Opportunities

February 6, 2019

So, as I write this article, we are a month into a new year – a new beginning.  In November, voters overwhelmingly voted for change – locally and nationally.   Your voices were heard and I will continue to listen to your voice and advocate for what is best for you and Foster City.  I will continue on with the business of the City.  This year, we have many projects and challenges to face, and we will face them together.   

The City has an aging infrastructure that will require significant resources, including funding from the General Fund.  In fact, the City’s current financial plan includes annual transfers of $3.5 million from the General Fund to the City’s CIP Fund for various infrastructure projects over the next five years.  Our parks are in need of expensive maintenance and updating.  Our levee must be updated to meet FEMA standards.  The wastewater treatment plant we share with San Mateo needs extensive renovation.  As I have said for many years, our infrastructure needs attention.  

We also face ever-increasing traffic in our City and the possibility of more State-mandated policies to increase affordable housing availability near transit centers is looming.  So, if we are going to be forced to increase our affordable housing stock, I think we need to ask the developers to pitch in a bit more to mitigate the affects on our community.  

Several surrounding communities have been successful in gaining significant benefits from their businesses.  Last year, the Fremont City Council voted to introduce an ordinance establishing updated standards for the reduction of energy consumption.  More specifically, among other things, they voted to require the installation of solar panels and wiring for electric vehicle charging stations in new housing developments.  In Palo Alto, the City Council voted to change their building code to require residential electric vehicle charging stations.  The benefit to their homeowners is to save money since pre-wiring a home in its building stage is less expensive than installing electric vehicle charging stations in an existing home.  In 2010, Burlingame adopted an ordinance requiring residential projects of $50,000 or more to exceed energy efficiency standards by 15%.  San Mateo’s mandatory solar ordinance was updated in 2016 to include requirements for both non-residential and commercial projects of specified sizes.  All of the efforts by cities in California are to meet the State’s goals of all newly-build homes to a “zero net energy” level by 2020, which is less than a year away.  

So, in furtherance of Foster City’s Climate Action Plan, which was adopted in 2015, I suggest that we consider an ordinance that requires new developments to produce a certain percentage of their own energy through solar, wind, or other type of non-carbon-based energy.  We could also look at including residential renovations of over a certain cost or size.  Let’s join our neighbor cities in making these requirements for the improvement of our environment.

Another area where we can provide benefit for our residents is in the early childhood education area.  We currently charge new commercial developments an “affordable housing commercial linkage fee” which is placed in a fund to mitigate the impact of the need for affordable housing within the city.  Included in our ordinance about the linkage fee is the statement that the City Council may adopt guidelines for the expenditures of the money acquired through this fee.  Because commercial developments affect not only the need for affordable housing but also the need for early childhood education, I would suggest that we examine the need in our city for such education centers.  The City of Newark, California, requires a “density bonus” payment from certain developments and has set forth alternative methods of paying that requirement.  One of the alternatives is that the development may include a childcare facility within their development, the children of which would be representative of the population of the housing development.

It is inevitable that more development projects will be coming in 2019.  We, as residents and the City, must be ready to face this challenge.  I need your support and your voice.  Let me know what you would like to see in your City, because we all have a voice that should be heard.  Thank you for your continued support.  As Bette Davis said in All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts.  It’s going to be a bumpy [ride].”

As always, you can email me at cmahanpour@fostercity.org. I look forward to a conversation with you.