A industrial website on San Antonio Street can be reworked right into a residential neighborhood with 75 condominiums below a proposal that the Palo Alto Metropolis Council is ready to evaluate on Aug. 15.
The plan is being proposed by Yorke Lee of TS800 SA LLC, a Saratoga-based restricted legal responsibility company. If authorised, the undertaking at 800 San Antonio Street, close to Leghorn Road, can be positioned subsequent to the positioning of one other residential neighborhood that the council had just lately authorised: a 102-apartment constructing at 788 San Antonio Street that obtained the inexperienced mild in November 2020.
Each tasks are testing the council’s current dedication to bringing extra housing to San Antonio and close by roads which have historically been dominated by industrial and industrial makes use of. The conversion of business and manufacturing zones on the southern fringe of town into residential communities is likely one of the key methods that the council is pursuing as a part of its plan to meet a state mandate for six,086 new housing models between 2023 and 2031.
Not like the prior San Antonio undertaking, the brand new condominium proposal is banking on the “deliberate housing zone,” which permits residential builders and town to barter over improvement requirements akin to peak, density and parking. And in contrast to different current condominium proposals akin to 2850 W. Bayshore Street and 200 Portage Ave., this one isn’t topic to state streamlining guidelines. As a result of it is a “deliberate zoning” undertaking that does not meet present requirements, the council can have full discretion to request modifications or deny the undertaking when it holds its preliminary evaluate on Aug. 15.
If the council provides the proposal a positive evaluate, the applicant can have the choice of submitting a proper utility, which might then be vetted by planning workers the Planning and Transportation Fee earlier than returning to the council for formal approval.
If authorised, the condominium undertaking would take over a 0.87-acre website that presently contains the Physique Kneads Day Spa and Sequoia Academy, which offers tutoring and preparatory programs to college students. With a peak of 60 toes, the five-story constructing would exceed town’s typical 50-foot peak restrict. It must designate at the very least 15 models as reasonably priced housing, although the applying didn’t specify the extent of affordability at which these models can be supplied.
The undertaking would additionally deviate from different zoning requirements, together with density and lot protection. The developer is requesting a flooring space ratio of two.99, whereas metropolis code usually permits flooring space ratio 0.6 for completely residential undertaking, based on a report from the Division of Planning and Group Setting. It’s searching for 68% lot protection the place 50% is generally allowed. And its density of 75 dwellings at a 0.87-acre website far exceeds what would usually be allowed in a multifamily residential zone, which might be 26 models in an RM-30 zone.
The undertaking is considered one of a number of current proposals to depend on the “deliberate housing zone,” which the council launched in 2020 however which up to now has not led to any authorised developments. In current months, builders have proposed utilizing the zoning designations to construct housing tasks at present websites of Nation Inn Motel at 4345 El Camino Actual; at Creekside Inn at 3400 El Camino Actual; and at 70 Encina Ave., close to City & Nation Village. None of those tasks have been reviewed by the council up to now.
A report from planning workers means that the council’s suggestions on the San Antonio proposal might affect different builders. It notes that pre-screening critiques are meant to solicit early suggestions and that no formal actions can be taken.
“That stated, there may be curiosity amongst different dwelling builders and property house owners to study of the Council’s preliminary response to the topic request, which can affect the submitting of future prescreening requests,” the report states.
