The Daily Journal has a piece on one of the longest running issues in the north end. You can read the tale of woe here and here.
Frustration is mounting with an unfinished senior housing building at the corner of Trousdale and Ogden drives in Burlingame and the City Council is even considering a lawsuit against Sunrise Senior Living, the company that intends to build on the site.
The four-story, 79-unit project at 1818 Trousdale Drive was originally approved by the Planning Commission in 2006, but ran into bumps due to the 2008 economic downturn, the company said. Potential litigation was a closed session agenda item for the City Council Friday afternoon, but there was no action reported out of the meeting, City Attorney Kathleen Kane said in an email.
I won't bother to repost the photo from August of 2009 that you see in the link above--you all know what it looks like to this day...........
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The .36 acres or 15,681 sf property at 1875 California Drive is zoned ECN (El Camino North District).
He’s owned the property for almost 15 years, which he purchased for $1.5M, and it's been a low priority for him.
He’s had his hands full with new commercial developments in San Francisco and residential construction in Hillsborough and Atherton.
He’s listed it for sale a few times, last at $1.7M.
An application for a new 20-unit residential condominium at 1875 California Drive was originally submitted in August of 2005. Because of inactivity, it was terminated in June of 2008. The application didn’t get very far. In fact, the applicant did not submit revised plans to address plan review comments and it never made it to the Planning Commission for review.
At this point, the applicant would need to submit a new application and design a project under the current development regulations and design guidelines.
Posted by: Omniscient | December 22, 2015 at 08:47 PM
Whatever the history and the owner's current priorities may be, the lot is being used illegally.
Posted by: Lorne | December 23, 2015 at 06:02 AM
Update: I followed up with code enforcement today in the City Attorney's office, re: 1875 California Drive (defunct car wash). They have served notices to the tenants (car rental, and car detail businesses), and have also informed the owner, that the property needs to be vacated by this Friday. The owner apparently conveyed to the City Attorney's office that he thought the current use was legal, given the property once contained a car wash. However, he was informed the code no longer allows this (nor has it for some time). I also informed code enforcement that I've noticed cars being parked ON THE SIDEWALK off Murchison Avenue, adjacent to the property. They were surprised to hear this, and suggested I inform the Police Department the next time I see this - which I conveyed I will do (I suspect the Police Department may already be aware of this, given they are located nearby).
Posted by: Lorne | January 06, 2016 at 12:58 PM
Happy to report Otto Miller's defunct car wash lot has been vacated as mandated by the City Attorney's office. Here's a picture I took earlier today from my office building, which is nearby (hence my personal interest & skin in the game):
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=5F632BCECF74D7C0!306&authkey=!AO5PNsG3EnBknHM&v=3&ithint=photo%2cbmp
Posted by: Lorne | January 10, 2016 at 01:02 PM