Inner Harbor Specific Plan: What’s the latest?
By: Aaron Aknin, Redwood City Interim City Manager
Inner Harbor Area: A crossroads between Downtown and the Port
Redwood City’s Inner Harbor area is located northeast of US 101 along Redwood Creek. This 100-acre area presently includes recreational and watercraft uses, marinas, businesses, industrial uses, and waterways. The former Malibu site is located within the Inner Harbor Area. It’s a crossroads, of sorts, between Redwood City’s Downtown and its Port, with access via Maple Street and Blomquist Street. The map below shows the general area.
Inner Harbor Planning: A Community-Driven Process
The Inner Harbor Specific Plan (IHSP) planning process formally began in 2013 when the Inner Harbor Task Force was created. The Task Force was comprised of residents, land owners, developers, environmental groups and other key stakeholders. The appointed group met eleven times in 2013 and 2014. As a result of the task force efforts a set of “Guiding Principles” was adopted by Council in May 2014. The Guiding Principles became the framework for the creation of the Draft Inner Harbor Plan and Alternatives.
Since May 2014, City staff and the consultant team has been working on the draft Inner Harbor Plan, alternatives, and associated Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Plan will focus on the following areas: land use, circulation (transportation/traffic), parking, infrastructure and implementation.
Draft Inner Harbor Specific Plan: A preview
The Plan itself is an extremely detailed and thorough document. The specific land uses and alternatives will be analyzed in detail in the plan. However, given the ongoing interest in a floating home community, I thought it would be appropriate to preview this particular topic in this blog post.
Floating Home Communities: As directed by the Inner Harbor Task Force Guiding Principles, a floating home community is being proposed within the plan boundaries. The State Land Commission has stated that a floating home community along Redwood Creek (where Docktown is currently located) is in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine. Therefore, in the primary planning scenario a floating home community is being proposed on the “Ferrari Property”, located adjacent to Seaport Centre. A floating home community along Redwood Creek is examined as an alternative.
Additional Environmental Analysis: As required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the EIR will examine the impact of the plan on the environment as well as examine the impact of adopting an alternative approach. Contamination was identified in a 2011 sampling of Redwood Creek sediment and the EIR will address sediment contamination for any potential development within the IHSP. Separate from the IHSP analysis, the City also plans to further examine and characterize the contaminants identified in the 2011 sampling, and determine appropriate action at that time.
City letters (and attachments) to the County of San Mateo and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board are posted here.
How Can the Public Provide Input? Extended Review Time Period, Public Hearings, Community Workshop, and Email City Directly
City staff is in the final legal review and copy editing stage. The Draft Plan, alternatives and EIR will be released for public review on Monday, October 26th. As directed by City Council, there will be a 90-day review period for the EIR (standard time is 45-days). Comments received during the review period will be incorporated and responded to in the final version of the EIR.
The EIR review period will be followed by multiple public hearings at the Planning Commission and City Council, where the plan and its alternatives can be discussed and debated in a public setting. City staff will also host a workshop, where citizens can ask question and provide input in a less formal setting. Of course, questions and comments can also be sent in via email at any time to innerharbor@redwoodcity.org.
For more information, please visit http://www.redwoodcity.org/innerharbor.
