City of Menlo Park 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025 tel 650-330-6600 menlopark.gov City Council
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
Date: 12/22/2022
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Locations: Teleconference and
City Council Chambers
751 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025
Special Session
A. Call To Order
Vice Mayor Taylor called the meeting to order at 6:09 p.m.
B. Roll Call
Present: Combs, Mueller, Nash, Taylor, Wolosin
Absent: None
Staff: City Manager Justin I. C. Murphy, City Attorney Nira F. Doherty, Assistant to the City Manager/City Clerk Judi A. Herren
C. Study Session
C1. Continue study session to provide direction regarding revisions to the City’s draft Housing Element in response to comments from the State Department of Housing and Community Development, and potential Zoning Ordinance and El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan amendments associated with the Housing Element Update project (Staff Report #22-248-CC) – continued from December 6, 2022
Principal Planner Tom Smith made the presentation (Attachment). Brian Kissel expressed concern related to the impacts to the Housing Element by postponing the District 5 City Council appointment.
Maria Doerr requested information on the displacement strategies. Adina Levin spoke in support of tenant protections and affordable housing in Downtown. Karen Grove spoke in support of extending the 2019 Tenant Protection Act, including “just cause” for evictions, and relocation assistance increase.
Jenny Michel spoke on concerns related to a lack of affordable housing impacts from the 5th Cycle Housing Element.
Pam Jones spoke on the environmental justice element and outdated referenced policies and in support of urgent policies for anti-displacement, relocation assistance, and education and outreach for tenants.
Marlene Santoyo spoke in support of tenant protections and extending the 2019 Tenant Protection Act, including “just cause” for evictions, and relocation assistance increase. Melissa Morris spoke in support of extending the 2019 Tenant Protection Act, including “just cause” for evictions, and relocation assistance increase.
The City Council received clarification on the next draft release date, residential carve-outs,
City of Menlo Park 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025 tel 650-330-6600 menlopark.gov horizontal mixed-use, density prioritization in the Specific Plan area, housing on the Veterans Affairs site, funding sources for anti-displacement strategies, the relationship between the Housing, Safety, and Environmental Justice Elements, and zoning overlays for housing.
The City Council discussed the District 5 City Council appointment impacts to the Housing Element, Flood School site, California Department of Housing and Community Development response letter, postponing zoning, Downtown and Specific Plan zoning districts, height, density, the use of parking lots for residential development, and community outreach before zoning change adoption.
The City Council took a recess at 7:56 p.m.
The City Council reconvened at 8:09 p.m.
The City Council received clarification on requiring commercial and office development to include housing, affordable housing percentage requirements, District 1 housing sites, density incentives, and current office construction in the Belle Haven neighborhood.
The City Council discussed the revitalization of Downtown, zoning across the City, housing/jobs linkage, requiring residential and limiting office uses, downzoning in District 1, and 100% affordable housing on City-owned land.
The City Council directed
The intention of allotting 100% affordable housing for City owned parking lots Having adequate time to review the environmental justice and safety elements, and, if needed, bifurcate the environmental justice element and safety elements, while prioritizing environmental justice element (procedural – no Housing Element document changes) Zoning changes and downzoning, especially in District 1 (topics tracked separately – no Housing Element document changes)
Strategic plan for additional services – identify opportunities for services near housing (procedural – no Housing Element document changes)
Square footage versus units (e.g., “banking” or “net new monitoring”) (procedural – no Housing Element document changes)
Office/housing linkage (potential Housing Element document changes) Requiring residential in all zoning districts (potential Housing Element document changes) Below Market Rate (BMR) inclusionary housing regulations and BMR triggers (procedural – no Housing Element document changes)
D. Adjournment
Vice Mayor Taylor adjourned the meeting at 9:19 p.m.
Judi A. Herren, Assistant City Manager/City Clerk
These minutes were approved at the City Council meeting of January 24, 2023.
HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE
December 22, 2022 City Council Study Session
C1-PRESENTATION
Study session
– Continuation of December 6th study session
– Provide feedback on potential zoning changes– Provide any additional feedback on working draft Housing Element No actions will be taken this eveningMEETING PURPOSE
2 PROJECT OVERVIEW
Required 6th Cycle Housing Element Update
– Plan for city’s housing needs from 2023 to 2031– Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) is 2,946 units– Accounting for above-moderate income units already in pipeline, City must plan for 1,490 new affordable units
Also includes update to General Plan Safety Element
and new Environmental Justice Element
Housing Element must be adopted by January 31,
2023
BACKGROUND
4 Affordable RHNA will be met by zoning changes to allow up to 4,000 new units dispersed throughout city– The total would accommodate a mix of development types to achieve 1,490 affordable units
– Primarily in Council districts 2 through 5
Five key zoning strategies
– Increase densities in El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan area and remove residential cap
– Increase density bonuses in the affordable housing overlay (AHO) – Rezone commercial sites to allow mixed-use development– Remove minimum lot size to achieve 30 du/ac for R-3 lots around downtown, and allow sites over 2 acres to have a density of 20 du/ac
– Re-use sites from current Housing Element
MAJOR LAND USE STRATEGIES
5 OPPORTUNITY SITES
6 Sharon Heights
Belle Haven/Bayfront
Downtown/
El Camino Real
NEW INFORMATION
SINCE DECEMBER 6
Lists all 69 sites included in the draft Housing Element – Describes which sites would receive new General Plan land use designations and rezonings
– Also indicates which sites would have “carveout” overlay– Sites would be eligible for Affordable Housing Overlay allowing up to approximately 100 du/ac for 100 percent affordable housing
OPPORTUNITY SITES LIST
8 Changes to the Land Use Element
– Land Use Designations map would be modified to reflect changes to opportunity sites and certain other parcels to be rezoned – New O-R zoning district would be added to Bayfront land use designation
– Descriptions for Medium Density Residential, High Density Residential, Retail/Commercial, Professional and Administrative Office, Office, and the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan land uses would be updated to reflect new higher densities and floor area ratios
PROPOSED GENERAL PLAN MAP AND TEXT AMENDMENTS
9 High priority: Update Affordable Housing Overlay and “carveout” overlay to incentivize affordable housing at higher densities Medium priority: Modify zoning districts to allow
residential uses at increased densities with corresponding development standards, as identified in Housing Element Lower priority: Clean up and delete references to
zoning districts to be consolidated and removed
PROPOSED ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENTS
10 Rezone certain parcels from O to O-R
Rezone former Flood School site to R-3 Rezone housing opportunity sites currently zoned R-3 to C-2-B
Rezone all C-2 parcels except Sharon Heights
Shopping Center to C-2-B
Rezone C-1-A, C-2-A, C-2-S, and C-4 parcels to C-2-B
and remove the four zoning districts
PROPOSED ZONING MAP AMENDMENTS
11 High priority: Allow for residential uses on the public parking plazas
Medium priority: Remove cap on residential
development, update subdistricts with new development standards to increase densities and allow corresponding increases in floor area ratios and height
PROPOSED SPECIFIC PLAN TEXT AMENDMENTS
12 January 3, 2023 – Release of the Final SEIR
January 12, 2023 – Housing Commission and Planning Commission recommendations on SEIR and Housing Element
January 31, 2023 – City Council SEIR and Housing Element adoption hearing
February 9 and 10, 2023 – Environmental Justice and Safety Element community meetings
1st Quarter of 2023 – Continued advancement of zoning changes and Environmental Justice and Safety Elements
TENTATIVE UPCOMING MILESTONES
13 THANK YOU