CITY COUNCIL
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: ACTION ITEMS
Lead Department: Planning and Development Services
Meeting Date: June 8, 2026
Report #: 2603-6116
TITLE
San Antonio Road Area Plan Core Scenario and Transportation Analysis Work Plan. CEQA Status:
Exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15262.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Endorse the core scenario for the San Antonio Road Area Plan as the basis for Phase 3 analysis, modified as needed to reflect Council priorities; and
2. Authorize the transportation analysis described in Attachment A, to be completed and presented to Council in Q4 2026 alongside a recommended land use and transportation plan.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The San Antonio Road Area Plan is a City-led initiative to develop an integrated land use and transportation vision for the 275.3-acre corridor along San Antonio Road, with goals of increasing housing production, improving multimodal mobility, creating new outdoor spaces, and supporting commercial vitality. Based on feedback received at the April 6, 2026 study session, staff has developed a core scenario -- a defined set of land use and mobility assumptions -- to serve as the foundation for Phase 3 analysis. Council is asked to endorse the core scenario and authorize the transportation analysis that will evaluate its implications.
Endorsing the core scenario today is not a final land use decision. It is the step that allows staff to focus analytical resources on a well-grounded set of assumptions so that a rigorous transportation analysis can be conducted. That analysis will validate, refine, or adjust the core scenario as needed, and will be presented to Council in Q4 2026 alongside a recommended plan for a decision on the preferred alternative to carry into environmental review. If, after reviewing the Q4 analysis, Council wishes to pursue a different direction, the project team will adjust accordingly.
The core scenario and the transportation analysis work plan are described in Attachment A. A summary is provided in the Analysis section of this report.
BACKGROUND
The City of Palo Alto's adopted policies for the Plan Area promote greater housing diversity, stronger pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, street and building designs that support safety and active transportation, and strategies to address the City's jobs-housing imbalance. The San Antonio Road Area Plan is a direct result of the Housing Element's direction for the San Antonio Road corridor, which calls on the City to facilitate neighborhood planning that integrates housing with safe multimodal transportation and provides access to amenities, outdoor space (including parks, plazas, playgrounds, etc.), placemaking improvements, and mitigations for environmental impacts. Recent zoning changes and programs such as the Housing Incentive Program have substantially increased development capacity along San Antonio Road, anticipating the transformation of this corridor into mixed-use neighborhoods with safe access to transportation, employment, community services, and recreation.
The Area Plan's vision statement reflects these goals:
The vision for San Antonio Road is of a vibrant mixed-use corridor connecting pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods where people of all incomes can live, work, and thrive; where safe streets, transit, and green infrastructure can support shorter commutes, reliable transit, and climate resilience; and where a dynamic economy attracts new businesses while sustaining local shops and services that define the community.
Citywide Housing Context
The San Antonio Road corridor is one of several locations across the City where the City is actively planning for additional housing growth. Other initiatives underway include the Downtown Housing Plan centered on University Avenue, Senate Bill 79 implementation within a half-mile of the City's three Caltrain stations, expansion of the El Camino Real Focus Area, GM and ROLM zone focus areas, and the Housing Incentive Program and Affordable Housing Incentive Program, which apply to strategic locations citywide. Together, these efforts reflect a deliberate citywide strategy to meet the City's current and future housing needs by directing growth to transit-accessible locations throughout Palo Alto.
April 6, 2026 Study Session
At its April 6, 2026 Regular Meeting, the City Council held a study session on the San Antonio Road Area Plan, receiving an update on the corridor and reviewing a set of draft land use and mobility alternatives.1 The session marked a pivotal milestone in Phase 2 of the planning 1 April 6, 2026, City Council Meeting:
https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=87034&dbid=0&repo=PaloAlto process, with staff presenting alternatives that explored meaningful tradeoffs across building heights and residential densities, the role of office development in the CTI (Commercial Street, Transport Street, and Industrial Avenue) sub-area, bicycle and pedestrian facility design, and the distribution of parks and ground-floor retail across four primary sub-areas: Central San Antonio, South Fabian, North Fabian, and CTI. Financial analysis presented at the session identified the 90-foot mid-rise building type as the most financially feasible near-term option for apartment housing production with townhome development being the most feasible overall. Office development in the CTI sub-area was identified as a potential mechanism to improve project feasibility and fund public benefits such as parks and infrastructure.
Council's discussion surfaced several areas of general alignment alongside topics where perspectives varied. On building heights, 90 feet was noted by several members as a reasonable point of reference with heights transitioning down near existing single-family neighborhoods.
Some members also indicated interest in setting minimum densities high enough to discourage an overabundance of townhomes. On office, the predominant direction was skepticism toward net new office growth beyond replacement or conversion of existing lower-density space, though some noted that limited office in the CTI sub-area could help fund parks and infrastructure. Retail drew mixed reaction, with general interest in requirements for primary sub-areas and more flexibility elsewhere. Parks were widely identified as a priority, with a preference for fewer, larger consolidated spaces. Mobility and traffic generated the most consistent concern -- members pointed to the need for a traffic study before finalizing land use decisions and expressed interest in prioritizing bike and pedestrian improvements alongside new development.
In response to Council's direction, staff and the consultant team have developed a core scenario that reflects the areas of alignment that emerged from the April 6 session. The core scenario establishes a coherent set of land use and mobility assumptions -- including building heights, residential and commercial floor area, outdoor space, ground-floor retail, and near- term mobility improvements -- described in detail in Attachment A. Attachment A also identifies a defined set of concepts and alternatives that will be studied alongside the core scenario, providing a structured framework for the analysis ahead. Endorsing the core scenario at this meeting does not constitute a land use decision -- rather, it focuses the City's analytical resources on a well-grounded set of assumptions so that a targeted transportation analysis can be conducted. That analysis will in turn validate, refine, or adjust the core scenario's land use assumptions, and will be presented to Council alongside a recommended plan framework later this year. Council is asked to endorse the core scenario as the basis for this work -- modified as needed to reflect Council priorities -- and to authorize the transportation analysis that will follow.
ANALYSIS
Core Scenario Overview
The core scenario covers land use, outdoor space, and mobility. Its purpose is not to finalize a plan but to establish a defined starting point that focuses the transportation analysis and subsequent policy development. Attachment A provides full detail, including the alternative concepts that will be examined alongside the core scenario. Attachment B provides background on how land use and transportation planning are integrated in the Area Plan framework, including the tradeoffs between office, residential, and mixed-use development types. The following summarizes the key elements for Council's consideration.
Building Heights and Density
The core scenario establishes 90 feet (8 stories) as the height standard across all primary sub- areas – CTI, North Fabian, South Fabian, and Central San Antonio – reflecting the most financially feasible building type under current market conditions for near-term apartment housing production, which is consistent with development applications already in the pipeline.
Where primary sub-areas abut lower-density residential neighborhoods, a 60-foot maximum applies as a transition, with setbacks and step-downs as additional tools. Secondary sub-areas and areas of stability maintain existing height limits.
To provide a meaningful basis for comparison, the transportation analysis will evaluate the core scenario against a current-zoning baseline – not simply existing conditions, but the development that could reasonably be expected to occur under current zoning. This comparison isolates the transportation effects attributable to the higher household densities the core scenario enables, which is the primary driver of changes in travel demand. Under current zoning, the plan area could yield up to approximately 5,700 residential units. The core scenario – by increasing allowed heights and densities in key areas – could yield up to approximately 6,700 units, roughly 1,000 more.
Office and Retail
New office and R&D is limited to the CTI sub-area, focused on conversion of existing older commercial and industrial space to Class A office at a scale intended to maintain employment levels while reducing the City's jobs-housing imbalance. Retaining a meaningful commercial component in the plan area also supports the City's long-term fiscal health. Higher-density residential development advances important housing and State policy goals but tends to generate a more modest return to the City's General Fund relative to commercial uses; without some equivalent growth in commercial activity, per-capita General Fund revenue can decline over time, placing pressure on the City's ability to maintain service levels. Preserving office development in the plan area helps balance this fiscal equation as the corridor grows. The core scenario includes 750,000 square feet of office and R&D space in the CTI sub-area (gross, not net new), with an overall net reduction in commercial square footage across the plan area.
Neighborhood-serving retail is required at key nodes -- within CTI, within North Fabian, and at the San Antonio Road/Middlefield Road intersection -- and is designed to be co-located with outdoor space to support walkable, community-oriented neighborhoods. Where retail is not required, expanded ground-floor use allowances encourage active frontages without mandating retail.
Outdoor Space and Parks
The core scenario targets a 3 to 3.5-acre park in the North Fabian/Maxar area and a minimum of 1.5 acres of consolidated outdoor space in the CTI sub-area, complemented by paseos and pedestrian connections throughout. The goal is that all plan area residents are within a 10- minute walk of a park or publicly accessible outdoor space. The City currently owns no parcels within these areas and will need to work with property owners and developers to achieve new outdoor spaces as the area redevelops.
Mobility
The mobility framework addresses both near-term and longer-horizon improvements. In the near term, the core scenario prioritizes lower-cost, faster-to-implement measures -- such as removal of on-street parking to create street-level separated bike lanes and targeted restriping -- that can be delivered efficiently while preserving the ability to build out more comprehensive solutions over time. More advanced future options, including sidewalk-level separated bikeways and multi-use paths that would require acquisition of easements or right-of-way or reconstruction of the existing curbs, are treated as longer-horizon improvements within the framework. Across the corridor, the strategy prioritizes a connected low-stress bike network, improved pedestrian access, enhanced connections to the San Antonio Caltrain station, a microtransit strategy, and one or more multimodal mobility hubs at key intersections. Vehicle circulation and parking management strategies focus on maintaining local access, reducing cut- through traffic, and reallocating curb space more efficiently as development occurs.
Transportation Analysis
A central concern raised at the April 6 session was the need to understand traffic implications before committing to a land use direction. This report directly responds to that concern. Rather than asking Council to decide on a land use plan today, staff is asking Council to endorse a defined core scenario so that a focused transportation analysis can proceed. That analysis will evaluate the core scenario against the current-zoning baseline using transportation-related metrics -- including vehicle trip generation, mode share, vehicle miles traveled, and transit viability -- to quantify the relative benefits and tradeoffs of each approach. The evaluation will also assess multimodal access for residents to key destinations and the anticipated effects of proposed mobility improvements. Critically, the results of this analysis will directly inform whether the core scenario's land use assumptions should be confirmed, refined, or adjusted in scale before a final recommendation is made. Staff will return to Council in Q4 2026 with a recommended land use and transportation plan framework, supported by this analysis, for a decision on the preferred alternative to carry into the administrative draft of the Area Plan and environmental review.
NEXT STEPS
Should Council endorse the core scenario and authorize the work plan described above, staff will return in Q4 2026 with the results of the Phase 3 analysis. At that time, staff will seek direction on completing the administrative draft of the Area Plan and initiating environmental review under CEQA. Council's action today is not binding -- if, after reviewing the Q4 analysis, Council wishes to pursue a different direction, the project team will adjust accordingly. A confirmed plan framework is necessary to begin the administrative draft and environmental review on schedule and within budget.
The Q4 presentation will include:
• Refinements to the core scenario with specific design and policy direction for each sub- area, including draft standards for height, density, and built form • Recommendations on the amount and location of office development permitted in the plan area, and an assessment of associated public benefits • Recommendations on retail locations and types best suited to serve existing and future residents
• Methods for achieving meaningful outdoor space in the plan area, including funding and delivery mechanisms
• Transportation analysis findings, including a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the core scenario against the current-zoning baseline using metrics such as vehicle trip generation, mode share, vehicle miles traveled, and transit viability, as well as an assessment of multimodal access for residents and the effects of proposed mobility improvements
• Resilience and climate adaptation policies
• Affordable housing and equity strategy
• Preliminary recommendations for utility infrastructure improvements based on anticipated land use
• High-level cost estimates and funding mechanisms for key capital improvements, including street improvements, parks, utility infrastructure, and transit enhancements • Development standards addressing air quality for projects in proximity to the freeway
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Several of the City's 2030 Comprehensive Plan policies relate directly to the Area Plan. Policies L-1.10, L-2.2, L-2.3, L-2.4, L-2.6, L-2.11, L-2.12, and L-3.4 relate to growth management, sustainable communities, and neighborhood character. Policies L-4.5, L-4.16, and L-5.4 relate to commercial centers and employment districts. Policies L-6.6 and L-6.7 relate to the design of buildings and public space. Policies L-8.6, L-9.3, L-9.6, and L-9.7 relate to parks, streets, and public spaces. Program L2.4.1 required the City to amend the Housing Element to increase housing sites along San Antonio Road between Middlefield Road and East Charleston Road.
The 2023-2031 Housing Element includes Program 6.6(C) calling for the City to prepare an area plan for the San Antonio Road Corridor and increase housing opportunities. The Housing Element identifies 53 Housing Opportunity Sites within the plan area and emphasizes increasing housing in close proximity to the San Antonio Caltrain station. The Housing Incentive Program, adopted in 2019 and updated in 2025, currently covers significant parts of the plan area. The Area Plan is aligned with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan as currently drafted, including creating a pedestrian zone along San Antonio Road and incorporating Class IV separated bikeways along the corridor. The City's Sustainability and Climate Action Plan goals -- including reducing total VMT by 12%, increasing the active transportation and transit mode share for local work trips from 19% to 40%, increasing tree canopy to 40% citywide coverage, and expanding green stormwater infrastructure -- are all advanced by the Area Plan's approach.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The contract with Raimi + Associates, now part of Alta Planning + Design, to develop the Area Plan was approved by the Council on March 10, 2025, with an amount not to exceed $1,979,902. As of May 1, 2026, $787,298 of this budget has been spent. The project is approximately one-third of the way through the schedule and currently on budget for the tasks completed to date. Funding for the FY 2027 portion of the contract is included in the FY 2027 Proposed Operating Budget, anticipated to be adopted by the City Council on June 15, 2026.
There are no additional budget line items associated with this action item; however, the management of the project and extensive community engagement require a significant amount of staff time.
The long-term land use decisions will have a marked impact on the financials of the City and it’s tax revenues and population service needs. Balancing revenue generating land uses with critical housing development is important to consider.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Community engagement is central to the success of this planning effort. The engagement strategy includes a dedicated webpage, social media and email announcements, a Community Advisory Group (CAG) and Technical Advisory Group (TAG), stakeholder interviews, community workshops, surveys, and pop-up events at City gatherings and Farmers Markets. CAG meetings were held in August 2025, January 2026, and February 2026, with additional meetings planned through 2028. Community workshops were held in October 2025 and March 2026, with one additional workshop planned in the next phase. Online surveys ran in October 2025 and February/March 2026.
During Phase 2, the project team presented to the following advisory bodies:
• Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee -- March 3, 2026 • Human Relations Commission -- March 17, 2026
• Architectural Review Board -- March 19, 2026
• Parks and Recreation Commission -- March 24, 2026
• Planning and Transportation Commission -- March 25, 2026 • City/School Transportation Safety Committee -- March 26, 2026 • Youth Council -- March 31, 2026
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The actions recommended in this report are exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15262: a project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions that has not been approved, adopted, or funded would not have significant impact on the environment. The City will prepare an environmental analysis for the San Antonio Road Area Plan when more project specifics have been identified.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: San Antonio Road Area Plan Core Scenario
Attachment B: San Antonio Road Area Plan Integrated Land Use and Mobility Approach APPROVED BY:
Jonathan Lait, Planning and Development Services Director