Passage Redevelopment – 678 Concar Dr. San Mateo

October 6, 2025

Kohar Kojayan, Koh Planning
Brookfield Properties
2657 Alcosta Blvd. Ste. 250
San Ramon, CA 94583

Subject: Passage Redevelopment – 678 Concar Dr. San Mateo

Dear Jason Bernstein, Kohar Kojayan and Lisa Borba,

The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter's Sustainable Land Use Committee (SLU) advocates on land use issues in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

As a follow up to our meeting on September 23rd, below are the main comments we made verbally at the meeting with you on the Formal Application (of August 4, 2025). SLU would like to see these comments factored into the final approved project. SLU would also be interested in meeting with you again as we expect to have more comments as the project goes through its approval process. We do plan to meet with City Staff, as well. The following bullet points were the main points we discussed.

  1. Increase the affordable housing

    1. You indicated that the reduction in the number of units and the number of affordable units was to make more of the units into 2 and 3 bedrooms versus studio and one bedroom. This is a positive feature; however, given that this project is using the SB 330 process to streamline its approval and this law was enacted to stimulate more housing, particularly affordable housing, in California, as a recipient of the benefits of the SB 330, this project should make a very strong showing that it is maximizing the housing potential, particularly for affordable units.

    2. Other possible improvements to the project would be to increase the number of affordable units that are extremely-low income and very-low income rather than low income.

  2. Maximize the vegetation on the 4 acres of public space/open space

    The project does have significant trees and vegetation; however effort should be made to add more street trees and vegetation and small trees in the planter areas between the garages of the townhouse units to provide foliage for birds, insects, and other wildlife and to soften the view of these streets as well as from the unit rooms that face the garage entrances. We have attached a few pictures, as Attachment A, to illustrate the importance of this aspect for livability and biodiversity. The revised project should aim for native landscaping to attract native birds and insect species. It is important to have public open space with natural vegetation in high-density living environments.

  3. Maintain the expanded pedestrian and bicycle paths that were included in the original project plans around the perimeter of the project.

    The original project had wide pedestrian oriented sidewalks as well as bike lanes consistent with the city master plans. These pedestrian and bike improvements should be fully included in the revised project. Given the proximity to the Hayward Park Train Station, it is very beneficial to have strong, safe pedestrian and bike infrastructure. The wide sidewalks can include shade trees and green stormwater infrastructure

  4. Enhance the energy systems for the project

    The project will be all electric and has solar on the townhouse roofs, which is good. The project can be enhanced by including solar panels on the roofs of the apartment buildings.

  5. Other important improvements to consider

    • Work with Caltrans to have an improved highway vegetation barrier (see our email of September 2, 2025 where we provided detailed references), that includes trees and shrubbery between the three apartment buildings and Highway 92. This will reduce noise, dust and toxic pollution from the highway to the residents of the apartment buildings.

    • Consider providing subsidies for transit passes to all the residents. This is particularly important for residents of the affordable units. Caltrans provides deep discounts for group rates.

    • Pedestrian safety, at the mid-block cross walk on Concar Drive, is important. Consider improving safety by including a pedestrian-activated light at the crosswalk from the project site across Concar Drive to Concar Park.

SLU looks forward to further discussions with you regarding the project.

Respectfully,

Gita Dev signature

Gita Dev, FAIA, Chair, Sustainable Land Use Committee
Chair, Conservation Committee,Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter

Cc: James Eggers, Chapter Director, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
sgolden@cityofsanmateo.org
ssmith@cityofsanmateo.org 

Attachment A: Illustrations for integrating plants into the parking alleys