The Dias development is a 20 unit development on Mission Blvd. just north of the I-680 interchange. The development preserved the historic Dias residence on site. The development is rather low density with larger homes expected to sell for about $1.7 million.
I was surprised at the level of opposition that the proposal received. A number of speakers, mainly those living on the other side of Mission Blvd., had several issues with the project such as school impacts, traffic impacts, removal of their views of the hillside, and increased noise.
I was not swayed by the arguments about school, traffic or views. The number of students generated by this development will easily be offset by the school fees that this development will have to pay. Not only will they have to pay the standard school impact fees, they will be paying taxes for Measure E at the full assessed value of their homes.
The development will only generate about 20 trips during the p.m. peak hour. This will generate a negligible impact on the adjacent streets.
I do feel bad about the loss of hillside views for those on the other side of Mission Blvd. However, I don’t see this as a reason to deny the development. This area has been slated for development in the General Plan for quite a while.
The one issue that was hotly debated was noise. Residents were concerned the project’s sound wall would reflect sound back across the road increasing the noise on their property. The developer offered to build an eight foot high sound wall on the five lots directly across the street from the property. This seemed to be an adequate mitigation. The sound consultant agreed with me that with this mitigation the level of noise in their homes will likely decrease overall.
The final vote was 4-1 in favor of the development with Council member Lily Mei voting no.
