November 13, 2025 1
San Carlos City Council/Successor Agency to the
Redevelopment Agency/Housing Authority Special Meeting
Library Community Room, 2nd Floor
610 Elm Street, San Carlos, CA 94070
November 13, 2025 2:00 PM
MINUTES
ROLL CALL
City Council Present: Sara McDowell, Mayor
Pranita Venkatesh, Vice Mayor
John Dugan, Councilmember
Neil Layton, Councilmember
Adam Rak, Councilmember
Staff Present: Sajuti Haque, Economic Development and Housing Manager Linnet Kwok, Administrative Clerk
Jeff Maltbie, City Manager
Andrea Mardesich, Assistant Community Development Director Crystal Mui, City Clerk
Lisa Porras, Advanced Planning Manager
Nicole Rios, Administrative Services Director
Gregory Rubens, City Attorney
Adolfo Ruelas, Economic Development Coordinator
Al Savay, Community Development Director
Kristie Woo, Associate Planner
1. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor McDowell called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
3. STUDY SESSION
a. Receive a Presentation on Downtown Economic Prosperity Strategies and Provide Direction to Staff. (Verbal Report Only)
Community Development Director Al Savay presented on downtown economic prosperity strategies, noting that the purpose of the meeting was to hear from Council about their priorities and to highlight available tools. He led Council discussions on downtown business mix, formula businesses, and incentivizing ground-floor commercial.
Downtown Business Mix
Council directed staff to continue evaluating desired business uses in the downtown to help generate additional foot traffic. Concerns were raised about office and service uses in the
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downtown core due to infrastructure limitations (e.g., limited drop-off capacity). There is a desire for the downtown core to remain focused on retail and dining.
Formula Businesses
While some Councilmembers expressed support for relaxing the current regulations by increasing the threshold for formula businesses, others requested additional information before forming an opinion, including lease rate comparisons with other cities and potential approaches to balancing formula businesses by block. This work would be considered as a separate action outside of the Downtown Specific Plan.
Incentivizing Ground-Floor Commercial
Council directed staff to explore all available tools to preserve ground-floor commercial space in the downtown area, recognizing the impacts of recent state housing laws. This includes examining zoning approaches for corner properties and the use of an overlay zone to preserve commercial space. These concepts would be brought forward after the Downtown Specific Plan as a potential zoning action for El Camino Real and may be discussed in greater detail at the Council’s strategic retreat to help guide next steps.
Council suggested scheduling additional opportunities for ongoing updates and discussion on economic strategies.
4. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:58 p.m.
Crystal Mui
City Clerk