Planning & Transportation Commission - November 13, 2024

Commission recommends Housing Element zoning amendments

The Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission voted 6-0 to recommend that the City Council adopt zoning and subdivision-code amendments implementing several programs in the city’s 2023-2031 Housing Element. The recommendation covers Titles 18 and 21 and includes a footnote excluding sites subject to or affected by the hazardous-materials ordinance from a proposal allowing multifamily housing in Stanford Research Park zones.

The package would establish by-right provisions for group homes, supportive housing, low-barrier navigation centers, emergency shelters and specified farmworker housing. Farmworker housing of up to 36 beds or 12 units in the AC Zone would not require a discretionary permit. Architectural Review Board consideration would generally be limited to two meetings unless an applicant requests otherwise. The amendments also include changes intended to comply with Senate Bill 9 requirements.

Commissioners focused part of their discussion on replacement-housing rules for nonresidential development. The proposal would go beyond state requirements for protected units by requiring replacement of all demolished housing units. Bart Hechtman asked staff to examine a potential gap involving replacement housing on sites zoned for nonresidential uses before the package reaches the City Council. Staff is expected to review whether clarification or an adjustment is warranted.

George Lu also asked whether the emergency-shelter amendments would affect existing shelters; staff said they would not. Staff expects to bring the amendments to the City Council in early 2025.

Planners seek clearer accounting of overdue programs

The commission separately voted 6-0 to recommend that the City Council authorize submission of two draft annual progress reports to the state Office of Planning and Research and Department of Housing and Community Development by April 1, 2025. Staff will incorporate commission feedback and bring the reports to the council for review and authorization in early 2025 before submitting them to the state agencies.

The Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2017, contains 410 programs. Staff reported that 17 were complete, up from 13 the previous year; 52 were partially complete, up from 33; and 50 were pending, down from 63. The Housing Element, certified by the state on Aug. 20, contains 110 implementation objectives: nine complete, 40 ongoing or part of standard operations, 35 in progress and 26 pending or not initiated. Its Regional Housing Needs Allocation site-inventory capacity target is 6,086 units for the 2023-2031 cycle.

Although commissioners supported forwarding the reports, they sought clearer identification of changed, pending, overdue and currently prioritized programs, along with responsible departments, risks and staffing needs. Hechtman asked that the council report highlight seven unstarted programs carrying 2022 target dates and explain their status. Other commissioners sought a higher-level assessment of whether Housing Element implementation is on track and recommended using overdue programs as an input to the council’s annual priority-setting.

Commissioners also questioned why the year-end reports were being reviewed in November rather than after the calendar year closes. Staff said the schedule leaves time to incorporate commission comments before the materials enter an internal review process lasting approximately eight weeks. Staff said it would consider improvements to future report timing, change tracking, prioritization and summaries of risks and resource needs.

Primary sources

Watch the meeting on YouTube · Read the official meeting packet