1 San Antonio Road Area Plan Integrated
Land Use and Mobility Approach
The following topics are addressed in this attachment:
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Integrating Land Use and Mobility ................................................................................................. 1 Diversity of Land Uses ..................................................................................................................... 3 Overview
The San Antonio Road Area Plan (Area Plan) seeks to create the capacity to meet not only the requirements assigned to the City through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) tied to the sixth cycle of the Housing Element, but also additional housing needs beyond 2031 (the end of the sixth cycle). It also seeks improvements in transportation conditions for all roadway users and encourages more neighborhood amenities, such as parks and local-serving retail.
Integrating Land Use and Mobility
In Palo Alto, a lower-traffic land use mix is not simply “commercial plus residential.” It is a pattern that allows people to live near work, meet daily needs locally, access schools, parks, and civic uses, and reach local and regional transit by a comfortable walk or bike trip. In land use and transportation planning, the “6 Ds” framework (density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, distance, and demand management) describes how the built environment influences travel behavior and urban form. Each of the 6 Ds is described below:
1. Density refers to the intensity of development, including housing and employment concentration. Higher density can support transit, place more destinations within walking distance, and reduce per-capita vehicle travel when paired with supportive land use and design. On its own, however, density does not guarantee reduced driving.
Key Takeaway: More housing/jobs in accessible infill areas can support lower vehicle trips.
2. Diversity refers to the mix of housing, jobs, services, schools, parks, civic uses, and neighborhood-serving commercial uses. Mixed-use environments can shorten trips and increase the share of trips made by walking, bicycling, or transit. The key issue is not simply allowing multiple uses, but whether they are close enough to function together in daily life.
Key Takeaway: Mixed-use environments can shorten trips and increase internal trip capture.
2 3. Design refers to the layout and quality of the transportation network and public realm, including street connectivity, sidewalks, bike facilities, crossings, frontage design, and parking placement. Good design makes non-auto travel safer, more comfortable, and more direct.
Key Takeaway: Connected, pedestrian-, and bicycle-friendly design can shift short trips away from driving.
4. Destination accessibility refers to how easily people can reach important local and regional destinations such as jobs, schools, retail, civic uses, parks, and transit hubs. A place may be walkable locally but still generate high vehicle travel if major destinations are far away or poorly connected.
Key Takeaway: Sites with better access to jobs, services, and transit tend to generate lower trips than peripheral locations.
5. Distance refers to the need to keep trips short if people are to realistically be expected to mode shift away from automobiles. This includes collocating housing with jobs, neighborhood serving retail, and other services and amenities.
Key Takeaway: Keep as many trips as short as possible to encourage people to walk, bike, or use transit.
6. Demand management, or transportation demand management (TDM) refers to strategies, programs, services, and physical improvements intended to reduce single- occupancy vehicle travel and peak-period vehicle trips and to encourage travel by transit, walking, bicycling, carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting, and other alternatives.
Key Takeaway: Create policies/programs that encourage walking, biking, transit use, vanpooling, telecommuting, etc., such as transit pass subsidies, bike parking and showers, and unbundled parking.
The 6 D’s work best in combination. Higher density with poor design may still produce auto dependence, while good design in a low-density area may improve walkability but not support frequent transit. Together, all six create the strongest conditions for reducing vehicle dependence.
For the Area Plan, the goal is to support enough people and jobs to sustain activity (density), enough land use mix to enable short local trips (diversity), enough connectivity and safety to make those trips practical without driving (design), and enough regional access to connect local places to the broader area (destination accessibility) while creating destinations that residents need to travel to in close proximity to housing (distance) and implementing strong policies to encourage mode shift for some trips (demand management). 3 Diversity of Land Uses
At a high level, office development tends to generate the strongest near-term municipal revenue per square foot; higher-density housing tends to produce broader community and State-policy benefits but can create nearer-term service and infrastructure costs; and mixed- use development often offers the best balanced outcome by diversifying the tax base, supporting walkability, and reducing some transportation externalities (although it is usually more complex to deliver). Table A below summarizes the costs and benefits of these development types specific to the Area Plan.
Table A: Development Type Analysis
Development
Type
Office Buildings Higher-Density
Residential
Mixed-Use
Neighborhoods
Main Benefits High assessed value,
jobs, daytime spending,
supports economic
base
Adds housing supply,
supports RHNA and
fair housing, can
reduce regional
commuting
Diversified tax base,
walkability, better jobs-
housing balance, corridor
activation
Main
Costs/Risks
Traffic, jobs-housing
imbalance, housing
pressure, infrastructure
demand
Service costs,
infrastructure needs,
possible weaker fiscal
yield
More complex and costly
to deliver, retail risk
High-Level
Fiscal Effect
to City
Often strongest
positive near-term
fiscal return
Often mixed or weaker
fiscally on a
standalone basis
Often moderate-to-strong,
depending on program mix
High-Level
Policy Effect
Can undermine
housing/climate goals
if not paired with
housing
Strong alignment with
State housing and
sustainability goals
Strong overall alignment if
well located and designed
If Palo Alto allows more office, the City may see strong municipal fiscal upside, but potentially significant indirect social and transportation costs unless office growth is paired with housing production, TDM requirements, and infrastructure investment. Higher-density residential may produce the strongest policy and community-wide benefit, especially on housing affordability VMT reduction, and sustainability, but may present a more challenging municipal fiscal equation unless supported by impact fees, infrastructure financing, and careful unit mix/location strategy. Mixed-use development is often the best compromise strategy for Palo Alto since it can capture part of the fiscal upside of commercial uses while also advancing housing, walkability, and climate goals. The main challenge is ensuring the form, location, and economics are realistic.