3705 Haven Ave.

March Capital Management has submitted an application proposing to comprehensively redevelop the 0.66 acre project site at 3705 Haven Avenue. The proposed project would include the demolition of an existing 10,361-square-foot single-story commercial building and construction of an eight-story, 112-unit multi-family rental apartment building, with associated open space, podium parking, and infrastructure improvements, utilizing the City’s density bonus allowance in exchange for community amenities. Additionally, the proposed Project would be developed using the State Density Bonus Law, which allows for an increase in density when below market rate (BMR) housing units are provided.

Under the City’s Zoning Code, the property’s maximum density is 66 units, per the bonus level of development allowed under the applicable Residential Mixed-Use Bonus (R-MU-B) zoning district. The proposed project would provide 15 percent of the project’s base density of 66 units (equal to 10 units) as seven very-low income units and three moderate income units to satisfy the City’s BMR Housing Program and Guidelines requirements. The project would also include three BMR units affordable to very low income households as a community amenity and one additional BMR unit affordable to moderate income households, for a total of 14 BMR units (10 very-low income BMR units and four moderate-income BMR units). Based on this contribution, the State Density Bonus Law entitles the applicant to a 73 percent density bonus, which accommodates the 112 proposed units.

In addition to the additional density, the State Density Bonus Law entitles the project to waivers from development standards to accommodate the project’s proposed density and three incentives that would result in cost savings to the project. Accordingly, the project includes requests for waivers from R-MU-B development standards and the City’s BMR Guidelines to increase the maximum height, increase the maximum floor area ratio (FAR), reduce ground floor height requirement, reduce the ground floor transparency requirement, reduce parking and parking stall dimension requirements, and allow slightly smaller BMR units. Additionally, project includes requests for incentives to not underground utilities along the project frontage, remove the requirement to dual-plumb the buildings for future use of recycled water, and to allow rents for moderate income BMR Program Units to reach the rental amount permitted by the Health and Safety Code without being subject to the City’s BMR Guideline requirement that BMR rents be limited to no more than 75% or market rents.

The overall proposal includes:

Total dwelling units: 112 (all for rent)
Below market rate (BMR) units: 10 very-low income and 4 moderate-income units
Total proposed gross floor area: 120,460 square feet
Floor Area Ratio (FAR): 4.10
Proposed building height: Approximately, 93 feet (8 stories)
Total parking spaces:
- Vehicular spaces: 56
- Bike Parking (short-term): 168
- Bike Parking (long-term): 17
Open space: 10,764 square feet
Publicly accessible open space: 4,670 square feet

The following city actions (e.g., agreements, permits, analyses and reviews) would be required for the proposed project:

Use permit
Architectural control
Heritage tree removal permits
Below market rate housing agreement
Environmental review

Current status

On February 24, 2025, the Planning Commission determined the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and approved the use permit, architectural control permit, and Below Market Rate (BMR) Housing Agreement. On March 10, 2025, the City received a call-up request by a Councilmember for further review and discussion.

Environmental review

On October 12, 2022, the applicant submitted a housing development project for 99 units and approximately 5,718 square feet of commercial space. The Planning Commission first reviewed the application on December 18, 2023 as part of a study session and a scoping meeting for an Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) to evaluate the project’s impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”).

On March 22, 2024, the applicant submitted revised plans proposing to remove the commercial space and develop a residential project with 112 rental apartment units. The City and its CEQA consultant evaluated the revised scope and determined that the project would qualify to be evaluated under the Community Plan Exemption (“CPE”) from CEQA. The CPE, codified in Public Resources Code Section 21083.3 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, helps streamline the environmental review process for projects that are consistent with the land use and density designations in community plans, zoning regulations, or general plan policies that have been analyzed in a certified EIR. The project is consistent with ConnectMenlo (the City’s General Plan Update) and the City’s zoning designation, which were covered under the ConnectMenlo EIR and the Housing Element Update Subsequent EIR, so any further environmental review would be limited to impacts that are “peculiar” to the project or the project site. The City prepared a CPE checklist documenting that no such peculiar impacts exist and confirming that the CPE applies. The checklist and supporting documents are now available.

Notice of preparation

The release of the notice of preparation began a 30-day comment period on the scope and content of the environmental impact report (EIR) to be prepared for the proposed project. The comment period ran from Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, to Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. The comment period was extended to ensure the public has time to review and provide comments given the scheduled city office closure from Monday, Dec. 25, 2023, through Monday, Jan. 1, 2024.