Brisbane and Bayland Development sue to stop bullet train

A second Peninsula city and a developer have sued the state’s High Speed Rail Authority to stop the San Jose-to-San Francisco bullet train in its tracks.

Brisbane and developer Baylands Development are challenging rail authority approval of the 49-mile segment, saying it violates state environmental law, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The city of Millbrae sued the authority last summer.

Baylands, a San Francisco-based affiliate of Universal Paragon, is poised to redevelop 580 acres on a one-time railyard and landfill known as Brisbane Baylands with 2,200 homes and 7 million square feet of commercial and hotel space.

Brisbane and the developer accuse the state rail project of violating the California Environmental Quality Act.

Rendering of a California high-speed rail train here (California High Speed Rail Authority)

The California High Speed Rail project proposes to acquire “hundreds of acres” of the developer’s Baylands site, which it bought three decades ago, according to the complaint. The authority would build a maintenance facility on 121 acres.

The lawsuit alleges the railyard would take up a significant portion of planned residential and commercial uses from the Baylands project, with 24-hour rail maintenance.

Brisbane and Baylands say the rail facility would operate close to residential uses and “other sensitive receptors” long planned on the property.

They say the Rail Authority failed to take into account the developer’s concerns during a public comment period on the High Speed Rail project’s draft environmental review, according to the complaint.

The authority’s board in August signed off on a preferred route and gave environmental clearance for the San Francisco to San Jose link, which involves sharing electrified tracks with Caltrain. The line is projected to open by 2033.

“They’ve failed to adequately study the impacts of the project on our community — everything from noise to pollution, to the removing of toxins in the landfill, and they have failed to take into account the development project that is under review for that area,” Brisbane City Manager Clay Holstine told the Business Times.

The city’s environmental review process for the Baylands project starts next year.

A spokesperson for the rail authority said that it continues to “work with the region on concerns surrounding the project,” but declined to comment on pending litigation.

Bayland Development also owns a 20-acre site in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley just north of its property in Brisbane. Its Schlage Lock project, also known as Baylands North, was approved for redevelopment into 1,679 homes, parks and 46,700 square feet of shops and restaurants.

Together, the project will be one unified neighborhood with almost 4,000 homes across two counties.

A separate lawsuit was filed last summer by the nearby city of Millbrae, which also challenged the rail authority over land the city wants to acquire for housing. The land is earmarked for the construction of high-speed rail tracks and platforms.

— Dana Bartholomew

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