San Bruno B.A.R.T.

  Mixed-use development, a 20-acre increase in parks and drawing people downtown are all part of San Bruno's vision for the next 20 years in the updated draft general plan.

  The city recently finished a 200-page document updating the 1984 general plan including land use, economic development, transportation, open space and recreation, environmental resources and conservation. Changes are the result of community input during the 2002 general plan update committee process representing the city's plan for the next 20 years. Now, city officials are hoping to get resident input on the vision.

  Creating more transit-oriented development while increasing downtown visitors is a main focus moving ahead, said Community Development Director Aaron Aknin. Achieving this goal is aided by promoting housing on El Camino Real north of Crystal Springs Road without retail space. Multi-user buildings will be centered around San Mateo Avenue hopefully drawing more traffic downtown.

  Revamping downtown and drawing new business has been part of the plan for quite some time, however, it was never laid out, Mayor Larry Franzella said yesterday.

  Kicking off downtown revitalization are plans to turn an old San Bruno theater and two vacant bars into 48 condominiums and 15,800-square-feet of retail space and underground parking creating a new entryway to the downtown area. Talks of revamping the corner of San Mateo Avenue and El Camino Real is exciting for San Bruno city staff. The environmental report for the project should be released to the public soon, said Aknin.

  The development will include reworking the intersection of San Mateo Avenue and El Camino Real to increase views onto the avenue.

  Adding office space in the Bayhill area is a potential as well. Demand for space has increased after Google and YouTube moved into the area, said Aknin. The Gap building office has little space for tenants but ample parking. Creating a parking garage and increasing the office space is a possibility down the road, he said.

  These projects are connected by the transit corridor. Many shuttles are already in place for office employees from the Bay Area Rapid Transit and Caltrain stations. Building on shuttle services to connect offices with downtown could boost business, said Aknin.

  Lastly, the city hopes to create an additional 20 acres of park space by encouraging large developments to cluster housing allowing for pockets of open space.

  Resident Alice Barnes, who carefully reviewed the plan, believes the growth estimate is low and planned infrastructure cannot handle the increase. In particular, the growth does not include those that go uncounted during the census; people Barnes refers to as "invisibles."

  "I think the general plan states we have 2.6 residents per housing unit. From 531 to 598 Fifth Ave., we have 19 homes with approximately 87 residents, an average of 4.6. If the general plan is correct, in this short piece of real estate, we have something like an additional 75 percent ‘invisible' population," she said.

  Barnes acknowledged this creates a dilemma. The city should not necessarily spend millions to plan for those who live under the radar but, she said, those individuals should not be ignored either.

  The plan calls for the addition of 673 housing units not including the final 300 units at the Crossing development.

  Several reviews must occur before the plan can be adopted.

  Last night, the plan was reviewed by the Planning Commission for its full input and recommendation to the City Council. Depending on the public and Planning Commission comments, the City Council will review the draft general plan in late April or early May.

  The San Bruno 2008 draft general plan and environmental impact report are now available for public review at http://www.sanbruno.ca.gov/gpupdate.- html. The review period for submitting written comments on the draft EIR closes 5 p.m. Thursday, April 17. Written comments should be directed to: Aaron Aknin, community development director, city of San Bruno, 567 El Camino Real, CA 94066; or aaknin@sanbruno.ca.gov. San Bruno is putting together a citizens committee to create the details of the downtown corridor area. Anyone interested should contact Aknin.

E-mail Heather Murtagh at heather@smdailyjournal.com