BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Belmont Planning Commission on Tuesday (April 30) could approve a four-story, 250-apartment complex proposed on Old County Road, near Harbor Boulevard, but the council will still have to vote whether to give it the green light.
Of the 250 apartments at 1325 Old County, 38 of them would be reserved for low-income earners. This means a family of two must earn $93,950 or less to eligible, while a family of four couldn’t make more than $117,400, according to San Mateo County’s Housing Department.
The project would have 258 parking spaces, according to project plans.
Palo Alto-based Windy Hill Property Ventures is also proposing a 1,352-square-foot space be part of the project so the Community School of Music and Arts can teach classes rent free, according to a report from city Principal Planner Damon DiDonato. The space for the school, which provides art and music classes to mostly elementary schools in San Mateo County, would have four small rooms and one multi-purpose room.
It’s anticipated that the space would be used about four and a half hours per day Monday through Saturday for private music lessons.
The school is also planning on offering art classes throughout the week.
Also part of the project would be a 4,031-square-foot public plaza, which would have public art featured in it, according to DiDonato.
Windy Hill will also pitch in $400,000 to study an undercrossing of the railroad tracks for pedestrians and bicycles at O’Neill Avenue, which would allow residents to easily walk to the nearby Safeway shopping center.
This is the first project to potentially be approved under the city’s zoning plan for the area near the Belmont Caltrain Station, which was approved in November 2017.
Windy Hill did not have to do its own environmental impact report since Belmont completed one for the zoning plan. In the plan, it was estimated that the area would grow from 670 residents to 1,780 while adding 560 more homes and 910 jobs.
This project would add five jobs, but bring in 500 new residents, according to an environmental report attached to DiDonato’s report. The project will be weighed by planners at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (April 30) in City Hall, 1 Twin Pines Road.
