Apr 29, 2008

Judge rules against city in lawsuit

Lawyer had concerns about shadows, historic downtown property

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

Redwood City officials failed to fully investigate how a downtown development plan could affect historic structures or lead to shadows cast by tall buildings, according to a judge's tentative ruling made public Monday.

The decision, issued Thursday by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie S. Weiner, is a potentially significant setback for the city's Downtown Precise Plan, a broad planning document approved last May by the city council.

Weiner found that the environmental impact report for the precise plan is inadequate and ordered the city to shelve the plan and refrain from issuing any building permits for downtown until the environmental documents can be updated.

City Attorney Stan Yamamoto said the city would respond to the ruling in 10 to 15 days, the window in which either party can raise a concern before the decision becomes final. Yamamoto didn't say whether the city would challenge Weiner's conclusions.

"At a minimum, we're going to seek clarification from the court," Yamamoto said.

The 31-page ruling was a long-awaited response to a lawsuit filed last May by Redwood City lawyer Joseph Carcione and his wife Roberta.

A central issue was the plan's controversial new building height limits. While current downtown zoning caps building heights at between three and nine stories, depending on location, the Downtown Precise Plan allows structures up to 12 stories tall.

As the plan was being considered, Carcione said the taller buildings could cast shadows on his law offices at 601 Brewster Ave. and demanded the city study and minimize such effects.

Tall buildings are critical to the city's vision for a walkable district with high-density housing perched atop street-level retail. Weiner called it an attempt to Manhattanize the downtown, with up to 2,500 units of new housing, 275,000 square feet of office space and 221,000 square feet of retail space.

The city admitted Carcione's property could be shaded by a tall building, but said shadows do not need to be studied under California law and approved the precise plan. Weiner disagreed, citing prior cases that found shadowing must be studied if the "visual character" of a site might be degraded.

Carcione's lawsuit, filed after the council's final approval of the precise plan, also argued that the environmental documents did not fully weigh the potential damage the plan could do to historic buildings in the area, including some of the oldest structures in San Mateo County.

Weiner also criticized the plan for stating the city will consider impacts to historic buildings individually, as plans for nearby development are filed. She said a comprehensive study of historic buildings should be undertaken.

"That basically every single building project in the (precise plan) area will impact a historic resource is utterly ignored by the (environmental impact report)," Weiner wrote. "Instead the entire issue is punted for future (California Environmental Quality Act) review on a case-by-case basis."

She also chided the city's proposed mitigations for historic buildings impacted by new development, including taking photos or drawings before destruction, salvaging pieces of the demolished buildings or creating a plaque to honor the fallen structures.

"The concept that damage or destruction of a historic resource is remedied by documentation or a plaque on the wall is utter nonsense," Weiner wrote.

Once it becomes final, the decision could hold up a handful of housing projects already being considered under the precise plan.

According to an online database of projects, the city is reviewing conceptual plans for six different residential projects. Five are eight stories and have at least three dozen residential units. The sixth is smaller at five stories with 12 units.

Greg Ryken, Carcione's attorney, called the decision "well-reasoned."

"This is not something she knocked out on the weekend," he said.



E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.