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June 30, 2023, 07:00 PM
The Housing and Planning Commissions will hold a joint public meeting to consider and make recommendations to the City Council on the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element (“Housing Element”). The Planning Commission will also consider and make recommendations to the City Council on the Final Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) prepared for the Housing Element; Safety Element Update; and a new Environmental Justice Element for the City’s General Plan, and associated General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, Zoning Map, and El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan (“Specific Plan”) Amendments (collectively referred to as “the Project”) in a hybrid format via Zoom and at the City Council Chambers located at 751 Laurel St., on January 12, 2023, beginning at 7 p.m. or as near as possible thereafter, at which time and place interested persons may appear and be heard thereon. The Zoom link will be available with publication of the agenda, on the city website at menlopark.gov/agendas, not less than 72 hours in advance of the meeting. If you challenge this item in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City of Menlo Park at, or before, the public hearing. Written correspondence is typically considered a public record and may be attached to staff reports, which are posted on the city website.
Visit the city website for Planning Commission agenda, public hearing and staff report information at menlopark.gov/PlanningCommissionAgenda.
During the meeting, the Planning Commission will consider recommending approval to the City Council of the following:
- Certification of the Final SEIR, adoption of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) findings, a statement of overriding considerations for significant environmental effects, and approval of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the proposed Project; and
The Housing Commission and Planning Commission will then each consider the Housing Element and whether to adopt resolutions recommending approval to the City Council of the following
- An amendment to the General Plan to update the Housing Element.
Interested persons may appear and be heard thereon.
Project description
State law requires the City to have and maintain a general plan with specific contents in order to provide a vision for the City’s future, and inform local decisions about land use and development, including issues such as circulation, conservation, and safety. The City’s Safety Element was updated in 2013 and the 5th Cycle Housing Element for the 2015-2023 planning period was adopted in 2014. The City’s Land Use and Circulation Elements of the General Plan were most recently updated and adopted in 2016.
Housing Element, and Zoning Ordinance, Zoning Map, and Specific Plan Amendments
The Housing Element is one of the state-mandated elements of the General Plan. State law specifically requires the City to update the Housing Element by January 31, 2023. Based on the requirements of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the City’s 6th Cycle Housing Element (for the eight-year planning period from 2023 to 2031) must identify housing sites for at least 2,946 units at specified levels of affordability (income limits/groups based on AMI, adjusted annually by HCD) plus a buffer of additional units at appropriate densities. This assignment is referred to as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). The City will also need to rezone the identified sites, as necessary, to accommodate the new units. The City will also need to undertake any related changes to other elements of the General Plan, the City’s Zoning Ordinance, Zoning Map, and Specific Plan following adoption of the Housing Element to ensure that the General Plan as a whole remains consistent with the Housing Element.
The City has updated its Housing Element to comply with the requirements of State law by analyzing existing and projected housing needs, and updating goals, policies, objectives, and implementation programs for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing for all income categories. In addition, the SEIR analyzed up to 4,000 net new housing units to meet the City’s RHNA plus a 30 percent buffer during the 2023 to 2031 planning period. The housing sites would be geographically dispersed throughout the city, primarily located in Council Districts 2, 3, 4 and 5, and could be produced through a combination of rezoning, increased densities, and/or updates to the Zoning Ordinance, Zoning Map, and Specific Plan, based on the following general strategies:
- “Re-use” sites (for RHNA) from the City’s current Housing Element and allow “by right” development for projects that include at least 20 percent affordable units. Densities would allow at least 30 dwelling units per acre (du/ac) on these sites, and the maximum potential density may increase beyond 30 du/ac.
- Increase the permitted densities for sites within the Specific Plan area to allow at least 30 du/ac at the base level density and potential increases to the maximum bonus level density. The intent is to remove the existing residential cap of 680 units to allow for greater development potential in the Specific Plan area. These actions would require amendments to the Specific Plan and modifications to the Specific Plan development standards.
- Modify the affordable housing overlay (AHO; Menlo Park Municipal Code Chapter 16.98) to allow up to 100 du/ac for 100 percent affordable housing developments (meaning 100 percent of units would be available to low and very low-income residents) and potential increase in densities for mixed-income developments where the percentage of affordable housing exceeds the City’s Below Market Rate requirement.
- Modify certain retail/commercial zoning districts to allow for residential uses and other potential development standards to encourage the production of mixed-use developments (C-1, C-1-A, C-2, C-2-A, C-2-B, C-2-S, and C-4 zoning districts).
- Remove the 10,000 square-foot minimum lot size requirement for R-3 zoned properties located around downtown, which would allow all applicable sites a density of up to 30 du/ac, and allow all R-3 zoned properties with a lot area over two acres a density of up to 20 du/ac.
Associated zoning modifications to achieve the increased densities (such as floor area ratio, height, and/or others) will continue to be refined based on additional public input and analysis and, in combination with the actions described above, would result in a theoretical capacity for housing production greater than the 4,000 housing units studied in the SEIR. However, 4,000 housing units represents a conservatively large “umbrella” of study for the purposes of environmental review and exceeds the amount of residential development anticipated from 2023 to 2031. The SEIR also includes an update of the cumulative growth projection included in the City’s 2016 General Plan EIR for the year 2040.
It is important to note that while State law requires the Housing Element to include an inventory of housing sites and requires the City to appropriately zone sites for multifamily housing, the City is not required to actually develop/construct housing on these sites. Future development on identified sites will be at the discretion of individual property owners and will be largely dependent on market forces and in the case of affordable housing, available funding and/or other incentives.
Safety Element
The Safety Element is also a state-mandated component of a general plan. State law requires that it be updated as needed to address fire risk and climate adaptation and resiliency strategies, and the City is preparing an update to its Safety Element as a result. The Safety Element focuses on the protection of the community from risks associated with climate change, earthquakes, floods, fires, toxic waste, and other hazards. The Safety Element is the means by which the City defines what measures will be undertaken to reduce potential risk of personal injury, property damage, and economic and social dislocation resulting from natural and human-made hazards.
Environmental Justice Element
Recent changes in State law require some jurisdictions to include policies related to Environmental Justice in their general plans. Accordingly, the City is preparing a new Environmental Justice Element with the update to the Safety Element. The purpose of the Environmental Justice Element is to address the unique or compounded health risks in “Disadvantaged Communities” within a jurisdiction. These measures could include, but are not limited to, the reduction of pollution exposure, including the improvement of air quality, and the promotion of public facilities, food access, safe and sanitary homes, and physical activity. In addition, the element serves to promote civic engagement in the public decision-making process and prioritize improvements and programs that address the needs of these communities.
The Safety and Environmental Justice Elements, and the zoning changes associated with the Housing Element described above, will be considered for adoption by the City Council in 2023. The Planning Commission will be a recommending body on the General Plan amendments and zoning changes.