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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: 9 Section Name: PUBLIC HEARING Account Number: 25-3112 File ID: 26-10876 TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
MEETING DATE: February 23, 2026
SUBJECT:
General Plan - San Mateo's 2023-2031 Housing Element — Amendments RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution to approve amendments to the General Plan’s Housing Element for the Sixth Housing Cycle (2023- 2031) that is compliant with State law, provides a plan for at least 7,015 new housing units, affirmatively furthers fair housing, and is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act, based on the listed findings.
BACKGROUND:
In May 2024, the City adopted its 2023-2031 (6th Cycle) Housing Element, which was subsequently certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in July 2024. The Housing Element includes an inventory of sites that can potentially be developed with housing (“Sites Inventory”). State law requires that the Sites Inventory include enough housing opportunity sites with sufficient capacity to meet the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 7,105 housing units between 2023 and 2031.
Following adoption of the Housing Element, the Housing Action Coalition (HAC) filed a lawsuit against the City, claiming that the Housing Element did not satisfy state law because sites listed on the Sites Inventory were not likely to serve as locations for future housing construction because of existing and active uses. In July 2025, the parties entered into a settlement agreement (“Settlement Agreement”). The City agreed to amend the Housing Element to remove certain sites from the Sites Inventory, limit the use of certain other sites for the purposes of “No Net Loss” calculations under Government Code Section 658631. In addition, since the adoption of the 2023-2031 Housing Element, voters approved Measure T in November 2024, which increased residential densities around San Mateo and increased the City’s housing capacity by approximately 19,760 units. Also, since approval, the City has experienced a significant uptick in new development applications, with proposed projects with more than 5,200 residential units currently seeking entitlement.
As part of these amendments, only the main Housing Element document and Appendix C (Housing Resources and Sites Inventory) will be updated. All other Housing Element appendices that were adopted by the City and certified by HCD in July 2024 will remain unchanged. On December 18, 2025, HCD determined that the City’s proposed Housing Element amendments are in substantial compliance with California Government Code Section 65580 et seq. and can be certified once adopted locally. The HCD letter finding that the proposed Housing Element amendments will substantially comply with State Housing Element Law is included as Attachment 2.
A draft City Council Resolution to adopt the General Plan Amendments to the 2023-2031 Housing Element is included as Attachment 1. The findings included in the Resolution outline how the Housing Element is compliant with State law, provides 1 Under Government Code Section 65863 if the City approves a development of a parcel identified in the Housing Element sites inventory with fewer units than shown in the Housing Element, the City must make findings that the Housing Element’s remaining sites have sufficient capacity to accommodate the remaining unmet RHNA by each income level. Also, the City may not disapprove a housing project on the basis that approval of the development would trigger the identification or zoning of additional adequate sites to accommodate the remaining RHNA.
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a plan for at least 7,015 new housing units, affirmatively furthers fair housing, and is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Importantly, the proposed Housing Element amendments would only go into effect upon formal recertification by HCD, and not immediately upon City Council approval. Findings to support the CEQA determination that the proposed Housing Element amendments are exempt from further environmental review are also included in the Resolution. The proposed Housing Element amendments are included as Attachment 3, with a tracked changes version included as Attachment 4.
DISCUSSION:
This section details the changes made to the Sites Inventory in the proposed amendments. The categories of these changes are:
Sites removed from the Sites Inventory consistent with the Settlement Agreement Sites remaining on the Sites Inventory but not counted for “No Net Loss” purposes, consistent with the Settlement Agreement
Sites added to the Sites Inventory where projects have been proposed (“Pipeline Projects”), adjusted since Housing Element adoption due to new, updated or withdrawn proposals Changes to the “realistic capacity” assumptions for many of these sites due to the passage of Measure T.
Sites Inventory Removals
Consistent with the Settlement Agreement with HAC, the Housing Opportunity Sites Inventory (Appendix C, Table 2, see Attachment 5) was updated to remove the following seven sites:
1. The Bridgepointe Shopping Center Parking Lot (portion of APN 035-466-100)
2. 1826 and 1850 S. Norfolk St. (Parkside Plaza Shopping Center) (APNs 035-381-020 and -030)
3. 71-77 Bovet, and 1750 El Camino Real (Borel Shopping Center) (APNs 039-011-450, -460, -470, -480, -500, -510)
4. 229 W. 20th Ave., 205 W. 20th Ave., and 2010 Pioneer Court (Consolidated Site H) (APNs 039-052-350, 039-060-010, and 039-060-020)
5. 150 W. 20th Ave. (APN 039-030-220)
6. 4060 S. El Camino Real (Villa Plaza) (APN 042-241-180)
7. 5 N. San Mateo Dr., 123 Baldwin Ave., 117 Baldwin Ave., 26 N. San Mateo Dr., 27 N. San Mateo Dr. (Downtown Parking Lots) (APNs 032-312-250, -270, -150, -100 and -070) If the property owner for any of these seven sites objects to its removal from the Sites Inventory, then that location will remain on the inventory but will not be counted for “No Net Loss” purposes, pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. This is what occurred with the Bel Mateo/Olympic Shopping Center site (No. 4 in the list immediately below) and 1311 S. El Camino Real (No. 5 below) that were originally planned for removal from the Sites Inventory.
Sites Remaining on the Sites Inventory but not Counted for “No Net Loss” Purposes The following sites will remain on the Sites Inventory, but will not be used for “No Net Loss” purposes. However, if any of these five sites become the subject of a housing development preliminary application or a formal application, then the site may be considered for “No Net Loss” purposes.
1. 1500 Fashion Island Blvd. (County Office Building) (APN 035-550-040)
2. 1900 S. Norfolk St. (The Atrium) (APN 035-391-090)
3. 1650 Borel Place (APN 039-011-400)
4. Bel Mateo/Olympic Shopping Center (APNs 042-242-050, -060, -070, -160; 042-243-020, 042-244-040, -050; 042- 245-040, -050, -060, -070, -080, -090, -100, -110, -120, -130; 042-263-010, 042-264-010)
5. 1311 S. El Camino Real (APN 034-301-200)
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Added to the Sites Inventory
Since adoption of the Housing Element in May 2024, several applications for new housing development projects have been submitted to the City seeking planning entitlements. These are now included as Pipeline Projects. The Pipeline Projects list includes all housing development projects that are under review (submitted applications), approved (entitled) and under construction (building permits issued). These include the following sites:
1. 600 E 3 rd Ave. (Gateway) (APN 034-188-140)
2. 230 S. El Camino Real (APN 034-093-050)
3. 1 E. 4 th Ave. (includes 15 E 4th Ave. and 25 E 4th Ave.) (APNs 034-143-260, -300, and -310)
4. 22 N. San Mateo Dr. (APN 032-321-340)
5. 2015 Pioneer Ct. (APN 039-060-860)
6. 3000 Clearview Way (APN 041-361-120)
7. Hillsdale Mall Sites (APNs 039-490-170, 039-353-010, -020, -030, and -040, 042-121-080 and -060) In addition to these sites, the City has added the site at 1770 S. Amphlett Blvd (former Marriott site; APN 035-241-220) to the Sites Inventory as new housing opportunity site.
Other Sites Inventory Changes
Some sites that were seeking planning entitlements and considered Pipeline Projects are no longer actively seeking those entitlements; therefore, they were removed as Pipeline Projects but remain as opportunity sites. In addition, some sites that were included as Pipeline Projects (with or without planning entitlement approvals) have resubmitted new applications for residential development projects with increased number housing units (due to the passage of Measure T). Those sites have been updated with the housing unit counts consistent with those new applications.
Measure T Voter Approval
As previously stated, in November 2024, San Mateo voters approved Measure T, implementing Policy H1.20 of the Housing Element, which provided for focused growth near transit, the downtown, and other targeted areas. This increased potential residential development capacity around the City by approximately 20,000 units. The Housing Element Amendment updates language throughout the document accounting for the adoption of Measure T and removing language that addresses any potential actions to be taken in-lieu of the passage of Measure T.
Realistic Capacities
“Realistic capacities” are used in the opportunity sites methodology to determine the estimated number of housing units a given site is likely to produce, which may be different from the number of units the site is allowed to produce according to its base zoning density. With the passage of Measure T, the densities of General Plan 2040 and the realistic capacities for many of the housing opportunity sites have been updated to account for the increased capacity from 50 dwelling units per acre to 99 or 130 dwelling units per acre, depending on the land use designation. The Sites Inventory numbers in the revised Appendix C (Attachment 5) and the Housing Element have been updated to reflect these increased capacities. A tracked changes version of the revised Appendix C is included as Attachment 6.
Also, since the update of General Plan 2040 and passage of Measure T, the City has received 14 preliminary/formal applications3 for residential development projects that largely take advantage of the increased densities and height limits in General Plan 2040. These new projects are being proposed at an average of 122% of base density 4. The City analyzed these recent projects along with other residential development projects previously analyzed, and adjusted the realistic capacities of each site accordingly. On sites that were previously assigned a realistic capacity of 75% of the site’s zoning district density, the realistic capacities were increased to 90% of the base density of the site’s General Plan Land Use designation. For Pipeline 3 At the time the Housing Element Amendment was being drafted. Since the draft was completed and publicly noticed, additional residential development projects have been submitted to the City, but will not be included in the Sites Inventory. 4 The average density does not include the housing development project proposals at the Hillsdale Mall site or the site at 3000 Clearview Dr. because these sites are significantly larger than 10 acres and are not representative of a majority of sites in the City that will likely develop during this planning period.
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Projects, the project’s proposed unit count (affordable and market rate) was used.
Table 1 below provides a summary of the housing unit potential of the Sites Inventory based on all of the proposed updates.
This includes the removal of several sites from the Inventory, the addition of new sites, changes to pipeline projects, voter approval of Measure T, and changes to the realistic capacities in calculating the estimated unit potential on each opportunity site. It shows the housing unit potential and excluding those sites the City will not use for the purpose of calculating “No Net Loss” (NNL), referred to as “NNL Sites.” In the table, the “Opportunity Sites” row does not include parcels that the City agreed to exclude under its settlement agreement with HAC. If one were to include those parcels, the Opportunity Sites total would include potential for 9,334 housing units. The table shows that, even with the removal of sites and limitations on using sites for “No Net Loss” purposes, the potential housing units in the Sites Inventory significantly exceeds its remaining RHNA (RHNA minus Pipeline Projects) by a 32% to 484% buffer depending on income category. Furthermore, as of December 2025, the City had issued permits for over 300 new ADUs, which puts San Mateo on track to significantly exceed the estimated 440 new ADUs through the end of 2031, so that will further increase the buffer over the remaining RHNA.
Table 1 – Updated Housing Element Sites Inventory
Lower
Total Units Very Low Low Moderate Above Moderate
RHNA 7,015 1,777 1,023 1,175 3,040
ADUs 440 132 132 132 44
Pipeline Projects 4,7877 784 177 3,826
Remaining RHNA
(RHNA - Pipeline Projects) 2,228 2,016 998 (786)
Opportunity Sites
(excluding non-NNL sites) 7,362 3,003 1,310 3,022
Buffer Over Remaining
RHNA8
5,134
(230%)
1,014
(50%)
312
(32%)
3,808
(484%)
Other Amendments
Other minor revisions in the Housing Element amendments include updates to implementation plan action items for Policy H 3.1 (Prevent Homelessness) to reflect the recently established emergency rental assistance program ($150,000 annually) and minor updates to actions under Policies H 3.4 (Expand Tenant Protections) and H 5.4.1 (Establish Tenant Protections in Local Ordinance), for internal consistency and to better align with recent Council action. Additionally, Policy H 1.2 (Utilize Public Funding and Properties for New Affordable Housing) would be revised to give the City flexibility during budget deficit conditions from being required to set aside 20% of General Fund property tax revenues from former RDA areas (“Boomerang Funds”) to use for affordable housing development. However, the City’s housing funds are currently in a strong position, between the Housing Set-Aside Reserve ($6.3 million), the Low and Moderate Income Housing Asset Fund ($5.4 million), and the City Housing Fund ($1.4 million). As part of implementing Policy H 1.2, a City Council study session is planned for later this year to discuss the current use of these funds and a future strategy for leveraging other funding sources to support Housing Element implementation. Furthermore, the City’s current housing development pipeline includes over 5,200 housing units 9 with over 950 new affordable units, so compliance with the Housing Element’s affordable housing requirements is on track.
HCD Review
7 Number of pipeline units as of October 10, 2025; the date that the draft amendments were published for public review. 8 Remaining RHNA subtracted from Opportunity Sites (to be conservative, excluding “NNL” sites) 9 Pipeline project estimate as of the date of publication of this agenda report.
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On October 10, 2025, the City published a draft of the Housing Element Amendments to the City’s website and sent a notification to the Housing Policy/Housing Element email distribution list to start the seven-day review period pursuant to Government Code Section 65585. No public comments were received that required changes to the draft Housing Element Amendments. On October 20, 2025, City staff sent the draft Housing Element Amendments to HCD for review. On December 18, 2025, City staff received the City received a letter from HCD determining that the City’s Housing Element - with the proposed amendments – would continue to be in substantial compliance with Government Code Section 65580 et seq. (Housing Element Law) and can be certified once adopted locally (Attachment 2).
Planning Commission Recommendation
Pursuant to Govt. Code Section 65353(a) and San Mateo Municipal Code Section Subsection 27.06.040(b), the Planning Commission must first hold a public hearing and provide a recommendation to the City Council on any proposed amendments to the General Plan. On January 27, 2026, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider the Housing Element Amendments. There were no verbal or written public comments. The Commission voted unanimously (5- 0) to recommend adoption of the 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments to the City Council.
Findings for Adoption
Given HCD’s finding of substantial compliance and the Planning Commission’s favorable recommendation, staff recommends that the City Council adopt the 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments, based on the following key findings, and as expanded upon in the Draft Resolution in Attachment 1.
1. In accordance with Govt. Code Section 65300.5, the 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments are internally consistent with General Plan 2040 that was adopted on March 18, 2024.
2. The Housing Element Amendments substantially comply with the Housing Element Law, as provided in Govt. Code Section 65580 et seq., and contain all provisions required by the Housing Element Law as demonstrated in the Compliance with Statutory Provisions Table, adopted by City Council on May 20, 2024 in Resolution No. 37 (2024).
The Housing Element Amendments revise only specific sections of Appendix C of the previously adopted Housing Element. HCD has determined that the Housing Element will continue to be in substantial compliance with State law even after the Housing Element Amendments are adopted.
3. Based on substantial evidence in the record, the existing uses on the non-vacant sites identified in the Sites Inventory to accommodate the City’s RHNA are likely to be discontinued during the planning period and/or do not need to be discontinued to accommodate the assigned housing units, and therefore do not constitute an impediment to planned residential development on the site during the planning period.
The 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments will be sent to HCD for formal certification following the City Council’ s review.
BUDGET IMPACT:
Although there are no direct budgetary impacts to taking this action, the preparation of the 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments has involved significant City staff and consultant time. Funding for this work has come primarily from the City’s Advanced Planning Fund (Fund 225), which is funded by a fee collected with each building permit. To implement the Housing Element, a funding source is identified with each Housing Element policy and the Community Development Department will allocate appropriate staff and budgetary resources to complete each effort.
NOTICE PROVIDED:
All meeting noticing requirements were met. A public hearing notice for consideration of the City’s 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments was published in the San Mateo Daily Journal. Notice of the Housing Element Amendments availability was displayed on the home page of the City’s website, posted to the City’s Housing Element website and a physical copy was made available at City Hall. Notice was also included in the City’s E-Newsletter and sent out to various email distribution lists, including the Housing Policy/Housing Element email distribution list.
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ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
The adoption of the 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments are considered exempt under the “common sense” exemption under state CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because the project involves policies, programs, and actions to meet the City’s RHNA and AFFH goals that would not have any potential for causing a significant effect on the environment, and identifies programs and actions to remove constraints and promote affordable housing development. The proposed amendments involve an update to the Housing Element’s Sites Inventory, associated text amendments to align with these Sites Inventory updates and minor updates to various policies, programs, and actions to support meeting the City’s RHNA and AFFH goals. The 2023-2031 Housing Element is strictly a policy document that does not provide entitlements to any specific development projects and would not result in any direct or indirect physical changes to the environment. The proposed amendments are aligned with, and do not change, the Housing Element functioning as a policy document. Further, the proposed amendments do not include specific amendments to any land use regulations at this time, but rather update the policies and programs that will guide future implementation actions. Any subsequent implementation actions that include amendments to the City’s land use or zoning regulations would be subject to separate CEQA review at the time those amendments are prepared, if required. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that the amendments to the City of San Mateo 2023-2031 Housing Element would not have a significant effect on the environment and are therefore exempt from CEQA review.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Proposed Resolution
Att 2 – HCD Substantial Compliance Finding Letter
Att 3 – 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments
Att 4 – 2023-2031 Housing Element Amendments (Tracked Changes) Att 5 – Appendix C – Housing Resources and Sites Inventory Amendments Att 6 – Appendix C – Housing Resources and Sites Inventory Amendments (Tracked Changes)
STAFF CONTACT
Steve Golden, Principal Planner
[email protected]
650-522-7215