Plan Area and Current Facilities The Plan Area is bounded by South Delaware Street to the east and Concar Drive to the south (Figure 2.01). Parallel to Concar Drive on the south, SR 92 rises above grade to cross the Caltrain right-of-way. To the west, the Joint Powers Board owns a relatively narrow, approximately three-acre strip of property used for surface parking, which separates the Plan Area from the Caltrain tracks. To the north, Garvey Way and the Post Office and the AAA office building sit between the Plan Area and residential properties along East 16th Avenue. The Plan Area is currently occupied by retail and office uses, including Kmart, offices, Michaels, a Shell gas station, and their surface parking areas. The Kmart store is located generally in the middle of the 12 acres, significantly set back from its primary vehicular access on South Delaware Street. This vehicular access is opposite the entrance to the Nineteenth Avenue Park neighborhood across South Delaware Street. Figure 2.02 Kmart building and parking lot, facing east The Kmart building is approximately 37-feet tall and has about 148,000 square feet of retail space on two floors, including associated office and storage space. A large expanse of surface parking surrounds the store. (Figures 2.02, 2.03, 2.04) A narrow buffer of landscape separates the parking lot from South Delaware Street. Within the parking lot, small islands with mulch support small trees. Between the Shell station and the AAA building, the edge of the Plan Area along South Delaware Street is very open, with no building edge defining the space of the street. Figure 2.03 Plan Area with Kmart parking lot, facing southeast The Michaels store is located southeast of the Kmart building with frontage on Concar Drive. An arts-and-crafts supply store, Michaels occupies a building of approximately 19,000 square feet that is approximately 21-feet tall. Vehicular access to Michaels exists opposite the access ramps to SR 92. Except for its eastern boundary with the Shell station, the Michaels property is also surrounded by surface parking and rudimentary landscape. The Shell gas station sits at the northwest corner of the intersection of Concar Drive and South Delaware Street. Its facilities include an auto service station, gas pump canopy, and car wash. Figure 2.04 Kmart building and parking lot, facing northwest 17 Currently, the Plan Area includes over nine acres of impermeable surface parking around the Kmart, Michaels, and Shell station facilities. At present, only about six percent of the entire Plan Area consists of permeable, vegetated surfaces in the form of parking lot islands.
18 Figure 2.05 Concar Drive and Michaels store, facing east Edge Conditions The immediate edges of the Plan Area are public streets, surface parking for the AAA building, and the Joint Powers Board property, which is also mostly surface parking. Because the existing Kmart, Michaels, and Shell station facilities are set back from the sidewalks, there is little streetwall definition along either the South Delaware Street or Concar Drive corridors. South Delaware Street, Concar Drive, and the Joint Powers Board property that surround the Plan Area have some streetscape improvements including sidewalks, street trees, low shrubs, tree grates, mulching, small lawn areas, and pedestrian lighting. Along all streets, the Plan Area edges are open and almost entirely paved, with predominant views of the surface parking lots and limited streetscape features within the Plan Area. (Figures 2.05, 2.06) Joint Powers Board Property As noted in Chapter 1, this Plan is intended to implement the Corridor Plan. In turn, the intent of the Corridor Plan is to allow, encourage, and provide guidance for the creation of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The area covered by this Plan is an approximately 12-acre portion of the Hayward Park Station TOD Zone. The remainder of the Hayward Park Station TOD Zone includes property owned and operated by the Joint Powers Board to the west, and AAA and the U.S. Postal Service to the north. Figure 2.06 South Delaware Street and Shell Station, facing northwest STATIONPARKGREEN SPECIFIC PLAN
Aspects of the Plan including the land use program, massing, height, circulation pattern, and open space system account for the possibility of future development of the remainder of the Hayward Park TOD Zone in conformity with the Corridor Plan. Specifically, the block and street system for the Plan Area would be aligned with that on neighboring parcels, should redevelopment of the remaining land in the TOD Zone occur. Moreover, as discussed in Chapter 5, this Plan may be amended. Such an amendment could, if the City so approves, enlarge the Plan Area to encompass the entire TOD Zone. Details on the amendment process are provided in Chapter 5. Neighborhood Setting The Plan Area lies amidst a mix of uses including service commercial and single- and multi-family residential uses. Mid- and high-rise commercial properties are located to the south and southeast of the Plan Area, along Concar Drive and SR 92. To the north and northeast, the uses are predominantly singleand multi-family residential, beyond the existing Post Office and AAA. Further implementation of the Corridor Plan and San Mateo City Zoning suggest that the area covered by this Plan will, in the future, be surrounded by TOD uses, except for Nineteenth Avenue Park to the northeast. Though the Plan Area is closest to the Nineteenth Avenue Park neighborhood, Hayward Park, Sunnybrae and Fiesta Gardens are nearby as well. The street networks of these neighborhoods are shown in Figure 2.07. Figure 2.07 Plan Area with surrounding neighborhoods and streets 19
20 Caltrain Station and Parking The Caltrain right-of-way runs north-south, west of the Plan Area. The rail is elevated slightly above the surrounding landscape, and low areas along the tracks function as ad-hoc stormwater channels. (Figure 2.08) Caltrain s Hayward Park Station is located just north of the SR 92 overpass, where Concar Drive intersects with Pacific Boulevard. At both ends of the station platform there are at-grade pedestrian crossings over the tracks. The Plan Area does not abut the Caltrain right-of-way; it is separated by property owned by the Joint Powers Board. This narrow, approximately three-acre property consists of surface parking for the station. Chain-linked fencing and narrow landscape strips buffer the Joint Powers Board property from surrounding uses. (Figure 2.09) Across the tracks to the west of the rail, there is a mix of service commercial, community commercial and multi-family residential uses, which is also zoned for TOD. Figure 2.08 Caltrain right-of-way facing south to SR 92 overpass Figure 2.09 Joint Powers Board property from the Caltrain station, facing east Concar Drive To the south, Concar Drive separates the Plan Area from large, commercial properties along the SR 92 corridor. (Figure 2.10) These commercial buildings are set back from Concar Drive and surrounded by surface parking lots. The elevated SR 92 rises to approximately 35- feet above grade behind these buildings to pass over the Caltrain right-of-way. (Figure 2.11) Entrance and exit ramps for the SR 92 intersect with Concar Drive near the entrance to Michaels. As shown in Figure 2.12, the scale of the existing development on Concar Drive is higher than the residential uses to the north and northeast of the Plan Area. Within a half-mile of Station Park Green, there are buildings of between five and ten stories along Concar Drive and the SR 92 corridor. 800 and 900 Concar Drive are each five stories plus mechanical penthouse; the Marriott Hotel is six stories; and the buildings of The Crossroads are ten stories, approximately 140-feet in height. STATIONPARKGREEN SPECIFIC PLAN
21 Immediately south of SR 92 is a cluster of light-industrial and service commercial uses. This area is separated from the Plan Area by the elevated SR 92. Access to these properties is accomplished via Pacific Boulevard which runs along the eastern side of the Caltrain right-of-way and connects to Concar Drive at the Hayward Park Caltrain Station, shown in Figure 2.11. Figure 2.10 Concar Drive and commercial properties, facing east Figure 2.12 Bird s eye aerial view of the Plan Area, with Caltrain and the Joint Powers Board property, and Kmart, Michaels and surface parking in the foreground, and in the background, higher commercial development Figure 2.11 SR 92 overpass over Pacific Boulevard, at the intersection of Concar Drive, facing south