In Support of New Transit Oriented Housing in Downtown San Leandro

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There is a new 687-unit apartment complex planned for 899 Alvarado Street that I believe our community should support. The 899 Alvarado project is coming before a City Commission for review and approval on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. at San Leandro City Hall.
Let me start with a point we can all agree upon: San Leandro should be a great city in which to raise a family. When our children go off to college or a career, we want them one day to consider moving back to San Leandro to raise their families. This requires market-rate housing that’s affordable for young adults.
At the same time, part of what has always made San Leandro special are our residential neighborhoods. While we need new housing, developers should not be permitted to build large, dense apartment complexes in residential neighborhoods that violate our zoning code. 
Instead, such projects should be built within close proximity to the BART stations. Doing so preserves our residential neighborhoods and creates new housing in areas where residents will not have to rely solely on cars for their transportation needs.
This is why the City should approve the proposed 899 Alvarado Street apartment complex. It constitutes the largest remaining vacant property close to the downtown BART station. The site is behind the FH Dailey car dealership on Davis Street and bound on the west by the Union Pacific Railroad track and on the east by an office building owned by Wells Fargo.
The City’s General Plan, updated in 2016, and the earlier Transit Oriented Development Strategy, specifically called for dense residential housing development in the future to be built on the site. The future is now. A developer proposes to construct a 687-unit apartment complex. The project complies with the zoning code in regard to height, density and parking requirements.
The 899 Alvarado Street apartment complex is precisely why the City adopted a Transit Oriented Development Strategy for our downtown. It will help make San Leandro an attractive city for our children and succeeding generations of San Leandrans.
Again, the 899 Alvarado project is coming before a City Commission this Thursday night, at 7 pm at City Hall. Please consider coming and speaking in favor of the project. If you can't attend, you can send Tom Liao, San Leandro Community Development Director, an email message in support of the project for him to relay to the Commissioners. Liao's email address is tliao@sanleandro.org

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