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: 15 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: June 16, 2025
SUBJECT:
Comprehensive Zoning Code Update Professional Services – Appropriation and Agreement RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution to appropriate $926,846 from the Advanced Planning Fund to the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update project, approve a professional services agreement with PlaceWorks to provide technical planning support, community outreach and project management to complete the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update project, and authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement in substantially the form presented.
BACKGROUND:
General Plan 2040
Following a six-year planning effort with extensive community engagement, the City Council adopted General Plan 2040 on March 18, 2024.The General Plan includes a Vision Statement and Guiding Principles, text describing key issues of community interest, and goals, policies and actions that outline how the City will address those issues. General Plan 2040 addresses all the topics required by State law and other topics that the community identified as being fundamental to the quality of life in the City. There are eight core chapters (elements) in General Plan 2040, which include: Land Use; Circulation; Housing (adopted separately on May 20, 2024); Community Design and Historic Resources; Conservation, Open Space, and Recreation; Public Services and Facilities; Safety; and Noise.
Each element in General Plan 2040 includes a concise set of background narratives that summarizes current conditions in the City related to the topics in the element. The background information provides context about the issues the City plans to address, explaining why there is policy direction so that the policies and actions can focus on how the City can achieve a desired outcome. The narratives also provide information on other regulations and/or agencies that influence the decision- making process. Each element in General Plan 2040 addresses a specific set of topics and includes goals, polices and actions that provide a blueprint for how the City will address these issues. These goals, policies, and actions provide guidance to the City on how to direct change and manage resources over the next 20 years.
Overall, General Plan 2040 includes 56 goals with 363 policies and 240 actions (excluding the Housing Element). On June 3, 2024, the City Council held a study session on implementation of General Plan 2040, including how implementation aligned with the City Council’s annual goal setting process (Blue Skies) and an overview of the higher profile projects and initiatives associated with General Plan Actions that were underway. The General Plan Implementation Plan can be viewed on www.StriveSanMateo.org. Two of the key next steps in implementation were the voters taking action on Measure T in November 2024 to allow for full implementation of the Land Use Element and then updating the Zoning Code to allow for full implementation of General Plan 2040. In addition to implementing General Plan 2040, the comprehensive Zoning Code update will update the entire Zoning Code to be aligned with current best practices, improve usability and public accessibility, clarify processes and requirements, streamline the review and approval process, and clean-up conflicts,
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inconsistencies and antiquated language.
Request for Proposals Process
Following voter approval of Measure T in November 2024, staff began work on a request for proposals (RFP) for a technical planning consultant to support the comprehensive zoning code update. The RFP was issued on March 5, 2025, with a deadline for submissions on April 11, 2025. Staff received a total of four proposals in response to the RFP. Following a review of the proposals by staff the top two firms were brought in for a follow-up interview. Based on their technical planning experience, the contents of their proposal and their team’s familiarity with San Mateo, staff identified PlaceWorks as the consultant best qualified to support the City in completing the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update. The full PlaceWorks proposal received on April 11, 2025, is included as Attachment 3. The initial proposal had a higher cost; and staff subsequently worked with PlaceWorks to refine the Scope of Work and Budget to better align with City needs for this project.
Scope of Work
The workplan to complete this project is broken down into seven tasks and is anticipated to take approximately two years to complete. The proposed tasks and a project timeline are as follows, with additional details in Exhibits A and B (Scope of Work and Budget) of Attachment 2.
Task 1 – Project Administration and Management (Months 1-25) Task 2 – Zoning Code Assessment – Research, Analysis, and Phasing Plan (Months 2-7) Task 3 – Community Outreach and Engagement (Months 2-20) Task 4 – Environmental Assessment and Documentation (CEQA Review) (Months 16-23) Task 5 – Updates to Zoning Code, Zoning Map and Related Municipal Codes (Months 8-22) Task 6 – Zoning Code Amendment Adoption Hearings (Months 3-5 & 20-22) Task 7 – Implementation Plan following Adoption (Months 23-25) In addition to the implementation of the General Plan, the current Zoning Code (Title 27 of the San Mateo Municipal Code) is outdated and needs a variety of updates to address current development and community needs, reorganization to improve public usability, and removal and updates to outdated language, antiquated definitions and conflicting requirements. Overall, the policy effort would start with research and consistency analysis using the policies and actions in Geneal Plan 2040 and other best practices to develop an updated framework structure for the Zoning Code. Community outreach and engagement along with Planning Commission/City Council study sessions will be utilized to gain insight into community preferences and guide decision-making throughout the update process. The consultant will prepare a summary of the community engagement efforts which will guide the drafting of Zoning Code Update. Based on the community feedback and Planning Commission/Council direction, the draft Ordinance language will be prepared by City staff and the consultant team.
Once a final draft is prepared, it will be published for community input/review and then scheduled for Planning Commission and City Council consideration and adoption at public hearing. Along with the updated Zoning Code, all parcels Citywide will be assessed for consistency with the General Plan’s Land Use Map, with up to 5,000 parcels potentially requiring an updated Zoning Map designation. The engagement effort will include targeted outreach to all property owners and tenants who may be subject to a rezoning ahead of any Planning Commission and City Council public hearings. Once the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update is adopted, the consultant will work with staff to prepare an implementation plan that includes the necessary internal processes and procedures, and informational handouts for applicants and the public to support full understanding of the new policies and requirements. The Scope of Work includes a robust community outreach and engagement plan, with a range of activities including online surveys, targeted stakeholder meetings, virtual and in-person community meetings, a citywide informational newsletter, and various forms outreach to promote community awareness. This work will be guided by a detailed outreach and engagement strategy that is prepared at the beginning of the project, with the community input collected used to guide decision-making and various aspects of the Zoning Code updates.
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City Council Action
The Resolution to approve the budget appropriation for the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update project is included as Attachment 1 and the professional services agreement with PlaceWorks is included as Attachment 2. Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a Resolution to appropriate $926,846 from the Advanced Planning Fund to the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update project, approve a professional services agreement with PlaceWorks to provide technical planning support, community outreach and engagement, and project management to complete the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update project, and authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement in substantially the form presented.
BUDGET IMPACT:
The budget appropriation of $926,846 would be funded by the Advance Planning Fund (Fund 225) and would not have an impact on the City’s General Fund. The Advanced Planning Fund currently has an available (unrestricted) fund balance of approximately $1.9 million. The budget appropriation includes a professional services agreement with PlaceWorks for $842,587 and a 10 percent contingency of $84,259 to cover additional services that may be necessary during the course of the project.
In addition to the consultant services, it is anticipated that this project will require significant staff time and resources from the Community Development Department and City Attorney’s Office, with an estimated cost range of between $600,000 to $800,000 over two years to complete the project. To offset these staff costs, the City applied for and received a Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) grant of $610,000 from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to cover staff time related to this effort. While it is anticipated that most of the City staff costs will be covered by this grant, all costs that exceed this grant amount will be covered by each Department’s current operating budgets and will not require any additional appropriations.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
The appropriation of funds and agreement approval is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
NOTICE PROVIDED:
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Budget Appropriation Resolution
Att 2 – Professional Services Agreement with PlaceWorks Exhibits A and B – Scope of Work and Budget
Att 3 – PlaceWorks Proposal
STAFF CONTACT
Sung H. Kwon, Deputy Director of Community Development
[email protected]
(650) 522-7203