San Mateo County updated its Demonstration of Project Scale Policy in May 2020 for coastside projects.  While the policy encourages the construction of story poles to demonstrate project scale, it does not require projects to do so.  In lieu of story poles, "other visual methods may be used to demonstrate project scale, such as the use of digital imaging simulations, computer modeling, and/or other visual techniques."

This petition recommends that San Mateo County replace its Demonstration of Project Scale Policy with an urgency ordinance to require coastside projects to construct story poles for all additions that create a new floor above existing homes, all new construction residential projects, and all new commercial projects in the Midcoast. Please sign if you are a resident of the San Mateo coastside community and agree that an urgency ordinance requiring story poles in specific circumstances should be expedited for coastside projects, similar to the City of Berkeley's policy.

Additional Background:
Story poles provide a critical three-dimensional preview of planned development. They are used to depict the elevations and silhouette of a proposed structure or an addition to an existing building, and they convey the height, bulk, scale, and massing of a project, in context. Story poles are intended to aid neighbors, staff personnel, and members of the decision-making bodies in their evaluation of a project application by providing an idea of how the finished project will affect the project site, adjacent properties, and the neighborhood in general, specifically with regard to possible impacts to views and privacy. 

Prior projects that have gone to the Coastside Design Review Committee with just visual demonstrations of scale have often failed to provide adequate representation of the scale of projects and visual impact to neighboring residences and public view corridors.  The guidance for utilizing visual methods are not clearly defined, have not been followed, or have not been enforced by the County.  This has lead to many complaints from coastside residence along with challenges from the Coastside Design Review Committee.

This issue came up a few years ago when the County acknowledged that story poles, which had always been treated as a requirement, were not required since the County has a policy rather than an ordinance regarding demonstration of scale. The County expedited the effort to correct the legal verbiage in the Policy that created the misunderstanding about the story poles being required, but has not been able to prioritize the full public outreach effort and workplan in long range planning efforts for the foreseeable future.