Ex-Caltrain employee, contractor charged with building secret homes at train stations

Wonder now that they've been discovered, will they be available for lease?

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/28/ ... tions/amp/

REDWOOD CITY — A former high-level employee and a one-time contractor for Caltrain have been charged with felonies after being accused of building themselves secret mini-apartments inside two Peninsula train stations, all on the taxpayers’ dime, according to authorities and court records.

Even after one of the living spaces was discovered by employees, it would be some two years before an anonymous tipster sent authorities to the other “residence.”

One of the apartments — constructed inside Burlingame’s train station, built in 1894 and designated a historic landmark in California — reportedly featured a kitchen, shower, plumbing and security cameras. Prosecutors said the two defendants worked together to keep the invoices for the work below $3,000 each to avoid scrutiny and skirt procedures meant to discourage such fraud.
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I wonder if Caltrain hadn't cleared out those spaces, but rented them out instead, how fast it would take them to recoup the cost of the fraud.

Renting out non-permitted residential units which can almost certainly never be legalized due to zoning regulations.

And somehow making their liability policy pay out for anything that happens as a result.

Sure, they could recoup it instantly.

You are suggesting that cities can't change their zoning plans, especially that they can't do so to include a property across the street from an existing mixed use zoning plan?

Pretty much every modern development in any existing built up area involves a change in zoning plan.

It's also not like Caltrain isn't already trying to get residential units built on it's properties (https://www.caltrain.com/media/32614/download)

The big problem would be the lack of inspections during construction. Plumbing and especially electrical. Getting a CO certificate of Occupancy darn near impossible.

Yep, no one is going to certify stuff behind the wall without ripping apart the walls first.

You should look into how "successful" rezoning has been in California. There is no builders remedy and people manage to block development that doesn't even require variances in existing zoning.

Pennsy had a live-in station manager at each suburban station in the northeast because their insurance bill was much lower with occupied structures.

ALso this whole story is a laugh and shows how messed up California is. If this were a private home with a squatter, the local government would bend over backwards to protect the squatter. But not at the train station... we enforce rules there.

west point wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 1:21 pm The big problem would be the lack of inspections during construction. Plumbing and especially electrical. Getting a CO certificate of Occupancy darn near impossible.

That is what I was wondering, if any of the work was up to Code. If not, I can see why they had to rip it out.
It's a shame, I'm sure there would be demand for that as housing, especially for a Caltran or Railroad employee.
Or for someone who would want to live in a station, like in the film "the Station Agent".

Everyone: After looking at Burlingame Station - which is a vintage Southern Pacific depot -
Was there previous living quarters provided for the SP Agent that were illegally renovated at that location?

I will second TD and mention that railroad depots - primarily in suburban or rural towns - have been known
to provide living accommodations for the "Resident Agent" which represented a railroad publically during
pre-Amtrak intercity passenger service days being the best example...

This made me think of a perfect past example from the Long Island Rail Road:

In the July/August 1973 issue of LIRR "Metro Lines" employee newspaper there is a "featurette" titled:
"Working...And Sleeping...At Great Neck Station" (Port Washington Branch) - which has a 4 room apartment
on the second floor - then occupied by a 30 year veteran Ticket Clerk who lived alone whose "commute' was
only a staircase away between Home and Work...When the "Resident Agent" retired in 1962 the apartment
became available and the then-resident Clerk applied for and got approval from the LIRR to move in and at
the time of the writing had resided at Great Neck Station for 11 years..The rent was reasonable then and the
LIRR as landlord took care of maintenance...

A living situation such as this would be perfect for a single person let alone a rail enthusiast:
Good location, no employee commuting costs and in the same building as your work place...

MACTRAXX

lensovet wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:37 pm Yep, no one is going to certify stuff behind the wall without ripping apart the walls first.

You should look into how "successful" rezoning has been in California. There is no builders remedy and people manage to block development that doesn't even require variances in existing zoning.

Actually, there is a builder's remedy in California. Here's an article about it.

Text of relevant code

HenryAlan wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 3:47 pm

lensovet wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:37 pm Yep, no one is going to certify stuff behind the wall without ripping apart the walls first.

You should look into how "successful" rezoning has been in California. There is no builders remedy and people manage to block development that doesn't even require variances in existing zoning.

Actually, there is a builder's remedy in California. Here's an article about it.

Text of relevant code

I mean, it hadn't seen any use in its 3 decades of being on the books. That article is from less than a year ago and is a new development (and apparently can only be used in towns that don't have a housing plan).

SEPTA rents out former living quarters in suburban stations for law offices, real-estate agencies, and other business purposes; maybe restrictions are less stringent for non-residential uses? Last time I was there, the former WP station on 3rd Street in Oakland was a law office. Back in the 1970's the SEPTA station at Folcroft was inhabited by a family who kept a horse which could be seen grazing on the lawn when I passed it on my morning commute. The former ATSF station in Carlsbad, Calif., now houses the Chamber of Commerce, and its former Pasadena station is now a popular bar and restaurant.

An important benefit of this sort of adaptive reuse, apart from the revenue derived from it, is that it discourages vandalism.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:09 pm SEPTA rents out former living quarters in suburban stations for law offices,

I never went to college in a busy metro area, but had I done so, I would've loved to rent an apartment in a Septa or Metra station.

And Mountain Avenue in Montclair on NJT is a private home.