Safeway Stores v. City Council, San Mateo

The appellant owns a piece of property on the southwesterly corner of San Mateo Drive and Poplar Avenue in the city of San Mateo. It is within a fourth residential zone, wherein stores are not permitted. Appellant’s application to respondent council for a reclassification of its property to commercial status was denied. A writ of mandate to compel the reclassification was then sought and denied, and this appeal was taken.

The central business district of San Mateo extends from El Camino Real on the west to and beyond the Southern Pacific on the east, a distance of about 5 blocks, and from the…