City Council OKs Apartment Complex But Don't Expect To See It Soon

The City Council voted 6-0 Monday night to approve what may be the most ambitious apartment complex envisioned in San Leandro in the last 20 years.

The plans call for the construction of 66 apartment and townhouse units at 2450 Washington Avenue, where it intersects San Leandro Boulevard.

Given the lingering housing slump, developer William Mattews sought and received council okay to wait as long as 15 years to build the proposed complex, with the assurance that the current plans would be allowed even if zoning rules change later.

Right now the 2.85-acre site is partially occupied by a medical office complex. Among other things, the council accepted a finding that the housing use would generate no more traffic than the medical offices, were they fully rented.

The plans presented to the council envision 17 one-bedroom and 48 two-bedroom apartments and townhouses, plus a manager's residence that would be housed in a multi-purpose recreation building.

Amenities would include a pool, garages with direct access to most apartments and laundry hookups in each cluster of buildings.

With Mayor Stephen Cassidy out-of-town, the council approved the project with little discussion as the culmination of a long process of give-and-take between the developer and the city.

County-wide plastic bag ban and recycling rules advance

A county-wide effort to implement a partial ban on plastic bags was discussed at Monday night's meeting.

The council also signalled approval of mandatory recycling rules for some commercial businesses and multi-unit dwellings.

Both initiatives are being pushed by StopWaste.org. The organization is a collaboration between the county Board of Supervisors and 16 local authorities that are working together to diminish the flow of waste into landfills and generally reduce the region's carbon footprint.

Two StopWaste initiatiatives came up at Monday night's council meeting.

The first was a partial ban on plastic bags in stores that sell packaged foods -- everything from groceries to convenience stores to Target and Walmart.

A county-wide plan calls for this ban to take effect January 1, 2013.

After that date consumers would either have to bring their own cloth bags to stores or be charged at least 10 cents for paper bags.

The second item was a set of rules for mandatory recycling that would affect larger businesses and multi-unit dwellings.

Affected businesses -- city staff said about 400 firms generate more than the 4 cubic yards of waste per week that triggers the requirement -- would have to separate paper, plastic, metal, cardboard and other recyclables as homeowners now do.

Dwellings with five or more units would also have to make recycling containers available to renters, and educate them on separating items that can be diverted from landfills.

These two requirements would also go into effect January 1, 2013.

Monday night's discussion was advisory. The council merely instructed its representative to StopWaste.org -- Councilwoman Pauline Cutter -- to support the mandates as the county-wide group tries to finalize plans by March -- leaving time to notify the affected businesses and apartment owners.

The process leaves San Leandro wiggle room to modify some requirements while supporting the overall program.

The only member of the public who spoke about the program was Chamber of Commerce President Dave Johnson, who said he wasn't sure the process gave businesses enough time to adjust to mandatory recycling.

Bicycle racks coming

The council formally set aside $5,000 a year from the Measure B Bicycle and Pedestrian Funds to install low-cost, inverted “U” shaped bicycle racks in commercial activity centers.

Business owners may request that the city install these plain bike racks in front of their establishments at the taypayer's expense

But if a business wants to install an artistic or custom bike rack it will have to foot the bill and file encroachment permits, although fees will be waived.

Councilwoman Cutter thought the program should have given small businesses more incentive to install bike racks as street art and cast the only vote against it.