Redwood City planners approve 72 housing units

First proposed by LMT Home Corporation in 2019, the 72-unit development will feature two- and three-bedroom units just off El Camino Real and outside downtown Redwood City. The project site includes a combination of three parcels at 110-115 Charter St., amassing 78,341 square feet.

Of the development’s 65 three-bedroom units, 10 will be below market rate at the moderate income level. Another two-bedroom unit will also be reserved for moderate-income earners, about 120% the area median income of roughly $100,000 a year. Franco Zaragoza, principal planner with LDP Architecture, said the units will be indistinguishable from all other units and will be dispersed across the property.

Commissioners applauded the developer for offering moderate-level housing, noting the “missing middle” units are difficult to find in the city, particularly for purchase. Of the housing units required to be built in Redwood City by the state through its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the city has struggled to meet its very-below and moderate-level goals while surpassing its below- and above-market goals.

“The prospect of home ownership I thought was really exciting,” Commissioner Elmer Martinez Saballos said. “Allowing folks to have some semblance of housing security would be incredible especially for folks who can’t normally compete in the current housing market.”

Zaragoza said the developer worked closely with planning staff and the structures’ future neighbor the Woodside Central Shopping Center Target, to design a project that would be appealing to future homebuyers. Rather than build at permitted density of 60 units per acre, the developer opted to size down to 40 units an acre to allow for more outdoor space like patios.

Given the lot’s proximity to Caltrain railroad tracks and El Camino Real, the design team worked with an acoustic engineer to develop a method for reducing the industrial noise pollution, a concern raised by the Architectural Advisory Committee.

As a result, a 20-foot sound wall will be installed with additional water features lining the area to provide “dampened white noise” Zaragoza said. Openings will be filled in with a glazing material to break up the wall while still limiting outside noises, he said.

“We have Target as a neighbor. We have a railroad nearby. So we wanted to create a building that would actually be desirable for people to move in this area,” Zaragoza said, adding, “These townhomes are units that are needed that we’ve heard actually form our community as well.”

The Mi Rancho Market and a surface level parking lot will be demolished to make way for the new building. A total of 144 new parking spaces will be built on the ground level of the building with residential homes on the second to fourth floor and an additional 38 bike stalls.

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