I’m very excited by the impending housing growth in North Burlingame that will end up bringing “thousands of new homes” to the Rollins Rd. industrial section of town. The amount of planning that went into this decision by state and county officials, the City Council, the Planning Commission and city staff is impressive. Here are the details:
Water: I know the decision makers have a grasp on our dire water situation because they said so back in May calling it “alarming”. They also know the SFPUC cannot be trusted to keep the Peninsula’s water interests front-of-mind regardless of whatever “contract” we have with them, so the negotiations with the state to gain access to Bayfront land for our new desalinization plant (instead of a park) are to be complemented. Desalinized drinking water is about ten times as expensive as water agencies buy now due to the energy costs. Then there is the cost of getting rid of the brine, but the free land access will help the economics. The new water tank on Rollins will ensure reliable water for the new neighborhood.
Outflow: In the spirit of “what goes in, must come out”, the city study on sewage treatment capacity at the Bayfront plant will probably find a need for additional capacity, but we can be sure that raising the sewer rates to pay for it will be easy as we just saw this year. Burlingame is a welcoming community, so higher rates will be fine with the public.
Power: The decision makers’ extensive negotiations with PG&E to get it to strengthen the Burlingame grid are to be complemented. Not only will the grid improvements supply the new desalinization plant’s load, but it will also ensure grid stability for the rest of the city. Generous state and federal funding for new solar panels on the new construction and some existing Rollins Rd. buildings will help; as will a brand new grid-based battery facility. Whoever got that big grant should get a promotion. The natural gas pipes should be fine since there won’t be any natural gas allowed.
Schools: Given the thousands of new homes coming, it was prescient of the city council to snap up a large parcel on Rollins Rd. and sign a long-term, low-cost lease with the Burlingame School District. This will enable BSD to build a new school serving North Burlingame Eastside students. The parcel may be large enough to also build a BIS Annex to cut down on car traffic to BIS. I expect that the next school bond measure to pay for it all will pass easily as Burlingame is a welcoming community.
Traffic: As we consider the extensive traffic study conducted as part of the General Plan update, it is gratifying to see that the Broadway grade separation project is now fully funded and we are ready to start The Big B'game Dig in 2022. As today's SF Comicle notes:
The intersection of Caltrain and Broadway in Burlingame has the ignominious distinction of being the street-level train crossing most in need of fixing in the state, based on a calculation that factors in number of accidents, disruptions to local traffic and other overall safety concerns. The busy crossing serves demand from trains, vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, a hectic mix that has resulted in 11 car-train collisions in the past five years, a number of near misses and some fatal accidents. It has also caused considerable traffic backups: The crossing gate is currently down about an hour per day, and the city estimates that will rise to nearly three hours per day by 2040.
The project should go fast as most of them do; and be completed in time to help ease the load on Millbrae Ave. and Rollins Rd. for the new North Burlingame residents. Luckily, the city’s negotiations with Caltrain were also successful in getting the Broadway station to reopen. That will make a big difference for local traffic through the B'way intersection over the next 10 years.
Of course, Rollins Rd. isn't the only part of town with strong growth so all of these impending improvements will benefit the whole town. That's why Burlingame is a welcoming community.
I admit I was initially skeptical about a huge new residential section at the north end of town. It seemed like many of the growing pains would be intractable problems, but with a lot of diligent work everything appears to be on track. Many people are to be complemented.
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