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: 13 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:
Housing Element and General Plan Ballot Measure T Implementation – Zoning Code Amendments – Ordinance Introductions
RECOMMENDATION:
Introduce two Ordinances that amend the San Mateo Municipal Code Title 27, Zoning to: 1) implement various programs and policies established in San Mateo’s 2023-2031 Housing Element, and 2) implement General Plan 2040 Ballot Measure T, approved by voters on November 5, 2024; and find that the Ordinances are exempt from further environmental review pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15183 (Projects Consistent With a Community Plan, General Plan, or Zoning).
BACKGROUND:
2023-2031 Housing Element
San Mateo’s 2023-2031 Housing Element provides a plan to accommodate the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 7,015 new housing units, support the production of housing at all income levels and affirmatively further fair housing for the Sixth Housing Element Cycle. The City Council adopted the 2023-2031 Housing Element on May 20, 2024, and it was subsequently certified by the State Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) on July 23, 2024.
Since 1969, California has required that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of their community. Local governments meet this requirement by adopting housing elements, which are updated every eight years. The Housing Element is a "chapter" of a city’s General Plan, which is also required by State law.
However, it is the only element of the General Plan subject to State requirements for content, and it must be certified by HCD. State funding programs for transportation, infrastructure, and housing often require or consider a local jurisdiction’s compliance with housing element law. In addition, non-compliant housing element requirements and targets could potentially affect a local jurisdiction’s ability to impose local zoning and land use controls over housing development and receive certain types of State funding and grants.
The Housing Element includes five overall goals to support compliance with state law and to achieve the City’s RHNA – Supporting Production, Preservation, Protection, Promotion, and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. To achieve these goals during this Housing Cycle, the Housing Element includes 53 policies with 150 implementation actions. Numerous Housing Element policies and programs require Zoning Code amendments. For practical and efficiency purposes, staff has bundled a number of these updates into the first phase of Zoning Code Amendments. These include many revisions that are prescribed in detail within an implementation action item and/or are mandated by State Law. In summary, the first proposed Ordinance (Attachment 1) includes the following:
•Allows residential uses as a permitted use in commercial districts (C1, C2, and C3) and office districts (E1 and E2) (Policy H1.7).
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•Adds a definition for single room occupancy (SRO) and amends the Zoning Code to allow SROs in the R4 District (will also apply to R5, R6 and Downtown Districts with an R overlay) (Policy H1.7) •Eliminates the need for special use permits for multiple-family housing in mixed-use zoning districts (Policy H1.7) •Removes Chapter 27.17 Manufactured Homes and simplifies development standards for manufactured homes on a permanent foundation to be the same as single-family homes (Policy H1.7) •Removes any prohibitions of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in zoning districts as a permitted use per state law (Policy H1.7)
•Adds new zoning code terms and definitions related to housing and updates existing definitions to add clarity and be consistent with state law. (Policies H1.7, H1.13, H1.14, H1.15, H1.16, and H3.7) •Amends the Zoning Code to allow group homes and residential care facilities for people with special needs in all residential zones and only subject to those objective standards that apply to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone in conformance with state law. (Policy 1.13) •Amends the Zoning Code to define and allow farmworker housing within the Agricultural District consistent with state law (Policy H1.16)
•Modifies the emergency shelter definition and adds development standards to the definition. Adds new terms and definitions for supportive housing and low-barrier navigation centers. Allows for emergency shelters, supportive housing, and low-barrier navigation centers in certain zoning districts per state law and/or staff recommendation. (Policy 3.7)
Additional Housing Element policies and programs that require Zoning Code amendments will be brought forward as soon as possible, in the first half of this year, include:
•Update the inclusionary housing policy to include alternative compliance options to the City’s current onsite inclusionary unit development (Policy H1.3)
•Evaluate setting minimum densities in mixed-use zoning districts (Policy H1.9) •Evaluate setting a minimum percentage of family-sized units in new housing development (Policy H 1.5) Additional amendments warrant deeper policy discussions and community outreach, and will be addressed as part of the City’s Comprehensive Zoning Code Update to implement General Plan 2040 that will get started later this year:
•Update Zoning Code standards to support housing production including excluding covered parking and other elements as needed from Floor Area Ratio (FAR) calculation for housing projects with affordable units (Policy H1.7) •Amend the Zoning Code to reduce off-street parking requirements for residential units and make recommendations to reduce or eliminate any other parking related requirements identified as a constraint. (Policy H1.7)
•Evaluate options for Zoning Code amendments that support the production of small-scale residential projects (Missing Middle Housing). (Policy H1.12)
•Update the City’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance to address HCD comments and align with current State law. (Policy H1.4)
The Implementation Plan of the Housing Element, which was presented to the City Council at a study session on June 3, 2024, contains timelines that required the City to complete some proposed Zoning Code amendments in 2024. These timelines were part of the City’s January 2023 adopted Housing Element, which needed multiple updates before it was eventually certified by HCD in July 2024, more than 18 months after these timelines were established. City staff also needed to receive the certified November 2024 election results on Measure T (see additional information below) to incorporate density provisions in the Implementation Plan.
Notably, the City did take action in July 2024 to streamline housing application review (Policy H 1.6) by eliminating the pre- application requirement for housing projects and eliminating third party design review for housing projects that meet objective design standards. That same month, the City amended the Zoning Code to establish a By-Right designation for housing sites reused from prior Housing Elements for housing projects that propose a minimum of 20 percent affordable
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units (Policy H1.10). Zoning for these sites must be at least 30 units/acre to meet default density requirements for lower- income households per Gov. Code Section 65583.2(c). Even before then, in November 2023, the City amended the Zoning Code to allow residential projects with up to 25 units to be approved administratively and adopted Objective Design Standards (ODS) for residential projects and mixed-use projects with a residential component (Policy H1.6). Overall, staff started work on all policies and actions with a 2024 timeline as soon as adoption and certification occurred, and much of the work was completed by the end of the year. But, due to time constraints and the fall election, completion of some of these efforts will be happening in the first half of 2025.
General Plan 2040
General Plan 2040 was adopted by the City Council on March 18, 2024, and included some land use designations that exceed the City’s voter-approved height and density limits (Measure Y). 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 full 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. In addition to supporting implementation of General Plan 2040, approval of Measure T added approximately 10,000 units of housing capacity to the Housing Element’s Sites Inventory, which was a key objective identified by HCD when it certified the City’s Housing Element (Policy H 1.20).
The passage of Measure T increased the capacity of the Sites Inventory in the Housing Element from 10,286 units (over and above the RHNA allocation of 7,015 units) to approximately 20,000 units and further expanded development capacity within the City by roughly an additional 10,000 units. General Plan 2040 planned for an additional housing capacity of 19,760 units to be added through 2040. Even prior to the passage of Measure T, the City has demonstrated a strong track record of supporting housing developments, such as Kiku Crossing, a recently completed development with 225 affordable units, Peninsula Heights on Campus Drive, currently under construction, with 290 for-sale units and 477 9th Ave, a mixed- use project with 120 apartment units that will be starting construction this spring. Additional projects under review, approved and/or constructed within the past five years are listed in Attachment 5.
Notably, the City has seen an uptick in development applications following approval of Measure T this past November including the following projects, all of which submitted SB 330 Preliminary Applications:
•230 S. El Camino Real - Five-story mixed-use building with 5,000 sq ft of ground floor commercial and 28 for-sale residential units above, with four moderate income below market rate (BMR) units. •668 E. 3 rd Ave. – Eight-story residential building with 125 rental units, with 19 very low income BMR units and 18 moderate income BMR units.
•1650 S. Amphlett Blvd (Bayshore Corporate Commons site) – Three-story residential development with 260 for- sale units - 192 townhome style condominiums and 64 single-family homes, including 39 moderate income BMR units.
•715 San Mateo Drive – Six-story residential building with 181 rental units, including 18 BMR units for very low- income households.
•Hillsdale Mall – Mixed-use redevelopment of the southern portion of the mall site and surrounding properties (~32 acres) with 1,392 rental and for-sale units, including 209 very low income BMR units. •678 Concar Drive (Concar Passage) – Mixed-use development project with a total of 869 residential units and approximately 16,400 square feet of commercial space. 138 units are proposed in three-story townhouse buildings and 731 units are proposed in six to seven-story multiple family buildings. The project proposes 223 BMR units affordable to low-income households.
Planning staff continues to discuss potential applications with other interested developers and anticipates that additional applications will be filed in the coming months.
The City will also begin a Comprehensive Zoning Code Update to align the Zoning Code with General Plan 2040. Until that
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effort is complete, an Ordinance to amend the General Provisions section of the Zoning Code is proposed (Attachment 2) to update existing sections of the Zoning Code relating to implementation of Measure T and general plan consistency. This Ordinance would incorporate the uses, densities, intensities, and heights specified in Land Use Element of the General Plan 2040 (Measure T) where they may conflict with the existing Zoning Code. This Ordinance will establish the standards in General Plan 2040 as governing until the Zoning Code has been updated. This amendment also ensures that the City’s Zoning Code is consistent with the General Plan and in conformance with state law (Government Code Sections 65589.5 and 65860).
DISCUSSION:
Zoning Code Amendments
To implement the General Plan and Housing Element policies, State law requires that the City review and update the Zoning Code to ensure that its review processes and requirements are compatible with the objectives, policies, and programs specified in the General Plan and in conformance with State Law. San Mateo Municipal Code (SMMC) Section
27.060.040(c) requires the Planning Commission to review amendments to the Zoning Code and make a recommendation to the City Council.
The first proposed Ordinance in Attachment 1 includes Zoning Code amendments that would amend certain sections of the Zoning Code to facilitate and support the production of new housing at all income levels, but especially affordable housing, and to facilitate and support protection of current residents to prevent displacement, and the opportunities for expanding homeless shelters and other types of residential uses.
The second proposed Ordinance in Attachment 2 includes amendments to SMMC Chapter 27.02 (General Provisions) to modify the existing language to be consistent with General Plan 2040 and Measure T. What this means is that this proposed Ordinance would allow for the full implementation of the Land Use Element in General Plan 2040 (Measure T).
Where there is a conflict or inconsistency between the Zoning Code and the General Plan 2040, the uses, densities, intensities and heights specified in Table LU-1 (Land Use Designations) in the Land Use Element and associated with the Land Use Map shall control. This language will remain in place while the Zoning Code undergoes a comprehensive update process for realignment with General Plan 2040. That update process is anticipated to take approximately two years as it involves the review and rezoning of thousands of parcels in the City (primarily within the 10 study areas), the establishment of completely new zoning designations to align with the higher density/intensity land use designations, and a restructuring of the entire Zoning Code to improve functionality and usability, remove antiquated and outdated language and requirements, and fully align it with policies in the General Plan. The work will be phased, with the time sensitive work related to establishing new zoning designations to align with the new land use designations, and critical parcel rezonings occurring in the initial phases of this effort.
Regarding the Land Use Designations Table LU-1, a range of densities is specified, and pursuant to state law, projects would be allowed to build up to the maximum end of that range. In other words, a project is allowed to utilize the maximum allowed density specified in the General Plan, even if the Zoning Code has a lower limit. Also, while the range in this table sets the maximum density for each land use designation, it does not require that projects be built to that maximum density. In sum, the General Plan Land Use Element sets maximum allowable density limits, and there are no minimum residential density requirements currently. There is a separate policy effort as part of the Housing Element implementation that will be brought forward later this year to evaluate minimum density requirements and whether projects of certain sizes or in certain locations should be required to meet any minimums.
A summary of the proposed amendments and how they align with Housing Element Policies, Program Measures, and Implementation Actions is included as Attachment 3. The summary also includes relevant State Law references and a discussion of how each implementation action is addressed in the Zoning Code amendments. A track-changes version of the code amendments to show existing and proposed language is included as Attachment 4.
Staff recommends the City Council find the proposed Ordinance and zoning code amendments are in conformance with the Housing Element Policies referenced above to facilitate and support the production of new housing at all income levels, to facilitate and support protection of current residents to prevent displacement, and to create opportunities for
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expanding homeless shelters and other types of residential uses.
Housing Projects - Administrative Approval Threshold
On November 20, 2023, the City Council adopted Objective Design Standards (ODS) for multi-family and mixed-use projects with a residential component and as noted above, amended the Zoning Code to increase the administrative approval threshold for residential projects from six units to 25 units. As part of this action, Council requested that staff investigate the possibility of further increasing the administrative approval threshold to further support and streamline the approval process for housing projects in compliance with the ODS.
In response to this direction, staff surveyed other jurisdictions around the Bay Area and State to understand the range of project sizes that were allowed to be approved administratively (without a public hearing). A total of 23 jurisdictions responded to staff’s inquiry. Of those responding cities, 18 cities allow residential development projects to be approved administratively if adhering to objective design standards. Of the 18 cities, 13 cities use the development project’s unit count as the threshold, three cities allow projects of any size to be approved administratively (Sacramento, Milpitas, and San Leandro), and two cities (Redwood City and Santa Rosa) use height/size thresholds. Of the 13 cities that use a unit count threshold, only two of them (Fairfield, 150 units and Pleasanton, 50 units) have a threshold of 50 units or more (see Attachment 5).
In reviewing multi- family residential or mixed-use development projects with less than 10,000 square feet of commercial floor area approved in San Mateo over the past five years, there were a total of 17 projects (see Attachment 5). Five of those projects contained 50 units or less. Of those five projects, two projects were up to 25 units and both projects were four stories in height. The other three projects were between 25 and 50 units with heights of four, five, and six stories.
Under the City’s ODS, projects between four to seven stories are considered mid-rise buildings and subject to the same objective design standards; therefore, if the threshold for Zoning Administrator review is raised from 25 to 50 units, those residential development projects would likely be built in mid-rise structures and be required to conform to the same objective design standards as projects up to 25 units. In addition, other city policies, Ordinances, and standards apply equally to all multiple-family residential development projects and are equally reviewed under the State’s Housing Accountability Act, which limits the City’s ability to deny residential projects that comply with objective standards.
Therefore, to meet and exceed the commitment of Housing Element Policy H1.6, to support streamlining the housing application review process, staff recommends modifying the Powers and Duties of the Zoning Administrator (Section
27.06.020(h)(1)(A)) to review and take final action on proposed residential development projects that are consistent with the ODS by increasing the project size threshold from 25 to 50 units, and similarly the Planning Commission Jurisdiction's (Section 27.06.040(a)(3)(A)) approval authority for residential development projects that meet objective design standards from 26 to 51 units. Mixed-use development projects with more than 10,000 square feet of commercial floor area would still exceed the threshold and not be eligible for Zoning Administrator review and approval.
Planning Commission Recommendation
The Planning Commission reviewed the two proposed Ordinances at their February 11, 2025 meeting and recommended that Council adopt the proposed Ordinances to implement various programs and policies established in San Mateo’s 2023- 2031 Housing Element (Sixth Housing Cycle) and implement General Plan Ballot Measure T. The Commission’s recommendation included raising the threshold for residential development projects that are in compliance with the City’s adopted Objective Design Standards from the existing 25-unit limit to 150 units. Alternatively, the Planning Commission considered recommending the elimination of the unit threshold altogether. Some Commissioners expressed the significance of state law pursuant to SB 330 that limits their ability to apply discretion to residential projects that are in compliance with the Objective Design Standards, noting their inability to require design modification to projects even if strongly opposed by community members. The Ordinance in Attachment 1 includes the 50-unit threshold; however, the Council can modify the threshold based on one of the Commission’s recommendation or a different threshold if desired.
BUDGET IMPACT:
The Zoning Code Amendments to implement the Housing Element and General Plan are fully funded in the Community
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Development Department’s annual operating budget, utilizing the Advanced Planning Fund, and do not impact the City’s General Fund.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for General Plan 2040 analyzed new residential development of up to 19,764 new housing units and growth around the City through 2040. On March 18, 2024, the City Council certified the EIR.
In accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15183, the zoning amendment to modify housing development provisions and development standards (“Project”) is exempt from further environmental review because the Project, which generally allows for more housing types to be permitted uses in specific zoning districts and remove regulatory barriers from the zoning code, is consistent with the anticipated land uses under the land use designations adopted as part of General Plan 2040 for which an EIR was certified. There are no specific proposed changes to residential development densities, and it is consistent with the development densities established by General Plan 2040.
The Project is also consistent with the implementation policies of the adopted and certified Housing Element and pursuant to certain mandates in state law.
Applying Section 15183, there are no project specific effects that are peculiar to the project; there are no project specific impacts that the General Plan EIR failed to analyze as significant effects; there are no potentially significant off-site and cumulative impacts that the EIR failed to evaluate; there is no substantial new information which results in more severe impacts than anticipated by the EIR; and projects will be required to comply with mitigation measures contained in the EIR.
Furthermore, any future development of sites where these code amendments would apply would be evaluated as a potential “Project” under CEQA and if necessary, be further assessed for their potential environmental impacts prior to City entitlement.
NOTICE PROVIDED:
All meeting noticing requirements were met, including the publishing of a public notice in a newspaper of general circulation at least 20 days in advance of the public meeting in compliance with Assembly Bill (AB) 2904 and Government Code Section 65854.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Draft Ordinance – Zoning Code Amendments to Implement Housing Element Policies Att 2 – Draft Ordinance – Zoning Code Amendments to Implement General Plan Ballot Measure T Att 3 – Summary and Discussion of Ordinance Changes
Att 4 – Proposed Zoning Code Amendments (Track Changes) Att 5 – Residential Development Project and City Survey Data
STAFF CONTACT
Steve Golden, Principal Planner
[email protected]
(650) 522-7215
Zachary Dahl, Director
[email protected]
(650) 522-7207