San Mateo seeks new standards for development

“In some ways, it’s a little bit more uniformity and a little more even playing field for everybody that’s trying to develop within the city. I think that can serve the whole city well,” Williams said.

At its Aug. 24 meeting, the Planning Commission provided input on what contributes to the character of neighborhoods and what design elements are most important as the city looks to streamline the review process and help promote housing.

Objective standards will offer variable quantifiable uniform standards for site planning, building and massing available to the applicant and city before project submittal. San Mateo currently uses subjective design guidelines from public officials to review and approve development projects. Under objective standards, the city would still review and approve a project, but eligible applicants would no longer have to comply with subjective design review requirements by a public official during the approval process, a staff report said.

Eligible multifamily projects are duplexes and possibly condominiums, townhouses and midrises. Mixed-use developments defined as a housing project and where two-thirds of its square footage is residential would be eligible. Applicable zoning districts would include multiple-family zoning districts of R2, R3, R4, R5 and R5-D, some commercial districts with residential uses, transit-oriented development, executive park districts and zoning districts with residential or downtown overlay, according to a staff report. Sites not eligible for objective standards include historical buildings, commercial-only buildings and single-family residences.

Stricter criteria on housing from state laws played a critical role in starting the process. Senate Bill 35, signed by the governor in 2017 to address the state’s housing shortage, said eligible projects that opt into a streamlined process would only have to meet objective zoning and design review standards. Senate Bill 330 also does not allow jurisdictions to impose subjective design standards. The City Council in 2019 authorized the use of grant funds from the Senate Bill 2 Planning Grant Program to develop objective design standards for multifamily residential projects.

Commissioner Seema Patel said anything that could unify people and communities would strengthen the character of neighborhoods.

“The most unifying character of our neighborhood is the people and, to that end, I would encourage us to think about how we can use these objective design standards to support community and to support community interaction,” Patel said.

Commissioner Adam Nugent said it was an amazing opportunity to shape itself into the future. He suggested the design standards address creating a more walkable area for pedestrians and bicyclists, especially in areas with lots of development. He wanted to look at other cities for examples of objective design standards.

“I’d like to see examples where this has been done so we can crib off of that. I hope we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Nugent said.

Commissioner John Ebneter asked how objective design standards would deal with applications that don’t match with the proposed location at all. Given the same architectural patterns in many areas of California, he was worried about too much uniformity. He favored ensuring the standards allow more open space.

“That really concerns me about having cookie-cutter items or guidelines that we have to follow,” Ebneter said.

Chair Ramiro Maldonado favored expanding the scope of the objective design standards to include light industrial areas or other commercial areas. He thought San Mateo had the opportunity to think on a larger scale.

Objective design standards are likely to be up for City Council consideration in the spring.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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