Council Approves Land Swap

The Burlingame City Council voted in favor of executing a land swap with at its meeting Monday night. Under the deal, St. Catherine’s will receive a 10,480-square-foot portion of city-owned Parking Lot G for 11,250 square feet at 161 Highland Ave.

The space will be used by the church and school as a gym and multi-purpose facility. The swap has been under discussion for the past couple of years.

“Way back in November of 2009, representatives from St. Catherine’s had approached the city about their desire to continue to explore ways to meet their needs for a parish facility,” said City Manager Jim Nantell.

Together with St. Catherine’s, city staff identified about 10 option for the expansion, and church personnel attempted to secure the necessary land without the City, but to no avail.

The deal, which shifts 35 parking spaces two blocks east of their current location while adding an additional three to six spaces, fits in with the Burlingame Downtown Specific Plan. The Plan includes expanding the core of downtown into areas like Highland Avenue.

“[The swap] allows us down the road to do expansion in that area,” said Councilmember Ann Keighran. “It brings people to our downtown and increases vibrancy.”

Dale Ferrel of the Downtown Business Improvement District said the DBID is in favor of the land swap and adding space to downtown. However, he recognized the traffic and parking problems the swap may create, but said that St. Catherine’s “has been very willing to work with the community to alleviate those problems.”

 Caroline Serrato of the Traffic Safety and Parking Commission agreed that St. Catherine representatives expressed a desire to help mitigate any traffic issues. Additionally, she said her commission would be looking into ways to alleviate these problems, although amount of parking spots downtown doesn’t quite make the list.

“There’s a lot of parking, it’s just not really close [to downtown],” said Serrato. “So we’re really not talking about a lack of parking, we’re talking about a lack of parking across the street.”

However, business owners and residents alike are unhappy about the loss of parking near the high-density shopping area.

"I am extremely adamant against this proposal," said a Burlingame resident who lives across the lot on Howard Avenue at the June 7 City Council meeting. "The loss of spaces in Lot G is short-sighted."

While the council members said the benefits to the community outweigh the negatives, Mayor Terry Nagel hopes St. Catherine’s proves this by being a good neighbor and finding ways to allow the community to use the space and gym, as well.

“We are, after all, one community,” she said.