Planning & Transportation Commission - December 17, 2024

Commission backs broader housing incentives and more El Camino retail nodes

The Planning and Transportation Commission voted 6-0 to recommend that the City Council adopt staff’s proposed Title 18 zoning amendments implementing several Housing Element programs. The proposal would provide relaxed development standards through the Housing Incentive Program, or HIP, for market-rate projects subject to architectural review and through the Affordable Housing Incentive Program, or AHIP, for qualifying 100% affordable developments.

The commission’s recommendation also supported extending AHIP to all HIP-eligible sites, requested staff analysis of a floor-area-ratio bonus for non-RM developments with three or more bedrooms, and directed staff to propose additional retail-preservation nodes along El Camino Real within three months.

Although the vote was unanimous, commissioners differed on whether the city should go further. Bart Hechtman favored more aggressive changes to floor-area limits, height and parking requirements, while Keith Reckdahl opposed additional parking reductions without evidence that parking-reduction measures are effective. George Lu and Allen Akin supported further analysis of height and floor-area changes while retaining the draft parking standards. The commission did not recommend eliminating floor-area limits, adding height or making further parking reductions at this stage.

The draft separately would allow unlimited residential density in RM zones when at least 10% of a project’s units have three or more bedrooms. The final motion’s request to study a floor-area bonus outside RM zones did not specify that the same 10% threshold would apply. Staff anticipates bringing the ordinance and requested analysis to the City Council in the first quarter of 2025.

Commissioners favor starting El Camino study with Tier 1 and Tier 2 sites

Commissioners generally supported beginning a possible expansion of the El Camino Real Focus Area with the Tier 1 and Tier 2 sites identified by staff, although no formal action was taken during the study session. Bart Hechtman suggested that selected Tier 3 sites could also qualify when property owners assemble parcels into larger development sites.

The Focus Area is a Housing Element implementation tool that offers more generous development standards in exchange for onsite below-market-rate housing. The commission considered whether to expand its geographic reach and revise standards involving building transitions, frontage stepbacks, parking and access for people walking and bicycling.

Several commissioners supported examining a reduction in the El Camino Real frontage stepback while preserving adequate pedestrian and bicycle space. Commissioners also discussed using daylight-plane standards or other tailored rules to create transitions to neighboring low-density residential areas. Additional issues included shared parking, retail effects, redevelopment opportunities near Hansen Way and transportation impacts in the Barron Park area.

Public comments reflected disagreement over the appropriate scale of redevelopment. One commenter opposed including four blocks between Matadero and Los Robles avenues, citing retail preservation, safe routes to school and concentrated transportation effects. Other comments supported broader redevelopment incentives and inclusion of additional El Camino Real properties.

Staff will combine the commission’s comments with feedback from the Architectural Review Board and prepare a draft ordinance. Depending on the expansion’s scope, additional environmental review may occur in the spring. The ordinance is expected to return to the commission before City Council consideration, with a Housing Element program target of adoption by mid-2025.

Primary sources

Watch the meeting on YouTube · Read the official meeting packet