CITY OF SAN MATEO
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CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 12 Section Name: {{section.name}} Account Number: 25-3112 File ID: {{item.tracking_number}} TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
MEETING DATE: March 17, 2025
SUBJECT:
General Plan 2040 Land Use Map Amendments - Adoption
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution amending the General Plan land use designation at 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd. and adopt a Resolution amending the General Plan land use designations at 12 specified locations, where both Resolutions will amend the General Plan 2040 Land Use Map.
BACKGROUND:
On March 18, 2024, the City Council adopted Strive San Mateo General Plan 2040 (General Plan 2040). General Plan 2040 consists of eight Elements and associated maps, which provide the foundation for future growth, change, and preservation in San Mateo. The Land Use Element sets the allowed land uses, heights, densities, and intensities (floor area ratio) for all parcels in the City. General Plan Table LU-1 Land Use Designations summarizes this information and is included as Attachment 3. The General Plan Land Use Map, Figure LU-1, acts as a visual representation of the land use designations detailed in the Land Use Element and is included as Attachment 4. During the General Plan 2040 adoption hearings and at a subsequent public meeting on implementation, the City Council, staff, and individual landowners identified 13 sites across the city where land use designations were either inconsistent with the existing and/or surrounding land uses, or required revisions to align with City Council direction on General Plan 2040. The 13 sites with recommended land use designation amendments are described in Table 1 below.
Pursuant to Government Code Section 65354 and San Mateo Municipal Code Section 27.06.040(b), the Planning Commission must provide a recommendation to the City Council at a public hearing, prior to Council action on amending the General Plan. On January 28, 2025, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider the land use map amendments. Following public comments and deliberation, the Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council to adopt a Resolution to amend the General Plan 2040 Land Use Map at the 13 specified locations. The Resolutions with findings to support the City Council’s decision are included as Attachments 1 and 2.
DISCUSSION:
Land Use Map Amendments
During the City Council adoption hearings in 2024, Council identified two sites: 1) the office buildings at 66 and 160 Bovet Rd. and 2) the former Marriott hotel site at 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd., as opportunities to redesignate to the Mixed-Use High land use designation to increase flexibility and housing production potential. Because these changes were not previously discussed at the Planning Commission recommendation hearing, they were not incorporated into the General Plan adoption, and direction was provided to bring the amendments back to the Planning Commission for consideration. Since General Plan adoption in March 2024, 11 additional locations throughout the city have been identified where updated land use designations would better align with existing uses and/or the surrounding context. The locations of the sites that are recommended to be amended are listed in Table 1 below, with maps of each site included in Exhibit A of Attachment
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1 and Exhibit A of Attachment 2.
Table 1 - Proposed Amendments to the General Plan Land Use Map Site No. Location/Address Current Land Use Recommended Land Use Basis for Recommendation 1 831 Monte Diablo Ave. Residential Very Low
(1 to 3 stories, up to 9
du/ac)
Quasi-Public
(1 to 3 stories, up to 20
du/ac)
Align with existing religious
institutional ownership and
use.
2 50 Mounds Road Residential Low II,
(2 to 4 stories, 20 to 35
du/ac)
Residential Very Low
(1 to 3 stories, up to 9
du/ac)
Residential Medium I
(3 to 5 stories, 36 to 50
du/ac)
Align with the existing density
of the multi-family use that is
developed on this location.
3 111 St. Matthews Ave. Office Medium
(2 to 4 stories, up to 50
du/ac, 3.0 FAR)
Residential Medium I
(3 to 5 stories, 36 to 50
du/ac)
Align with the existing multi-
family use that is developed
at this location.
4 Address Range:
20 – 40 W. 3rd Ave.
Residential Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Residential High
(5 to 8 stories, 100 to 130
du/ac)
Align with existing 12-story
multi-family building that is
developed at this location.
5 55 W 5th Ave. Residential Medium I
(3 to 5 stories, 36 to 50
du/ac)
Residential High
(5 to 8 stories, 100 to 130
du/ac)
Align with existing 16-story
multi-family building that is
developed at this location.
6 Address Range:
606 – 800 S. B St.
Residential Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Mixed-Use Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Align with existing mix of
commercial and multi-family
uses that are developed on
these parcels; and to align
with the mixed-use land use
designations on the east side
of B St.
7 Arbor Rose Condominiums
Address Ranges:
101 – 303 and 701 – 1003
N. Hummingbird Ln.
401 – 506 and 1101 –
1206 S. Hummingbird Ln.
1117 – 1131 Sunnybrae
Blvd.
1001 – 1033 S. Idaho St.
1106 and 1110 10th Ave.
Regional Commercial
(1 to 3 stories, up to 50
du/ac, 1.5 FAR)
Residential Low II
(2-4 stories, 20-35 du/acre)
Align with existing multi-
family townhome and single-
family uses that are
developed at this location.
8 1050 S. Amphlett Blvd. Regional Commercial
(1 to 3 stories, up to 50
du/ac, 1.5 FAR)
Service Commercial/Light
Industrial
(1-3 stories, 1.0 FAR)
Align with adjacent Service
Commercial/Light Industrial
land uses along this section of
Amphlett Blvd.
9 1495 S. El Camino Real Mixed-Use Medium I
(3 to 5 stories, 15 to 50
du/ac)
Mixed-Use Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Align with adjacent Mixed-
Use Medium II land use
designations along this
section of El Camino Real.
10 Office Buildings at
66 and 160 Bovet Rd.
Office Medium
(2 to 4 stories, up to 50
du/ac, 2.0 FAR)
Mixed-Use High
(5 to 8 stories, 100 to 130
du/ac, 4.5 FAR)
City Council direction to
consider this land use
designation change.
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Site No. Location/Address Current Land Use Recommended Land Use Basis for Recommendation 11 Address Range:
1711 - 1745 S. El Camino
Real
Residential Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Mixed-Use Medium II
(4 to 6 stories, 51 to 99
du/ac)
Align with existing
commercial uses that are
developed on this group of
sites.
12 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd.
(Marriott site)
Regional Commercial
(1 to 3 stories, up to 50
du/ac, 1.5 FAR)
Mixed-Use High
(5 to 8 stories, 100 to 130
du/ac, 4.5 FAR)
City Council direction to
consider this land use
designation to allow for a
wider range of uses in
response to the closure of the
hotel use.
13 3130 La Selva St. Neighborhood
Commercial
(1-3 stories, up to 19
du/ac, 1.0 FAR)
Regional Commercial
(1-3 stories, up to 50 du/ac,
1.5 FAR)
Align with existing use and
adjacent
Regional Commercial land
uses.
For Site No. 12 (1770 S. Amphlett Blvd.), a Council member has a financial interest that is within 500 feet of the location.
Therefore, staff has prepared a separate Resolution to amend the land use designation of this property. The Council should first vote on amending the subject parcel where one Council member will be recused. Then the entire Council may vote on the remaining amendments to the Land Use Map.
Measure T Consistency
At the time of adoption, General Plan 2040 included land use designations that exceeded the height, density, and intensity limits set by Measure Y, which was approved by voters on November 3, 2020. While Measure Y was in effect, any conflicts between these limits and the General Plan defaulted to Measure Y, restricting full implementation of the Land Use Element. Following extensive community outreach, on July 15, 2024, the City Council voted to place Measure T on the November 5, 2024, ballot. Measure T proposed repealing Measure Y, such that its limits within the ten General Plan Study Areas would be repealed (but largely retained elsewhere) to enable the implementation of the General Plan's Land Use Map. Voters approved Measure T, which became effective on December 19, 2024, 10 days after the City Council certified the election results.
Measure T includes a provision allowing land use changes for eight sites listed in Table 1 above (Site Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, and 13) to be processed without voter approval if the proposed land uses align with those recommended in the ballot measure. These recommendations were chosen to reflect existing or surrounding land uses, or to implement City Council direction from the General Plan adoption hearing on March 18, 2024. However, Measure T requires these amendments, along with any future General Plan Land Use Map amendments, to undergo public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council in compliance with state and local laws (Government Code Section 653534 and San Mateo Municipal Code Section 27.06.040(b)). The land use designations of these eight sites align with the recommended designations in Measure T, and the land use designations for the remaining five sites listed in Table 1 (Site Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, and 11) do not result in an increase in density, intensity or FAR, consistent with Measure T. The proposed land use map amendments for all 13 sites are being processed as required by state and local laws, and are consistent with the General Plan’s Land Use Element.
Consistency with State Law – No Net Loss Requirement
The proposed General Plan Land Use Map amendments are consistent with state laws relating to No Net Loss requirement. The No Net Loss requirement, as implemented under the Housing Crisis Act (California Government Code Section 66300), prohibits a city from “enacting a development policy, standard, or condition with respect to land where housing is an allowable use that would change the General Plan land use designation, specific plan land use designation, or zoning of a parcel or parcels of property to a less intensive use or reducing the intensity of land use within an existing General Plan land use designation, specific plan land use designation, or zoning district in effect at the time of the proposed change unless the city concurrently changes the development standards, policies, and conditions applicable to
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other parcels within the jurisdiction to ensure that there is no net loss in residential capacity.” Of the 13 sites identified above, the Arbor Rose Condominiums (Site No. 7) and the adjacent vacant parcel at 1050 S.
Amphlett Boulevard (Site No. 8) are the only sites with recommended land use designations that would decrease the residential density. These changes would shift the designations of both sites from Regional Commercial (up to 50 du/ac) to Residential Low II (20-35 du/ac) to align with existing residential uses, and to Service Commercial/Light Industrial, where housing is a prohibited use, to match the service commercial/light industrial uses that exist along this section of S.
Amphlett Boulevard. These two land use map changes would result in a reduction of 77 units of density capacity. The proposed changes in land use designations on the remaining 11 sites, however, would result in an increase of 1,751 units of density capacity. Because of the net increase of 1,674 units of capacity, the land use designation changes at these two locations would not affect the City’s overall residential development capacity pursuant to the Housing Crisis Act.
Interim Implementation
Through the adoption of General Plan 2040, new land use designations have been established with increased densities, heights, floor area ratios, and uses that do not align with current zoning districts and their associated development standards. Updates to the Zoning Code to align with the newly created land use designations through a comprehensive update will commence later this year and are expected to take up to two years to complete. In the interim, any development standards for parcels with land use designations that do not align with their current zoning district or that lack a corresponding zoning district (e.g., Quasi-Public) will default to the General Plan. While the underlying zoning will remain in effect until updated, any development standards that are inconsistent with the heights, densities, intensities and uses contained Table LU-1 of the Land Use Element would be superseded. An interim Zoning Code amendment to clarify that any inconsistencies between the Zoning Ordinance and the General Plan shall defer to General Plan 2040 went before the Planning Commission on February 11, 2025, and is scheduled for a public hearing with the City Council at this meeting, under a separate agenda report.
BUDGET IMPACT:
General Plan maintenance and periodic amendments are accounted for within the Community Development Department’s current operating budget from the Advanced Planning Fund. This work does not have any impact on the City’s General Fund.
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met. Pursuant to Senate Bill 18 (SB 18), notice of the proposed General Plan Land Use Map amendments was mailed to Native American tribal consultants and no comments were received. A public hearing notice, pursuant to Government Code Sections 65090 and 65091, was published in the San Mateo Daily Journal, and posted at three public locations within the City. Mail and/or email notices were provided to the owners and tenants of all properties at the 13 locations that would be affected by the amendments, and to the Department’s general notification list and General Plan interested parties list. Information about the public hearing was also shared through the City’s e-newsletters.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
The program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Strive San Mateo General Plan 2040 (program EIR) analyzed changes to the environment that would result from implementing the land use designations of the plan through 2040. The Final EIR was certified by the City Council on March 18, 2024, and filed with the State Clearinghouse (SCH No. 2022010160).
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Subsection 15168(c), the amendments can be approved as being within the scope of the program EIR. The proposed land use changes are consistent with the type of allowable land uses, overall planned density and building intensity, geographic area analyzed for environmental impacts, and covered infrastructure as described and evaluated in the EIR. The increase in development capacity (1,674 units) resulting from the proposed General Plan amendments are within the build-out analysis that was evaluated in the General Plan 2040 EIR. Therefore, no new environmental document is required.
Thus, in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15162, the proposed General
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Plan Land Use Map Amendments are exempt from further environmental review because the City, as “Lead Agency”, has determined that they will not result in any substantial changes to General Plan 2040 or circumstances under which the program EIR was undertaken and no new information has come to light that would require major revisions of the EIR due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Draft Resolution for 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd.
Exhibit A – Proposed Land Use Map Amendment for 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd.
Att 2 – Draft Resolution
Exhibit A – Proposed Land Use Map Amendment
Att 3 – Land Use Element Table LU-1 - Land Use Designations Att 4 – General Plan 2040 Land Use Designations
STAFF CONTACT
Somer Smith, AICP, Senior Planner
[email protected]
(650) 522-7214