The Downtown Station Area Plan

The Downtown Station Area Plan will guide the City of South San Francisco in its planning efforts to create a vibrant, transit-supportive, diverse downtown. The Plan will study opportunities, craft a vision for the Downtown core, and identify an implementation process to achieve the city and community’s goals. The plan will provide connectivity to the downtown and Caltrain station area, encourage long-term development that is transit-supportive and provide accessibility for all community members. Design standards will be developed to enable the city to guide future development in the public and private realms in the study area.

Transit-Oriented Development in South San Francisco

Transit-oriented development (TOD) today represents the best of planning for our communities – creating environments where people have convenient access to the goods and services they need as well as their places of employment or homes, provided in an environment that is attractive, accessible and enjoyable. TOD consists of:

• A circulation framework (streets, paths and transit ways) accessible to all community members, that accommodates all modes of transportation – pedestrians, bicycles, transit and motor vehicles – without allowing one mode to dominate the others
• A mix of land uses, such as housing, retail, office, civic and institutional uses that support transit
• Sufficient densities to support transit and the retail, entertainment, services, public spaces and other attractions of the area
• An attractive and accessible public environment of sidewalks, parks, plazas to support civic life.

What is a Specific Plan?

A specific plan is a policy and regulatory tool used by local governments in the State of California as a complement to a General Plan. Specific plans implement a city or county's General Plan through the development of policies, programs and regulations for a localized area and in greater detail.
A Specific Plan must address, at the minimum, land use, transportation and circulation, utilities and infrastructure, public facilities, development standards, and implementation and financing. Once adopted, the Downtown Station Area Plan will guide all new development in the Planning Area in the public and private realms.