At a recent meeting, the Council was faced with a decision to accept or deny an appeal regarding a second story addition that was approved by our Planning Commission. Residents in our City have turned to adding on a second story to their homes in order to meet their family needs.
With the high cost of homes in our area, it has become near impossible for families to up-root and move to a larger home, as the family gets bigger. The next best thing to do if you want to stay in this community is to add on to the existing home where possible.
At that meeting several neighbors came to voice their opinions about what this addition would do to the neighborhood. In their opinion, this change was going to negatively impact their neighbors and perhaps the entire neighborhood. I appreciated the efforts they made on behalf of their neighbors and the interest they had regarding this issue.
As Foster City begins to age, and as more people want to settle here, these changes are inevitable. As one individual said at the meeting, they had lived here over thirty years and everything’s been fine, why allow these changes?
One of the biggest challenges we will be facing for the future is creating a positive pathway for change. The City of Foster City has a particular design that has attracted homebuyers and businesses over the years and we want to continue to make our community the “jewel ” of the peninsula.
The City Council and Planning Commission will be meeting in the near future to discuss the changes this City may be faced with and what guidelines we will use to make this happen. We want to make sure that changes to the housing landscape will have the same quality of design that this City has exemplified.
I welcome input from residents as we go forward. There is need for thoughtful discussion to find positive common ground to support changes. I was gratified to see the number of people at our Council meeting that were so passionate about this issue. I hope that these same people will continue to involve themselves in helping to create a vision for our City’s future.
We must consider the type of community we are building for our children and how critical the choices we make now are to its thriving success. Change is not easy but as John Kennedy once said, “The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.” I invite the residents to become involved with the process and contribute opinions during this joint session scheduled for Tuesday, July 19, 2005, at 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers.
As always you may email your opinions to lkoelling@fostercity.org
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