Affordable Housing at Pilgrim & Triton

By Charlie "Charles Bronitsky" (Bronitsky) Bronitsky, Charles Bronitsky

Here is a brief review of the benefits of the project that we recently approved.

Phase A will include 300 residential units out of which 20%, yes 20% will be affordable housing for moderate income families, low income families and very low income families! In other words, in this one phase alone we will be adding 60 new affordable income residential units to Foster City!! This will be a great opportunity to provide housing for people who work in Foster City but otherwise could not afford to live here. Police, firefighters, city employees, local employees and the like will now have a greater opportunity to live in Foster City. These affordable units will be integrated within the project and be of the exact same quality as market rate units. Most cities aim for 15% affordable housing and only realize that goal on occasion. We have succeeded in obtaining 20% affordable housing! I am thrilled to have been part of this process as Chair and now again a member of the Planning Commission.

In addition, this project, if approved, stands to generate in excess of $6 million in fees and shared costs for Foster City. The Master Development Agreement provides for payments in excess of $2 million for the widening of Triton Drive and for the developer's share of other road improvements that will be undertaken in the future to reduce the traffic impact of residential growth in the City. In addition, the Development Agreement provides for payment, prior to issuance of a building permit, of a $4 million in lieu fee by the developer. Given the State's current fiscal crisis and its "borrowing" from Foster City, such additional revenue is essential to the City's ability to maintain services without risking its reserves.

In addition to affordable housing and fees for the City, the project will include a new publicly accessible park that the developer will maintain, a new bike path, a shuttle stop, a bus stop and contributions by the developer to a peak-hour shuttle to encourage and fund the use of public transportation.

This project offers the City many benefits, but like any growth, there are always growing pains. I feel, as a Planning Commissioner, that we have taken significant steps to ameliorate the growing pains that will accompany Phase A of this project but I look forward to tonight to hear from Foster City citizens on how they feel about the project, on how it will impact them and on how we can help to reduce any negative impact. For example, from the time we began to consider this project I have always insisted that the developer have a plan to relocate any business that was going to be displaced by this redevelopment. It has always been my position that our Foster City businesses are extremely important to us and we do not want to lose them as we grow.

Thanks,

Charlie