HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-06-08 Planning & transportation commission Summary Minutes_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Planning & Transportation Commission 1
Action Agenda: June 8, 2022 2
Virtual Meeting 3
6:00 PM 4
5
Call to Order / Roll Call 6
Approximately 6:02 pm 7
8
Chair Lauing called to order the Planning & Transportation Commission meeting for June 8th, 9
2022 and requested Roll Call. 10
11
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant gave roll call and established there is a quorum. 12
1. Adoption of a Resolution Authorizing Use of Teleconferencing for Planning and 13
Transportation Commission Meetings During Covid-19 State of Emergency 14
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, provided directions on how members of the public 15
can join the hybrid meeting as well as how to provide written and/or spoken public comments 16
and conducted the roll call vote and announce all Commissioners were present. 17
18
MOTION 19
Commissioner Hechtman moved adoption of the resolution. 20
21
SECOND 22
Vice-Chair Summa seconded. 23
24
VOTE 25
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Ms. Klicheva conducted a roll call vote and announced the motion passed 7-0. 2
MOTION PASSED 6(Chang, Hechtman, Lauing, Reckdahl, Summa, Roohparvar, Templeton) 7-0-0 3
Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Summa. Passed 7-0 4
5
Oral Communications 6
The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 7
Chair Lauing invited members of the public to provide comments on any matters not on the 8
agenda. 9
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, reported there were no public speakers. 10
11
Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 12
The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 13
Chair Lauing asked if there are any agenda changes, additions or deletions. 14
Rachael Tanner, Assistant Director, stated there are no proposed changes from Staff. 15
16
City Official Reports 17
1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 18
Jonathan Lait, Director, provided the Director’s Report to the Commission. On Monday City 19
Council made a resolution on the Castilleja project, the second reading of the ordinance with 20
City Council is scheduled for the 20th of June. Staff is working on changes to the record of land-21
use action at the request of City Council. In addition, City Council approved the Working Plans 22
for the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC), Architectural Review Board (ARB) and 23
the Historic Review Board (HRB). The City Council adopted the Objective Standards Ordinance. 24
They will be adopting the budget for next fiscal year on June 20th, and they will recess beginning 25
the end of June. Director Lait requested PTC members be sure to let staff know of their vacation 26
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
dates when known so staff can track any lack of quorum for future meetings during the 1
summer. 2
Chair Lauing gave a brief summary of his explanation of the Work Plan to City Council. Most of 3
PTC’s work is sourced by Law and City Council and explained the new additions to PTC’s Work 4
Plan which includes the importance of robust community engagement in a forum, the traffic 5
study sessions for public response on areas of high concern, and how PTC created a structured 6
framework for planning the future of Palo Alto established and new neighborhoods as the 7
Housing Element goes into effect. Chair mentioned to City Council there is a lot of reference to 8
staffing in the work plan and that falls under City Council’s control. Chair Lauing was pleased 9
with the feedback and comments from Councilmembers, and they overall were very pleased 10
about how PTC spelled out the importance of PTC for a public forum. Council comments about 11
the traffic study leaned on the side of they wanted to see it get done, not just talked about. 12
Council would like to see PTC do what they can to get the shuttle started and work on the Bike 13
Plan. The Mayor mentioned PTC could look at helping restaurants and parking relative to the 14
adjustment that is taking place with restaurants. Councilmember Filseth urged that the city 15
needs a quantitative analysis on demand for parking. 16
Commissioner Hechtman inquired when the Parcel Map Lot Split with the four cottages will be 17
heard at City Council. 18
Director Lait responded he believed it would be in August. 19
Seeing no questions, Chair Lauing moved to Item Three. 20
21
Action Items 22
Public Comment is Permitted. Applicants/Appellant Teams: Fifteen (15) minutes, plus three (3) minutes rebuttal. 23
All others: Five (5) minutes per speaker.1,3 24
3. 2023-31 Housing Element Goals, Policies and Programs 25
26
Tim Wong, Senior Planner gave a presentation outlining the Housing Element Goals, Policies 27
and Programs for 2023-31. Mr. Wong explained staff has prepared a 2-meeting session for PTC 28
to review, discuss and provide feedback on Housing Element Program requirements so staff can 29
receive PTC direction for the Housing Element draft programs. The hierarchy of the relationship 30
between goals policies and programs is a goal is an end condition statement. The Housing 31
Element requires goals, policies and programs and the policies are some of those position 32
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
statements of how the city will move towards implementing or enacting those goal. The actual 1
implementing items that will be used to achieve that goal are the programs, which go to 2
Housing and Community Development (HCD) review from the state to then be certified. The 3
Housing Element goals are the required program categories that must be touched upon in the 4
Housing Element for preservation of existing housing stock. Affordable housing development 5
provides adequate sites for all types of housing, removal of constraints and/or how to increase 6
housing production, specifically housing for persons with special needs. Fair Housing is a new 7
State requirement. The first goal addresses the category of conservation and preservation of 8
existing housing stock, the second goal assists affordable housing development. The third goal 9
provides adequate sites for a variety of housing types which supports, holistic and strategic 10
Housing Development with a variety of housing prices, types, tenures to meet the diverse 11
needs of all current, and future residents. The comments from the Housing Element Working 12
Group were incorporated into these goals. The fourth goal addresses the removal of constraints 13
for increasing opportunities for housing, this is more to the goal of increasing housing 14
production in the city. The fifth goal matches the fifth category which is housing for persons 15
with special needs which includes seniors, female-headed households, persons with… both 16
intellectual or developmental disabilities, both physical and intellectual, large families. The sixth 17
goal for the city is to proactively affirmatively further fair housing, which is a proactive stance 18
required by the State to promote equal opportunity for all housing types and for all residents. 19
Housing Element programs is an actual government statute which mandates jurisdictions must 20
have programs in their Housing Element to incorporate or implement their stated goals and 21
must include specific actions needed to implement the goals, policies and objectives listed in 22
the Housing Element and each program must have a definitive time frame. All of our programs 23
must meet legislation, but also considers community input and feedback. Some of the programs 24
that will be discussed in this meeting are not complete with data, the document is a work in 25
progress, however staff is looking for PTC feedback for what staff has proposed up to this point. 26
While reviewing Attachment A, there are programs that identify adequate sites when 27
appropriate, with appropriate zoning that directly addresses a State requirement that we have 28
to have adequate sites to meet our RHNA for all income levels, under that specific State 29
requirement, staff included all those proposed programs which touch on that particular 30
requirement. The program number, language, implementing criteria in there, the time frame, 31
who's going to do the rezoning for adequate sites, and the funding source is listed below. The 32
target population and the implementing objective, rezone information to be able to provide 33
adequate sites to meet the City's to meet the City's RHNA and a reference to show what this 34
program is addressing is included. 35
Chair Lauing explained the format for reviewing the information would start with Commission 36
questions for staff, public comments, and a report from the ad-hoc committee. From that point 37
the Commission will decide what is reviewed and discussed at this meeting versus the 2nd 38
meeting and then shift into discussing the objectives and programs. 39
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Commissioner Reckdahl asked if the special needs category was defined by the City or State. 1
Mr. Wong answered the State. Each city can define beyond the state requirements but the core 2
category and requirements for the Special Needs category is State defined. 3
Commissioner Hechtman asked Mr. Wong to explain the penalty for not meeting the May 2023 4
deadline for HCD certification of the Housing Element, and inquired if Palo Alto is conferring 5
with other Cities in the area. 6
Mr. Wong explained the city could not apply for any state housing funds, not having a certified 7
Housing Element could leave the City open to potential lawsuits by the HCD, some low-income 8
housing groups, or the community at large. Additionally, the Housing Element is one of the 9
mandated parts of the Comp Plan so it could potentially invalidate the Comprehensive Plan 10
also. Jurisdictions in Santa Clara County meet on a regular basis to discuss Housing Element 11
strategy and staff are reviewing certified Housing Elements from Southern California, 12
understanding that those programs have been approved by the State and could potentially be 13
appropriate for Palo Alto. 14
15
Vice-Chair Summa asked the reason for the 90-day and the 60-day review, does anything 16
change between the 90-day review period and the HCD comments. 17
18
Mr. Wong explained the 90 and the 60 days are our statutory, and HCD has two review periods 19
as part of the entire Housing Element update. The 90-day is their initial review and will provide 20
a number of comments, typically on the Housing Element. The 60-day review is to make sure 21
the jurisdiction has addressed those comments provided during the 90-day, and any other 22
programs or discussions the City has with the State during that time to make sure those are 23
addressed during that 60-day review. 24
25
Chair Lauing stated there were no other Commission comments and moved on to public 26
comments. 27
28
Steve, resident, thanked staff and the Commission for their work on the Bay Shore project and 29
suggested staff begin conversations with Stanford for potential lots for the site inventory and 30
parking lots should be used for mixed use and not just affordable housing. Some of the projects 31
being heavily debated due to height requirements need to be considered due to the amount of 32
RHNA expectations have tripled and thus far the site inventory didn’t fulfill the fifth cycle, let 33
alone the new requirements as set by the State. 34
35
Gene Snyder, a Stanford University representative, requested the City adopt a more holistic 36
planning approach to the current housing sites proposed in the Stanford Research Park and 37
pause on stipulating very specific design standards and inclusionary housing levels until 38
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1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
feasibility studies can be completed. Stanford appreciated City staff consolidating the Stanford 1
housing sites in one aggregated program which made it easier to see all of those perspective 2
sites in one place. They request that in lieu of individualized, parcel by parcel development 3
standards, that the City staff consider an overlay with consistent parameters that can 4
collaborate on introducing housing in the research park in a much more holistic and connected 5
way. Stanford's interest is ensuring housing is not just planned, but built and realized, and 6
concerned about prematurely stipulating specific design requirements at this stage of the 7
Housing Element that unwittingly render housing unfeasible to build at the numbers that are 8
identified for these sites. Another area of concern is with the inclusionary housing percentages 9
stipulated for the Stanford sites. Prescribing affordability percentages now seems premature 10
when the City has identified a Housing Element program to study feasible, inclusionary housing 11
percentages for rental communities. A request was made to delay stipulating an inclusionary 12
housing on any Housing Element sites, including Stanford's, until after the city completes its 13
planned feasibility analysis and adopts a citywide inclusionary ordinance for rental housing. 14
15
Hamilton Hitchings, member of the Housing Element Working Group, recommended develop 16
affordable housing over the transit center, and public parking lots to address below market 17
shortfalls and tie more up-zoning and developer bonuses to affordable housing. In addition, 18
properties on 300 and 3128 El Camino should require a higher percentage of affordable housing 19
in exchange for the 75-foot height limit. For housing above City-owned parking lots, the City 20
should require 75% of those units to be affordable with a focus on very low- and low-income 21
categories. Because the city is providing the land and should do so in conjunction with State 22
grants, this is one of the few opportunities to provide very heavily subsidized housing, since 23
land is so expensive in the City of Palo Alto. Mr. Hitchings also recommended only exempting 24
development impact fees for BMR housing that is 80% of AMI and below. Due to time 25
constraints, some of the programs in the Housing Element packet were never shown or 26
discussed with an HEWG. This included the renaming of the R-1 designation to something more 27
permissive, increasing the height by an unspecified amount for mixed-use projects, and the 28
housing, the HIP removal of transition heights and removal of retail requirements for HIP. City 29
Mayor Pat Burke said he is concerned Stanford is getting off easy. Even proposed renegotiating 30
the development agreement that allows Stanford to build more office building in SRP. Instead, 31
it was suggested Palo Alto put some teeth into the program to guarantee Stanford commit to 32
build its fair share of housing for the next RHNA cycle on Stanford lands under CERT City 33
jurisdiction. 34
35
Chair Lauing closed public comments and requested a report out from the ad-hoc committee. 36
37
Commissioner Reckdahl stated the ad-hoc just scratched the surface and have had some good 38
discussions. They've learned a lot but haven't got any specifics about sites or programs and 39
there's a significant amount of additional material that they need to cover. 40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Commissioner Chang commented the ad-hoc met twice, the first time was much more of a 2
process overview and the second time they began the review of programs through 2.2. The 3
Meeting Packet seen here is a little different from what the ad-hoc was shown and, there's 4
been additional work by staff that has been put in to the 1.X programs. The ad-hoc did not go 5
through the goals and policies in great detail and focused most of their time and effort on the 6
program specifically because that's likely where HCD is going to be having the most scrutiny. 7
8
Director Lait commented in the pre-meeting they reviewed through program 3 and staff has 9
made revisions since the ad-hoc meeting to include incorporating the ad-hoc comments 10
through program 1.6. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman provided comments on typo and format changes of the document 13
and stated the way Staff tied in the information together in the slide presentation would be 14
helpful in the document, make it more linear with the information from the policies, goals and 15
objectives listed as they pertain to each other. 16
17
Commissioner Chang stated she doesn’t believe it’s linear because some of the programs cross 18
over into multiple goals and objectives. 19
20
Vice-Chair Summa stated she agreed with Commissioner Hechtman suggestion because it is 21
consistent with the way the Comprehensive Plan reads. 22
23
Director Lait stated the headings for the programs we done to be consistent with the State 24
requirements to make it easier for HCD to go down the list for compliance compatibility during 25
their review. 26
27
Commissioner Hechtman suggested if the headings can’t be added, possibly renumber the 28
programs to make it easer for HCD for cross-referencing the goals and policies. 29
30
Director Lait agreed, and commented staff will incorporate the renumbering for cross-31
referencing. 32
33
Commissioner Reckdahl inquired how Palo Alto balances giving firm commitments to the State 34
with actually being responsible and doing due diligence in investigating potential issues with 35
some of the programs. 36
37
Director Lait replied there are areas that will need feasibility studies in order to get all the 38
information needed to move forward with a program. 39
40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Mr. Wong stated they can craft the language and programs to study and explore options when 1
it comes to development standards, continue with the feasibility study, yet explore and develop 2
options to bring back to PTC and Council for consideration. 3
4
Commissioner Chang began a discussion of Commissioner Hechtman’s suggestion of using “in-5
kind” and “compact infill” and the liabilities with being that specific. 6
7
Albert Yang, City Attorney, suggested the use of compact without infill development would 8
likely be efficient. 9
10
Commissioner Hechtman agreed the use of “in-kind” could possibly be misinterpreted and 11
suggested staff consider other ways of making that clearer without using “in-kind”. 12
13
Vice-Chair Summa commented there is a lot of crossovers in the first three goals. They state a 14
lot of the same things and it's good because staff is trying to cover lower-income housing, 15
however, the program suffers from redundancy as well. 16
17
Commissioner Chang and Commissioner Reckdahl both stated program 1.1 was not 18
particularly controversial. 19
20
Commissioner Reckdahl requested Director Lait explain the State penalties for not meeting 21
below market rates. 22
23
Director Lait explained that applies to State Bill 35 and there are penalties for missing your 24
affordable targets and we are subject to that today because the RHNA expectations are so high. 25
If Palo Alto doesn’t meet their target rates, the City will be in jeopardy of losing density bonus 26
inclusions which would ensure the City doesn’t meet their RHNA requirements. Staff has 27
worked into the inventory site a higher percentage required as a buffer in case a project that is 28
expected for example for lower-income housing falls through, which is brought up in Program 29
1.2 for no net loss. Program 1.2 deals with the City planning for more RHNA than was assigned. 30
This is the 10% increase beyond the regional housing needs. If a housing opportunity site gets 31
developed with something other than housing or with few housing units, over time, over the 32
planning horizon of the eight years, staff would make sure Palo Alto has a surplus planned for 33
that, so the City doesn’t fall below what is expected for RHNA. 34
35
Commissioner Chang explained Program 1.3 is modifying the code to be consistent with State 36
Law. 37
38
Mr. Wong added there are 16 carryover sites so the By Right provision will apply to 16 sites on 39
the housing inventory. 40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Chair Lauing commented he didn’t believe the Housing Element Working Group (HEWG) or City 2
Council discussed transitional on parking lots. 3
4
Director Lait agreed and replied staff will revisit that and make the necessary corrections. 5
6
Vice-Chair Summa commented it would be more appropriate to use public property for lower 7
income housing. 8
9
Director Lait added The reason you might want to include private enterprise in that 10
development is so that you can actually build more structured parking to support downtown 11
too. 12
13
Commissioner Reckdahl commented using public property for 100% affordable could be 14
construed as segregational. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton commented that if it were written into the program that the City 17
retains the right to the property, they could develop the land how they would like. 18
19
Director Lait stated that Program 1.5 pertains to developing housing on church parking lots, 20
however the problem with that is there hasn’t been any resolution on how to replace the 21
parking spaces for the churches. 22
23
Commissioner Hechtman suggested sweetening the deal for developers that if they were to 24
retain the parking spaces they would get more bonuses from the City than what the State 25
requires. 26
27
Commissioner Chang and Commissioner Templeton provided ad-hoc comments regarding 28
Program 1.6. There was substantial discussion however, nothing was resolved. Commissioner 29
Chang pointed out differences in numbers and requested explanation from staff. 30
31
Director Lait explained staff did make some changes, on Item A there seems to be support 32
conceptionally for that, which is 3000 El Camino Real, this is Palo Alto Square, this is not a 33
housing opportunity site. With respect to B) and C) and the 20%, 20% is a big change from 15%, 34
and a significant impact… it doesn’t preclude that from being something that staff implements 35
as zoning is changed. The inclusionary standard may be 20%, but even at 15% Palo Alto is still 36
yielding a fair number of units. For item C), the McDonald’s site, staff did have 20% on that one 37
originally because it was modeled in part after a planned home zoning application that was filed 38
next door at the fish market and that application came in at about 50 or 55 feet, and 39
approximately 130 units, and that one would have necessarily needed to meet the 20% 40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
inclusionary requirement to qualify for a PHC and so in the first draft presented to the ad-hoc, 1
staff include that 20%, however after the conversation with the ad-hoc, they weren’t confident. 2
That’s not the case for letter D) where staff does have the 20% and that’s because Item D does 3
reflect the planned home zoning application that was filed with the City and reviewed. After 4
having conversations with that lease holder, that project is still one that still has some potential, 5
but they are pursuing their office project at this time. The two projects are not exclusive of each 6
other. There was a change from what the working group had seen and what the ad-hoc had 7
seen which mostly reflects staff’s attempt to balance the issues that they are trying to balance. 8
9
Vice-Chair Summa commented it is difficult to differentiate between the requirements because 10
the descriptors are not consistent as they relate to height, densities and Floor Area (FAR) and 11
this section should be rewritten to be clearer. 12
13
Commissioner Hechtman suggested keeping B, C and D and adding an item F which recognizes 14
the potential to be more flexible with zoning parameters. 15
16
Chair Lauing agreed with Commissioner Hechtman and commented he felt the discussion was 17
moving in a specific design direction which is was not the goal of the this review. 18
19
Director Lait stated the percentages used were based on the projects that are currently being 20
built and a feasibility study would definitely be necessary for property that has not yet been 21
considered for zoning changed for residential use. 22
23
Mr. Wong explained Program 2.1 is about affordable housing program, as opposed to the BMR 24
program, which is where the City collects fees for the housing trust fund to fund to provide 25
financial assistance to 100% affordable housing projects. 26
27
Chair Lauing inquired if this was for 100% affordable housing. 28
29
Director Lait stated it does not have to be. 30
31
Mr. Wong commented it should be 100% affordable. It’s very difficult to fund a project that 32
could be 75%, or primarily affordable housing, staff had some of those discussions with the 33
Working Group, and yes, it’s 100% and he can clarify that. 34
35
Commissioner Roohparvar commented this program could use more specificity regarding the 36
source funding and the Gap funding of 100% affordability. 37
38
Commissioner Reckdahl asked if staff could clarify where the funding comes from. 39
40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Mr. Wong commented no, with any commercial development, any net new commercial square 1
footage gets charged a commercial housing impact fee and the City takes those funds to 2
provide the gap financing, in addition currently, yes Palo Alto has a 15% inclusionary but that’s 3
only for ownership developments right now, if you propose a multifamily rental development, 4
you also pay a fee. 5
6
Chair Lauing questioned the clarity of item B under 2.2 and suggested whether that’s by 7
geographical area in town or by neighborhood, staff should be clearer to show what they mean. 8
9
Mr. Wong advised Program 3.1 speaks about fee waivers and adjustments, and staff are looking 10
at in support of affordable housing to waive certain fees for those directly related consultants 11
trying to reduce some of those carrying costs or construction costs, development costs for 12
affordable housing for implementing Objective A and to encourage ADU production to exempt 13
ADU’s from development impact fees if they have an affordable period for low income. 14
15
Commissioner Roohparvar commented State Law exempted all ADUs from development 16
impact fees, and questioned in what scenario would State Law not apply to the ADU. 17
18
Director Lait replied not all ADU’s were exempted from development impact fees, I think 19
there’s a square foot threshold. 20
21
Mr. Wong added only ADU’s that are only 750 square feet or below that are exempted from 22
impact fees. 23
24
Commissioner Chang expressed concern of funding sources and adding a sentence to 25
incorporate making up for lost revenue. 26
27
Vice-Chair Summa would like to see more clarity surrounding the 10-year limit for 80% AMI. 28
29
Commissioner Reckdahl is concerned that concerned that 10 years for the City looking for 30
affordable housing is really short. And possibly consider an exit fee. 31
32
Mr. Wong commented staff could look into that and possibly make that a requirement in the 33
deed restriction that it would need to be occupied. The City could guarantee that residence is a 34
low income and that it’s being rented at a 80% AMI rent level, those type of things. 35
36
Commissioner Chang reminded the Commission that prior conversation regarding who would 37
manage the ADU’s was a bit of a sticky conversation and suggest a feasibility study be done. 38
39
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
Mr. Wong explained Program 3.2 pledges to HCD that Palo Alto will look at their development 1
standards on a consistent basis to see how those new standards are working and adjust 2
accordingly if that development standard doesn’t produce the desired result. 3
4
Director Lait explained Program 3.3 the city has already met items A, B and C and D fine tunes 5
the requirements for A, B and C. 6
7
Programs 3.4 and 3.5 were skipped due to lack of data acquired. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman requested clarity be provided under Program 3.4 on Packet page 32, 10
objective E. 11
12
Mr. Wong explained Program 3.6 looks at limiting certain number of Public Hearings, also 13
looking at what potential permit applications can be done at the administrative level, and in 14
addition to formalize a procedure to provide some free technical services prior to submittal of 15
the application. Director Lait answered questions about the current processes and how this 16
changes those processes. 17
18
Mr. Wong explained 4.1 just requires replacement of low-income units and also add 19
commercial development would have to replace housing in expansion of the SB330 20
requirements. Currently SB330 does not require replacing those units for commercial, future 21
commercial development. 22
23
Program 4.2 provides renters with more information that empowers them to take actions 24
against landlords who do not keep the building up to code. 25
26
In response to Commissioner Chang’s question about Program 4.3, Mr. Wong explained the City 27
only dedicate CDBG funds to the City’s rehab program, but this is something that staff could 28
supplement with, for example, the State has come out with a few additional sources through 29
the parcel tax programs. 30
31
Commissioner Chang requested the language be more concise regarding State Grants. 32
33
Director Lait explained Program 4.4 is a broader program requiring seismic upgrades of 34
vulnerable housing stock and staff has a budget request in this budget cycle for funding for that 35
program. If this is something that is supported by the City Council later this month, staff might 36
be able to advance starting next year. 37
38
Commissioner Hechtman requested the ad-hoc go through Program 6.10 regarding rent 39
stabilizations because that is something he will want to discuss at the meeting on the 29th. 40
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
1
Approval of Minutes 2
Public Comment is Permitted. Five (5) minutes per speaker.1,3 3
6. March 9, 2022 Draft Summary Meeting Minutes 4
MOTION 5
Commissioner Hechtman moved approval of the March 9, 2022 draft summary minutes as 6
revised. 7
SECOND 8
Vice-Chair Summa seconded. 9
VOTE 10
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, conducted a roll call vote and announced the motion 11
passed 6-0. 12
MOTION PASSED 6 (Chang, Hechtman, Lauing, Reckdahl, Summa, Templeton) – 0 - 1 13
(Roohparvar absent) 14
Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Summa. Passed 6-0 (Roohparvar 15
absent) 16
7. March 30, 2022 Draft Verbatim Meeting Minutes 17
MOTION 18
Commissioner Hechtman moved approval of the March 30, 2022 draft verbatim meeting 19
minutes as revised. 20
SECOND 21
Commissioner Chang seconded. 22
VOTE 23
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, conducted a roll call vote and announced the motion 24
passed 5-0. 25
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair,
provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually.
2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers.
3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
MOTION PASSED 5 (Chang, Hechtman, Lauing, Reckdahl, Templeton) – 1 - 1 (Roohparvar 1
Absent/Summa Abstained) 2
Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Chang. Passed 6-0 (Roohparvar absent) 3
8. May 11, 2022 Draft Verbatim and Summary Meeting Minutes 4
MOTION 5
Commissioner Hechtman moved approval of the March 9, 2022 draft verbatim meeting 6
minutes as revised. 7
SECOND 8
Vice-Chair Summa seconded. 9
VOTE 10
Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, conducted a roll call vote and announced the motion 11
passed 6-0. 12
MOTION PASSED 6 (Chang, Hechtman, Lauing, Reckdahl, Summa, Templeton) – 0 -1(Roohparvar 13
absent) 14
Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Summa. Passed 6-0 (Roohparvar 15
absent) 16
Committee Items 17
None. 18
Commissioner Questions, Comments or Announcements 19
Chair Lauing announced there is only one meeting in July on the 13th and the ADU Ordinance 20
revisions will likely take place in August, if it still happens. 21
Chair Lauing adjourned the meeting. 22
Adjournment 23
10:13 pm 24