DID YOU KNOW That The City of Redwood City Public Hearings Mean Zero When The Lights And Cameras Aren't Rolling?

The City of Redwood City went through a mandatory approval process for the “Blu” Harbor project, then called Pete’s. However The City of Redwood City is not the only agency that must approve the project, so the project is now at the permit approval stage at the SF Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). However it turns out the BCDC is now considering a project that is vastly different in nature and scope than Redwood City’s permit approved, namely because it calls for raising and grading the entire site by five feet, which has never been publicly considered by Redwood City, nor is such a material environmental change considered in the EIR that forms the basis for this entire development.

To say I was confused is to understate the problem.

As a concerned citizen of Redwood City and a member of SF Bay Marinas for All, I called Erik Buehmann of the BCDC staff and he confirmed that the BCDC is about to vote on the permit . He said that so long as Redwood City “is ok” with the project changes, BCDC will accept the current plan, as is, for approval. So what exactly was the point of the public input and discussion if in fact after the fact the project can simply be changed so drastically. How and when is the City going to reflect that it is “ok” with the changes? You would think that at a minimum another public hearing and EIR would take place.

If you are thinking this is a minor change, that is wrong. Some of the BCDC commissioners at the recent BCDC public hearing, at which our Secretary spoke in public comments about this issue, asked: is the developer in fact creating an island? For when the seas rise up the surrounding areas won’t be above water. Mr. Buehmann replied, “Only in a flood!” Despite his admission, it could probably be an island during more than a flood. The area is not sufficiently graded to allow a seamless sea level rise. Redwood City has never considered whether the entire Whipple area will be graded or raised, so any major rise would probably isolate the location.

What about the federally owned access road – will it be graded so as to actually meet up with the raised land? There have been no approvals or consent from the US government on this issue. Just exactly how is the new grading going to be done? What about the environmental impact report (EIR)? I would think that raising the land five feet would have some serious environmental impacts. The prior EIR is over 10 years old, with amendments that do not address this key, changed factor.

Although there are a number of issues with this project such as deficient parking (even for residents, much less visitors), affordable housing, public trust and probably a couple more; it is even more shocking to find out that the process of approval is being essentially circumvented. What use is a planning commission and city council hearing and discussion if what is approved is not what is submitted to other jurisdictional agencies for approval and later built?

What do you think - should regional bodies be allowed to approve something that has not gone through the proper local approval process? Should cities be allowed to change their officially approved plans in the dark and out of the public eye?