to the parking situation--in a good way.

More Tree Lighting Pics

In addition to the BPD Mustang-pushing shown below this post, here are a couple of other fun photos from the night.  The first is the BIS choir being led by Mr. Simon who also led the band in a few holidays songs.

And Mayor Keighran reminded everyone about the upcoming Burlingame Ave Streetscape project which will have quite an impact on the street for some period of time but will end up being worth it.  After she reminded everyone to "shop Burlingame" she was joined by the other four councilmembers

Then Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the senior-most elf on staff took the stage for more singing and dancing!