RICHMOND — The future of Hilltop Mall is an opportunity of a lifetime, stakeholders agree, but more work is needed to bridge the gap between those eager to see maximum development and others worried a demand for too much housing could overwhelm city resources, leaving the site vacant for decades.
City staff and a team of consultants presented a draft of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan to the Planning Commission for the first time Thursday. The plan, once formally adopted, would lay out the city’s vision for the type of development the community could expect to see at and around the largely vacant former shopping center.
The draft calls for building out the site with four zone types. More moderate levels of housing would be placed closer to existing residential neighborhoods and density would gradually increase into the core of the site. Various types of commercial uses would also be permitted within three of the four zone types.
Building heights would range from two to three stories to midrise and highrise, with 15 to 200 units per acre, depending on the zone. The densest part of the plan is being referred to as the “Gateway” zone, acting as a hub with housing, commercial, retail and entertainment.
A transit hub would also be called for in the plan, though its exact placement hasn’t been identified. Open space, walking and biking paths, gardens, paseos, public art and parks are also key elements incorporated into the vision.
“The city’s land plan concept is about balance. And it’s about creating the flexibility within the zones where it makes sense,” said Bev Choi, a program manager with consultant firm Environmental Science Associates. “For the community … this is about the open spaces, this is about the connectivity, diverse housing, quality jobs, safety. And for landowners and businesses, it’s clear entitlements and flexibility to respond to market conditions and certainty.”
Commissioners said they support the general concepts in the draft: more housing, improved transit access, public community space and a lively business community. But they were also interested in more specific information that staff said couldn’t be provided at this early stage in the process.
Of concern was the number of new residents that would potentially move into the area if the proposed density was fully actualized and how that growth may require the city to adapt services like police, fire, schools and hospitals.
The flow of travel through the site, the placement of amenities and exactly what will make up the transit hub also need to be fleshed out, they said.
“If you want to make this a place people really want to go to, you have to really think through how individual projects, as they happen over the next 20 or 30 years, that they’re cognizant of what’s there and what’s going to likely be on the other side of them so you create that connectivity and excitement people are looking for here,” Planning Commission Chair Jonathan Harrison said.
Meanwhile, public feedback to the staff proposal was mixed.
Bhavin Khatri, president of the Hilltop District Neighborhood Council, and Arto Rinteela, chair of the Fairmede-Hilltop Neighborhood Council, said staff’s plan largely ignored the surrounding community’s request for more moderate housing levels and failed to address concerns about how a substantial number of additional residents could strain existing city services.
“The mall is dead, obviously. It’s been empty for over five years. But the issue is that we don’t support high density. We want housing. We want housing that’s consistent with what’s in the area, medium-density housing, that’s what’s feasible,” Khatri said. “The retail, entertainment piece. I go out of my neighborhood to shop and dine. That’s what’s missing here and that’s what we need.”
Hilltop Mall accounts for about 55% of the study area. Janet Galvez, an investment officer with Prologis, the owner of the former shopping center, said the company agrees with some of the concerns raised. Developing highrise housing would be difficult under current market conditions, though she recognized that the landscape could change.
Prologis’ top concerns are around how the site connects to the existing neighborhood, maintaining more commercially heavy zoning and seeing “short-term activations and long-term success.”
The company has made its own zoning recommendations for the section of the plan area they own that would feature lower housing density.
Coire Reilly, a program manager with the West Contra Costa Transportation Commission who lives near the study area, supports the staff proposal. Having helped with developing the city’s general plan, a guiding document for development, Reilly said the city now has a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to create “something cool” that will further the city’s vision for the area.
Adopted in 2012, the Richmond General Plan 2030 envisioned the Hilltop area as one of three future pedestrian and family-friendly “major activity centers” with high-intensity and high-density mixed-use development.
Buildings in that “highly visible and accessible regional district” could be between 15 to 135 feet tall and have up to 125 dwelling units per acre.
“This is a project that’s been a long time coming and I’m excited to see it sort of coming to fruition,” Reilly said.
Much work is still ahead for planning staff and the consultant team. After presenting the concept plan to the City Council in September, they’ll begin completing about a dozen reports and studies analyzing areas like parking, design guidelines, affordable housing and anti-displacement strategies, and financing.