Bay Area Housing Crisis? Not Our Problem, Brisbane Residents Say
Brisbane City Council has pushed back its vote over what would be the city’s largest development project to the end of August. The controversial proposal from Universal Paragon would add 4,400 units of much-needed housing to the region. The problem is Brisbane is a small town of 4,700 and the plan has met with significant opposition, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
City officials have been protective of Brisbane’s small-town appeal and have already expressed concern about the cleanup needed at the former industrial site, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Residents are afraid the Brisbane Baylands project would change the city dynamics. During public comments at Monday's city council meeting, residents said it was not their responsibility to fix the region’s housing crisis. About 16% of Brisbane residents think Baylands should be turned into housing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dozens of tech companies, including Yelp, Salesforce, AT&T and Comcast submitted a letter of support for the project on Tuesday and asked the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to find a compromise, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The initial plan for the Baylands project calls for 5M SF of housing, 369 hotel rooms and 6M SF of office on 684 acres. Previous community plans have called for 8M SF of office and no housing and the planning commission previously endorsed a smaller 2M SF development with no housing.
