HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-08 Planning & Transportation Commission Verbatim 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 ten (10) 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
Verbatim Minutes: October 8, 2025 2
Council Chambers & Virtual 3
6:00 PM 4
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Call to Order / Roll Call 6
6:00 PM 7
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Chair Akin: Good evening, everyone. I call to order this October 8, 2025 regular meeting of the 9
Planning and Transportation Commission. Mr. Tavera, would you call the roll, please? 10
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ROLL CALL 12
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Administrative Assistant Samuel Tavera: Yes. Chair Akin? 14
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Chair Akin: Here. 16
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Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 18
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Vice-Chair Chang: Here. 20
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 22
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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 ten (10) 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.
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Commissioner Hechtman: Here. 2
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner James? Commissioner Ji? 4
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Commissioner Ji? Here. 6
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Peterson? 8
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Commissioner Peterson: Here. 10
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Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Templeton? 12
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Commissioner Templeton: Here. 14
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Samuel Tavera: For the record, we have quorum. 16
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Oral Communications 18
The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 19
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Chair Akin: Thank you. Do we have any public comment for items that are not on the agenda? 21
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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 ten (10) 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
Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, I do have one request at the moment to speak for general 2
public comment. I will invite Sheryl K. 3
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Chair Akin: And we allow 3 minutes for each speaking period here in this – for this item. 5
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Sheryl K.: Good evening, Commissioners. And thank you so much for doing what you do, for all 7
the time that you’ve put into our community. My husband – my name is Sheryl Klein and I live 8
at 576 East Crescent Drive. I live right next to Jim Duran’s house on the corner of East Crescent 9
and Southwood. And this issue was discussed at the last PTC meeting. And I just want to go on 10
the record about our support for making the bulb-out permanent. So I appreciate it and I felt 11
great that you gave so much time to Jim and his concerns. I think most of my neighbors would 12
agree that the bulb-out has increased the safety of our street a lot. We live on a very narrow 13
street. Cars used to go down there very quickly in order to get onto Southwood. It was sort of a 14
bypass for getting onto 101, getting off of it quickly. And what I appreciate about the bulb-out is 15
that it creates a visual sign. 16
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It’s – the stop sign can be seen from probably like 30 feet away that you need to slow down. 18
And that has really helped slow the traffic on our street, it’s made it safer for pedestrians, for 19
bicyclists who are going to school. So even though I know it’s not in your – necessarily in your 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
purview anymore, I just want to go on the record, I think my – it has calmed traffic in our 1
neighborhood so much that I think our neighbors thought when they got the postcard about 2
the meeting, that it was probably just going to become permanent. And we didn’t realize that 3
there was going to be a fight on our hands. But I think after speaking with some of them, we are 4
interested in making it permanent. And if we have to come to City Council to do that and to 5
advocate for ourselves, we certainly will. So I invite you to come to the neighborhood to walk 6
the street to see the improvement that it’s made. And thank you. 7
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Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Klein. Are there any other public comments? 9
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Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, I have received no other requests for general public 11
comment and no other raised hands on Zoom. 12
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Chair Akin: Thank you. 14
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Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 16
The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 17
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Chair Akin: All right. So Assistant Director Armer, do we have any Agenda Changes, Additions, or 19
Deletions? 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Assistant Director Jennifer Armer: No changes or deletions. 1
2
Chair Akin: All right. Then we’re ready for the City Official Reports. Ms. Armer, would you 3
begin? 4
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City Official Reports 6
1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 7
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Jennifer Armer: Yes, thank you. We will share a quick presentation as usual, just going over 9
some of your upcoming meetings. So we’ll look at the next slide. At your next meeting, we 10
actually have 3 items scheduled; an update on the Grand Boulevard efforts from SamTrans. This 11
is focused mostly on San Mateo County but it does include the train station – or the – yeah, the 12
train and transit station here in – at University Avenue, since they do connect there. The Palo 13
Alto Link; we’ll be receiving an update on that. And a discussion of retail revitalization; some of 14
the code changes that were temporary adopted in an interim ordinance at the end of last year 15
for discussion towards a permanent ordinance. On November 12, we have scheduled 3 items as 16
well. The Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan. You did see some options for this 17
previously, and so this would be coming to you for a recommendation. The Annual 18
Comprehensive Plan Progress Report, which is just an annual update on how we’re doing on 19
accomplishing those programs. And a site and design application at 929 Laurel Glenn Drive. As 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
usual, these are subject to change, but that’s what we have planned as of now. And you will 1
note that in your packet for this evening, we did have – we have an initial schedule for your 2
meetings in 2026. So if you can take a look through that and if you do note any typos, any edits, 3
or meetings you don’t anticipate being available for, we always welcome that information as 4
early as possible. 5
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You will note that at the end of the year, even more unusual than we usually do, November – 7
both meetings are either on a holiday or the night before Thanksgiving. So I have proactively 8
put a special meeting in for the week between. So that we have that all on our calendars from 9
the beginning of the year. You will also – will have seen in your emails, a survey about a 10
potential special session for the PTC in December. That’s just a placeholder for now but at the 11
moment, I have tentatively 4 potential items to go to your December meeting. So want to make 12
sure we got the capacity if we need it, if those don’t move on. All right. So then we can now 13
move onto the next slide. And a little bit of an update about council dates that are coming up. 14
On the 20, we did have to reschedule the 70 Encina Tentative Map, so that’s going but that’s 15
Consent Calendar, so should not need any participation from the liaison. On October 22, we are 16
going to be having a discussion of the Downtown Housing Plan and the potential influence of 17
Senate Bill 79, which is not yet adopted – or signed by the Governor but we are being proactive 18
in case it is since it would affect that effort and we want – looking for some input from City 19
Council. That’s a special meeting on a Wednesday, just in case anyone is interested in joining. 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
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And then the next meeting, November 3, for City Council, will include on consent the El Camino 2
Real Retail Node Map and the Rental Registry 1-year report (Informational Item). Again, no 3
discussion items that would require a liaison participation that evening. And that concludes my 4
report. I − actually before we move on to Transportation for an update, the City Manager’s 5
Office has asked me to remind you about the upcoming religious tolerance training. If you have 6
not done so, we encourage you to sign up. Thank you. 7
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Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Armer. Do we have any questions for Ms. Armer on that report? If 9
not, who’s with us from the Office of Transportation tonight? 10
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Jennifer Armer: I’m not sure that we have anybody… 12
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Chair Akin: I see. 14
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Jennifer Armer: …connected at the moment. 16
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Chair Akin: Yeah, I see no one I recognize on the list. 18
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Jennifer Armer: Right. So unfortunately, we may not have a Transportation update this evening. 20
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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 ten (10) 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 Akin: That’s all right. We can work it in later if the opportunity arises. Okay, that 2
concludes the Official Reports. 3
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Action Items 5
Public Comment is permitted. Applicants/Appellant Teams: Fifteen (15) minutes, plus three (3) minutes rebuttal. 6
All others: Three (3) minutes per speaker. 7
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2. Public Hearing/Quasi-Judicial. 660 University Ave [21PLN-00341]: Recommendation 9
on Applicant’s Request for Approval of a Planned Home Zoning (PHZ) on Three 10
Parcels (511 Byron St, 660 University Ave, 680 University Ave/500 Middlefield Rd), to 11
Demolish Existing Buildings and Provide a New Six Story Mixed-Use Building with 12
Approximately 1,900 Square Feet of Office, 70 Multi-Family Residential Units, and a 13
Two Level Below-Grade Parking Garage. CEQA Status: A Draft Environmental Impact 14
Report Circulated for Public Review Beginning on April 2, 2024, and Ending on May 15
17, 2024. The City published a Final EIR in March 2025 and a revised Final EIR in 16
October 2025. Zoning District: RM-20 (Multi-Family Residential). 17
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Chair Akin: So we are ready to move on to our first action item. Tonight that is a Quasi-Judicial 19
item. A recommendation on Applicant’s Request for Approval of a Planned Home Zoning on 511 20
Byron Street, 660 University Avenue, and 680 University Avenue. First, I must ask for 21
disclosures. Does – do any of the Commissioners have information that is not already in the 22
public record? All right. Seeing no disclosures, I believe we’re ready for the staff presentation. 23
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Senior Planner Emily Kallas: Good evening, my name is Emily Kallas. I am the project planner for 25
660 University. This is a Planned Community, Planned Home Zoning, Rezoning, and 26
Comprehensive Plan Amendment application. The project overview, which I – they sent it to the 27
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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 ten (10) 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.
next slide. There seems to be a bit of a delay between my computer and your screen, so I’ll 1
keep that in mind for this presentation. The project includes a Comprehensive Plan Amendment 2
to allow existing office to be rebuilt in the multi-, a family Comprehensive Plan Designation. The 3
development project also includes a new, 6-story, mixed-use building with approximately 1900 4
square feet of office use and 70 residential units, 20 percent of which will be provided at below- 5
market rates. The project also includes 2 levels of underground parking with 78 parking stalls, a 6
height exception to the 35-foot height limit, and reduced setbacks. This slide says including the 7
Middlefield special setback and – but I want to clarify that the special setback is only 8
encroached below grade and the building itself above grade is not within the setback. This is an 9
overview of all of the hearings this project has had up to this point. Most recently, the Planning 10
and Transportation Commission reviewed this project in March of this year. The applicant made 11
development changes to the project, which I will go over on the following slides. It went to the 12
Architectural Review Board − last 2 months – August. And they provided a recommendation for 13
Council to approve it. 14
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We are currently at the PTC meeting and then the next step would be the Council decision. 16
There is also a builder’s remedy application submitted for this address. It is currently on pause; 17
it is not currently being processed based on the tolling agreement, which is valid through the 18
end of the year. The development potential for the builder’s remedy application is based on 19
what was submitted as a part of the preapplication and it can deviate from that by up to 20 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
percent. So there is a potential for that project to include up to 131 dwelling units and up to 1
101 square feet of floor area. A builder’s remedy project is not subject to our usual 2
development standards, including the special setback height, daylight plane, parking, etc.; 3
however, this application would require additional review by the Architectural Review Board 4
and City Council. In terms of the PHZ application, there has been a handful of changes since the 5
PTC last saw it in March. This includes an increased number of units from 66 to 70; however, 6
the office space decreased from 9,000 square feet to 1984 square feet. The office use was also 7
moved to the ground floor with the sixth floor being fully residential use. As a part of this, the 8
plate heights changed to better accommodate the residential use and the overall height 9
decreased by about 4 feet. As part of the increase in units, additional balconies were added, 10
particularly to the interior side facade that faces the other neighbors and this also has an 11
increased daylight plane encroachment. 12
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This slide shows that comparison, with the top image being the new plans, and the bottom 14
image being the previously reviewed plans with the office on the sixth floor. This is the view on 15
University Avenue. This shows the Byron Street side showing that because there is no longer 16
the sixth-floor balcony area, that that portion of the building would further encroach into the 17
daylight plane. On the opposite side of the building along Middlefield, there is a similar change, 18
although the primary change is what you are looking at kind of past the primary facade to the 19
side that’s closer to Byron Street. And then lastly, the facade looking towards the interior, 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
including, as I noted, additional residential balconies. This is also the side that has the large Oak 1
tree that overhangs the property line. The key considerations for the PTC tonight include the 2
items that were requested as a part of the March 2025 PTC motion. This includes consideration 3
of the impacts of the proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment, which I will cover on the next 4
couple of slides. Consideration of tying the price of the parking spaces to the cost of the 5
Residential Parking Permit, which the applicant can go into further detail on their analysis of. 6
Consideration of the engineering and potential use of the special setback for multimodal use. 7
The plans currently show a portion of the below-grade garage that could be designated or 8
modified in the future to accommodate future projects that the City could consider for making 9
transportation and related improvements. 10
11
A consideration to remove asphalt around tree number 10 after construction. Tree number 10 12
is the significant Oak tree. The project arborist will be able to answer questions about this. We 13
also have Urban Forestry Manager, Peter Gollinger, available on the call. Number 5: 14
Consideration of bird-friendly glass on the sixth floor and balconies. The balconies have been 15
revised to include bird-friendly glass. The sixth floor at the time of this recommendation was 16
office use; however, now that it is residential use, the bird-friendly glass has not been 17
incorporated into the sixth floor. And then lastly, clarification from Public Works Engineering 18
regarding the FEMA requirements. So the question last time was how the – what the minimum 19
square footage of office use required to allow below-grade parking for this property, which is in 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
a flood zone. And so it has since been determined that there is no minimum square footage and 1
that is part of why the applicant chose to reduce the office provided from 9,000 square feet to 2
the proposed square footage. The Multiple Family Residential land – Comprehensive Plan 3
designation is proposed to change, as shown here, with an additional sentence added to the 4
end stating, “As part of a planned community zone or in accordance with retail preservation 5
requirements, existing commercial square footage may be maintained or rebuilt as a part of the 6
Housing Development Project.” 7
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And so last time the Planning Commission had asked what the expected effect on the overall 9
city could be of this, and so staff does believe that the use would be limited, particularly since in 10
order to utilize this, the project would need to be proposed with a PC project on a property that 11
already has an existing commercial use in this Comprehensive Plan designation. And so there 12
are currently approximately 1,730 properties in the multifamily designation. Approximately 35 13
of these have been identified as having a non-residential use. The majority of these properties 14
are neighborhood-serving medical or dental offices and the majority are located close to 15
downtown areas, such as this one as well as others along Middlefield, and a couple near the 16
California Avenue downtown area as well. This project was analyzed under the California 17
Environmental Quality Act. A draft EIR was prepared and circulated last year. A final EIR initially 18
was prepared for March of this year analyzing the project changes that had been made at that 19
point. 20
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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 ten (10) 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
And then now in October, analysis has been completed for the current project as proposed and 2
that revised final EIR is published. In that analysis, we found the current project would not 3
result in any new or more significant impacts beyond what was previously assessed. The 4
recommended motion is for the Planning Commission to consider the final EIR and recommend 5
that City Council approve the project by adopting the EIR, the resolution for the Comprehensive 6
Plan Amendment, and the PC Ordinance to rezone the property as well as the Record of Land 7
Use Action with approved findings and conditions of approval. The PTC may alternatively 8
consider the above and recommend approval to the City Council. I think this is supposed to say 9
with additional changes. And then alternatively recommend denial based on revised findings. 10
This concludes my presentation. The applicant also has a presentation. Thank you. 11
12
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Kallas. Before we move to the applicant, Commissioners, do you 13
have any clarifying questions of staff? Commissioner Ji. 14
15
Commissioner Ji: Thank you, Chair. I had two quick questions. One is about on Slide 15, you 16
described neighborhood-serving businesses, is that a defined term or is that kind of a loose 17
term that you used for the slide? 18
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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 ten (10) 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.
Emily Kallas: That is not based on a formal definition; it is in reference to the fact that since it is 1
in a multifamily zone, it is surrounded by residential uses. 2
3
Commissioner Ji: Thank you. 4
5
Chair Akin: Could we go back to the slide, please? And I thought there was a definition of 6
neighborhood-serving in Title 18. 7
8
Jennifer Armer: So it is a term that is used in some places in our Comprehensive Plan. But if you 9
want to elaborate? 10
11
Emily Kallas: Not necessarily. Sorry. 12
13
Jennifer Armer: So it is a term that is used in some of our adopted documents. But it isn’t a use 14
category the way you might have retail defined or pu-, commercial recreation defined. 15
16
Commissioner Ji: Thank you. And I have one other question, which is part of our discussion from 17
the last meeting, was regarding the FEMA requirements. And I see on Package Page 15, that 18
there’s reference to an NFIP technical bulletin that requires the building to be mixed-use. Do 19
you have – do you know which bulletin that refers to? 20
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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 ten (10) 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
Emily Kallas: It is referenced in the staff report but potentially in a different page. Let me take a 2
look at that. 3
4
Commissioner Ji: Yeah. It doesn’t have to be answered now but you can just kind of answer that 5
asynchronously. 6
7
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Ji. Any other clarifying questions of staff? All right then. 8
The next step in the process would be the presentation from the applicant. You have up to 15 9
minutes to speak. For the public, public comment will follow the applicant. 10
11
Male: Okay. Good. 12
13
Boyd Smith, Smith Development: Good evening, I’m Boyd Smith with the applicant, Smith 14
Development. I want to thank the staff for all their help and support in getting us to this 15
evening. And I also want to thank you for your time this evening as well. We’re excited to show 16
you the progress that we’ve made. We think we’ve made some real forward progress in 17
response to your prior comments and excited to share those with you this evening. I’ll turn the 18
time over to Ted Korth now, our architect, because we have a lot of cover. Thank you. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Ted Korth, Principal at Korth Sunseri Hagey Architects: Thank you. Good evening. I’m Ted Korth 1
with Korth Sunseri Hagey Architects. So Emily did a good job going through the history of it and 2
I’m going to go through some of this quickly just because it was prepared. So we started in 2021 3
and we’ve revised the project numerous times based on policy maker and staff feedback. In 4
September of 2024, we submitted the project to the sixth-story, mixed-use residential and 5
office building with 2 levels of below-grade parking. In December of 2024, that project was 6
presented to and approved by the ARB with some ad hoc comments. In March of 2025, we 7
presented to the Planning and Transportation Commission, all of you, and in that meeting, 8
there were questions raised about the City’s requirement to provide 25 percent of the building 9
area as non-residential use. 10
11
Male: Sorry to interrupt, Ted. We’re not displaying it. 12
13
Ted Korth: Oh. Just one second. Sorry. I did the share thing. Oh, okay. Thank you. Let me grow it 14
back up again. 15
16
Male: [Inaudible 25:34]. 17
18
Ted Korth: Yeah. So questions were raised about the City’s requirement to provide a 25 percent 19
of the building area as non-residential use. In April of 2025, the City Planning confirmed that 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
the 25 percent non-residential requirement does not apply to the project. In June of 2025, the 1
project was resubmitted as a 6-story, mixed-use residential office building with 2 levels of 2
below-grade parking. The project was revised to meet FEMA’s definitions of a mixed-use 3
building in a special hazard flood zone. Mixed-use buildings must include residential and 4
commercial or other non-residential uses. The project was revised in response to ARB and 5
ad hoc comments as well from the meeting we had in December 2024. We converted the office 6
space to residential units at the sixth floor. We reduced the office space from 9115 square feet 7
to 1984 square feet. We increased the unit count from 66 to 70 located on levels 2 through 6. 8
This project as designed with 70 units reduces the parking reduction from 30 percent to 13 9
percent. It would provide space for possible future city improvements at the corner of 10
University Ave. and Middlefield Road in that setback area. We maintained compliance with the 11
24-foot Middlefield Road special setback above grade. And the arborists have worked together 12
to make sure that we would maintain and preserve the adjacent Coast Live Oak tree. In August 13
of 2025, the project was presented to the ARB and approved with one ad hoc comment. 14
15
That ad hoc comment was to request the removal of 2 balconies on one − H2 unit. I’ll show you 16
later where that it is and I think that are 30 feet from the setback – or 30 feet in the setback. 17
Your motion from our first meeting with you was approved with a continuance to provide a 18
clarification of the following items of interest. The project responses to the comments are 19
noted below in blue: 1. Give staff the time to bring back the Amendment to the 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Comprehensive Plan, with more of an analysis of the impact city-wide with the map of affected 1
properties, their existing conditions, and nearby uses; and that information was provided by 2
Emily. 2. Consider restructuring the monthly parking fees to align with their Residential Parking 3
Permit cost in the neighborhood. The applicant has concluded that matching the downtown 4
RPP cost would not be financially feasible for the – for this project given the cost of the garage. 5
3. Address the engineering with potential use of the 24-foot setback regarding facilitating 6
multimodal use. Approximately 425 square feet on each level within the below-grade garage 7
has been allocated for future city approvements. The areas will be designed to accommodate a 8
future retrofit and improvements to the event – in the event that it is needed and would 9
provide 20-foot depth from the sidewalk grade for future improvements. The retrofit would 10
remove 3 residential parking stalls for a total of 75 stalls. 11
12
4. Incorporate removing the asphalt around the tree after construction is complete. The City 13
arborist and the team’s arborist both recommend maintaining existing asphalt surface 14
throughout and following construction to avoid the inevitable loss of roots underlying the 15
asphalt and/or base material. The proposed design effectively eliminates the risk of damaging 16
those roots and represents the optimal measure to ensure the roots remain intact. 5. Require 17
bird-safe glass for the balconies. We will provide bird-safe glass for the balconies. And then 18
clarify whether the office square footage is a Public Works requirement or only required to 19
qualify for FEMA insurance. Emily explained the City – and confirmed the non – the 25 percent 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
non-residential requirement does not apply to the project. This is a view of the site. Let me see 1
if I can get the image to be larger here. Well, maybe I’ll just keep going. Anyway, that’s the site 2
in context with the City. And then enlarged view of the same area showing a 4-story residential 3
building surrounding the site. These are the buildings that are on site today. These are the 4
buildings in the adjacent neighborhood. Two buildings on the site in the site plan today with an 5
existing setback of 10 foot 11 inches along Middlefield Road. And then along Middlefield Road − 6
this is a 4-block segment of Middlefield Road existing buildings; some are as low as 8 foot 6 7
inches from the property line in terms of the setback, some are 15, some are 17, some are 20. 8
9
There are 3 existing buildings that are 24-foot setback today. And we’re proposing a 24-foot 10
setback for this project as well. The project on the left was the project that we presented to you 11
last time with office space on the top floor. And on the right side is the proposed project today 12
with residential on all 5 floors above grade; the ground floor being a mixture of uses. This is a 13
corner shot from Middlefield Road and the University Ave. showing the extensive landscaping 14
in the 24-foot setback, activated ground floor, a strong definition of base middle top for the 15
design of the project and plane changes to add articulation. That’s the corner from University 16
and Byron. The area in green is shown as the Public Art, which will be integrated into the design 17
of the project. This s a view from Byron. This is showing the automotive entrance and exit. And 18
this is a view on Middlefield Road showing the building stepping down towards the adjacent 19
residential home. The prior project that we presented to you was 71 percent residential and 29 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
percent non-residential. The project today proposed is 86 percent residential and 14 percent 1
non-residential. The section on the left was the project from the prior meeting with both of – 2
with all of you that showed office at the top floor. And the view on the right is the current 3
project with residential on those floors. 4
5
Ground floor contains a variety of uses. In yellow, are the mixed common area uses for the 6
residents. In blue is the office space. And purple is a fitness center which will be used only by 7
the residents in the building and tenants in the office space. On the upper right-hand corner, 8
there is a area shaded in blue, which we’ve said could be converted if the City determined that 9
they’d like to do that in the future for – there was a – mentioned last time we met that maybe 10
there was an opportunity to have new signalization, new traffic lights, so we provided that 11
space not knowing what would actually be proposed there. We’re just taking a − whatever cue 12
we can get. So the prior project was 66 units with office space – more office space, 78 cars, with 13
a 30 percent parking reduction. The current project is 70 units with very little office space, 78 14
stalls, for a 13 percent parking reduction. This is one of the first basement level and the area of 15
blue again, is available for retrofit in the future. And the other parking level is the same thing. 16
That area is available for the future. So one other change here besides 66 units before and 70 17
units today, the unit mix has changed a little bit. So there are more larger units and fewer 18
studios. Prior there were 38 studios and the scheme now is 28 studios. Prior was 2020 – excuse 19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
me, 22 one-bedroom and now it’s 33 one-bedroom. And prior was 6 two-bedrooms and now is 1
9 two-bedrooms. 2
3
And each of these schemes has 14 below-market rate units. This is the second floor with a 4
mixture of units shown. On this plan, there’s a note here in blue, which are the 2 balconies that 5
are in lighter green right there, that the ARB requested be removed from the project. Our client 6
would like to have every unit have private open space, so they would like to maintain those if 7
that’s acceptable to you. So that’s the second floor, third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth 8
floor. As an alternate to this scheme with the 2 balconies in the center, we tried a version 9
where the units in that area would be reconfigured a little bit, so that you take – you’d 10
essentially pair up 2 one-bedroom units to that area and get the balconies out of the area that 11
the ARB requested that they be deleted, so this way every unit still has private open space. So 12
if this new version – that last version with the adjusted plan layout for the units, that would 13
amount to a 66-unit project versus 70 and there would be a little bit different make-up in terms 14
of the unit count. So instead of 33 one-bedrooms, there’d be 39, instead of 28 studios, there’d 15
be 19, and there’d be 8 two-bedrooms instead of 9 two-bedrooms. And the parking reduction, 16
because there are fewer units, would reduce. So there’d be an 8 percent parking reduction 17
versus 13 percent. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
This is a section through the building that shows the area in blue that could be retrofitted in the 1
future for City needs on the Middlefield setback. And this is a section through the building 2
adjacent to the home and that diagonal line is the daylight plane and it shows the upper floor is 3
infringing on that. On – this is a section that shows the tree and it shows an area in blue that’s 4
set in 6 foot – within 6 feet of the building, the tree would be trimmed to allow space for 5
scaffolding and construction practices during the project. If those balconies that were proposed 6
for the 7-unit scheme were included, they would be bolted on at the tail end of construction. 7
And so there wouldn’t be any additional effect on the tree other than what occurs to just build 8
the building. If you remove those, then it would look like that. I went fast but that was it. Thank 9
you. 10
11
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Korth. After public comment, we will ask you back for any follow-up 12
you’d like to offer and then we may also have clarifying questions for you. 13
14
PUBLIC COMMENTS 15
16
Chair Akin: Mr. Tavera, how many public speakers do we have? 17
18
Samuel Tavera: So through the Chair, I have 3 group presentations and at the moment, 6 19
individual speakers. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: All right. Given the low number of individual speakers, we’ll retain the 3 minute-2
limit for those. And I assume we’ll stick to the 10-minute limit for each of the groups. 3
4
Samuel Tavera: Okay. 5
6
Chair Akin: So let’s begin comment from the public. 7
8
Samuel Tavera: Our first speaker is Christopher R. speaking on behalf of 5. And then after − 9
he’ll get 10 minutes. After that will be Kay Brown speaking on behalf of 5. 10
11
Christoper R.: Just give me a little pause to make sure I can get in on this thing. Can you help 12
me? How am I going to do the share screen? Thanks. 13
14
Samuel Tavera: [Inaudible 38:09]. 15
16
Christopher R.: What am I doing with this? 17
18
Samuel Tavera: You [inaudible 38:11]. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Christopher R.: I’m sorry, say… 1
2
Samuel Tavera: You’re going to want to move like this. The next arrow to move the screens. 3
4
Christopher R.: And down till it works? 5
6
Samuel Tavera: And down, yep. Up or down. Yeah. 7
8
Christopher R.: Okay, sir. Okay. As he said, I’m Christopher Ream. I’m from The Hamilton and 9
we have a lot of people from The Hamilton here today because it is very important to us. 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: Could you move the microphone a little closer to your mouth, 12
please? 13
14
Christopher R.: Okay, how’s that? 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: That’s better. 17
18
Christopher R.: A lot better? 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: [Inaudible 38:43]. 1
2
Christopher R.: Good. Okay. Everybody thinks it’s better. There’s the tree. That’s what we’re 3
trying to save. And the City of Palo Alto says it’s a protected tree; 50-inch diameter, 6-feet-tall, 4
and most importantly, a 90-foot cross canopy – uniformed canopy. That’s what it would look 5
like and here it is on their plans. That’s where it’s situated. The Tree Protection Zone standard 6
for Palo Alto is 41 feet for this tree. That’s where the canopy would get sliced off if you did the 7
41 feet. But the applicant wants to call it 30 feet. That’s where it’s sliced off, right at the face of 8
the building. But you’ve already heard they want 6 more feet for their balconies. There it is 9
sliced more. And then in reality, you’ve got to go even further out because if you’re a resident 10
standing on the balcony with your friends, you don’t want to get poked in the eye with a 11
branch. So I’m suggesting 5 feet for safety. And there’s – that’s what it looks like after the 5 12
feet. That all adds up to 19 feet from the trunk of the tree compared to 45 feet that it is now. 13
Okay. Now the canopy, there’s 2 halves; there’s the southern half, which is close to Hamilton 14
and the northern half, which is the side next to – or looking at University. The southern half is 15
fully – it’s full there. We’re not cutting anything there. It’s different property, a different owner. 16
They’re not touching that. 17
18
They’re only cutting on the north side. So the north side is naturally going to be a lot lighter 19
than the south side. Here, I’ve just gone through north and south. And all the cutting on the 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
canopy will be on the north side. Now the arborist for the applicant has come up with a number 1
and we’re – our arborist – we retained an arborist to look at this. They’ve come up with a 2
number and they would agree that 25 percent of the canopy is going to have to be cut. But 3
that’s all going to be cut on the north side, which 25 percent of half of the canopy is – means 4
the north side is only got half of what it used to have. The south side is going to be twice as 5
large as the north side. That’s the way it’s going to work out. Here’s a table I put together after 6
a lot of work of calculating various things and this is in the letter I sent all of you, which I hope 7
you have. So I’ll let you go through that but what I’m really looking at here is how much force is 8
that canopy going to pull on. And the force is called a leverage. Where’s the center point of the 9
canopy that's going to remain? And how far is that from the trunk of the tree? 10
11
And these − I’ve come up with these numbers that on the south side of the tree, which hasn’t 12
been touched, the center of the canopy is 18 feet, whereas on the north side, it’s now going to 13
be 9 feet. And that’s based upon this 25 percent cut of the canopy that’s been agreed upon by 14
both arborists, whereas down below the next number I have is − down here, this number is 15
where I did the calculation based upon them cutting back to 19 feet from the trunk. 16
Interestingly, my calculation comes – leaves a little more canopy there. And I think it’s because 17
the arborist realized that in construction, they’re going to cut some more of canopy. As you can 18
see, there is going to be a major imbalance in that tree. I mean very major. You saw that 4:1 19
ratio. So how is it going to be held up? It’s going to be held up by its roots on the north side. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Because the tree when it starts to tilt, it’s going to try to bend over, the trunk is going to pull up, 1
and the roots hold it back down. That’s what keeps the tree up in that case. So we have an 2
arborist on site here. The City hired this arborist who did a ground penetration radar to see 3
where the roots were. He was told to stop at 51 feet. That’s 51 feet out there and you can see 4
those roots look pretty vigorous at that point. 5
6
And I’m told the normal is 2 to 3 times the canopy, which would be in our case, 90 feet, maybe 7
130 feet. But we’re not going to get that. Here comes the garage − underground garage; it’s 8
cutting things off. That’s about 30 feet to the edge there. Thirty-four feet, I think, in the center. 9
But it’s cutting off a huge amount of it. And that’s not all. The applicant says they could cut back 10
to 20 feet from the trunk. Here’s a quote out of their Tree Protection report filed in March and 11
here’s what we were just looking at. And there’s the area where they can dig into the roots as 12
much as they want. They’re coming down with just 20-foot radius of roots there. The 13
comparison – whoops, I’ve – well, I don’t know. This thing’s getting cut off over here on the 14
side. Are you getting – no, you’re not getting cut off. It’s just mine that’s getting cut off. Okay. 15
Fifty-one feet radius up there on the existing tree. Twenty-foot radius after construction. The 16
area is the square of the radius. Square of 51 is 2,600. Square of 20 is 400. What’s that ratio? 17
We’ve got 15 percent of the roots left. That tree is going to come down if this construction goes 18
forward. I mean there’s no chance. No chance otherwise. I’m going to move on to a couple 19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
other concerns I have. But I wanted to let you know that’s my biggest concern. That’s what 1
Byron Street looks like; it’s a narrow street. 2
3
You bring a truck, a delivery truck or something down there, nobody can get past it. You can see 4
that. Cars. Well, cars can sort of pull into a driveway if one of them is nice enough to do that. 5
The Hamilton has a circular driveway. They set back quite aways from Byron in order to let cars 6
get by each other. You can actually pull in and park a car on that circular driveway in front of 7
The Hamilton and another car can come around it. We don’t – we do not block the street. We 8
get Amazon deliveries every day. When you get to this building, if they build it, what’s the 9
medium age there? Young 20’s? Got a high call-in for food delivery every night. There’s going to 10
be a lot of traffic, a lot of delivery on that street. Parking. The plans calculate that 89 stalls are 11
required. Now they’re changing a little bit but that’s what it was last time I looked online 2 days 12
ago. Sixty-nine stalls actually going to get provided. That leaves 20 cars roaming around the 13
neighborhood looking for a place to park. Here’s another issue, the office space. You see in the 14
upper right-hand side there, that’s what we had last year, 9,000 square feet; all that light blue. 15
Now they’re showing a much smaller area, which they say they’re doing because they – they’re 16
allowed to do that now. 17
18
I question the fact that rental – square foot rental charges are a lot higher than residential 19
charges. And they put a little note down there saying, ‘Hey, we might just change the interior at 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
some time in the future.” So give them approval, “Oh, they just decided to go back to the plan 1
from last year because they’re going to make a lot more money that way.“ I strongly suggest 2
that if you were to happen to approve this project, get the City Attorney to get a contractual 3
agreement from them that they will not make this kind of change. The planner had told me 4
informally that they would only change up to 100 square feet. Well, I’d get that in writing under 5
a contract. Okay now, if they do do that, that’s another 29 cars that are going to be joining 6
those first 20; forty-nine cars wandering around the neighborhood. And as David Hirsch of the 7
Architectural Review Board said when he first looked at this back in December of 2022, “Too 8
much building in too small of a space.” And that is the situation. Thank you very much. 9
10
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Ream. Next. 11
12
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Kay B. speaking on behalf of 5. 13
14
Kay B.: Hi, my name is Kay Brown, 555 Byron Street. I want to start out by saying I’m coming a 15
little late to the project, about 1½ years late but − so I might be saying things that have already 16
been corrected but I think not. I’ve went through the draft DIR. I went through the final one and 17
I’m hoping I’m understanding it all correctly. Okay. I’m in favor of the City’s effort to provide 18
more housing. I understand the need for our children and our grandchildren to be able to live in 19
this area. I want teachers and police and fire officers and public servants to be able to reside 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
here as well. However, in the Planned Home Zoning charter, the developers of 660 have been 1
granted a myriad of variances that would otherwise not be permitted within Palo Alto’s building 2
codes. The issue is the size and scope of the project in the space allocated. So many allowances, 3
variances were granted by the Architectural Review Board to the developer that skirt 4
regulations, building codes, that were formally in place. For example, they deviated from the 5
RM-20 Zoning, the multiple family residential zoning, to a Planned Home Zone, which I know 6
you all know but – to accommodate variances requested. The newly-planned community far 7
exceeds the residential density previously zoned, all the setbacks that were allowed. 8
Middlefield was originally a 24-foot setback; now, it’s been reduced to 10. University original 9
setback 16, reduced to 6. 10
11
Byron original setback required 16 feet, reduced to 10. Height now is 77 feet, I believe, where 12
35 feet was allowed. The lot coverage of − the footprint far exceeds what was previously 13
allowed. The reduced usable open space traded the open space requirement by substituting 14
balconies and terraces for open space requirements. And then again the parking reductions. 15
Okay. So what does this all mean to the Planning Transportation Commission? You now have to 16
deal with the traffic and safety issues of a development that is high density, too large for the 17
square footage and location allotted. I will speak to the safety issues that currently exist in 18
Byron. Byron currently has parking on both sides of the street. There’s a very narrow residual 19
allowance for two-way traffic requiring one car to pull to the side to allow oncoming traffic. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
During the week, delivery trucks, telecommunication repair trucks, food delivery trucks for the 1
church, linen deliveries, plumbers, electricians, multiple nursery school transport vehicles are 2
parked along Byron, which exacerbates an already congested street. Drivers on University that 3
choose not to wait for the light on Middlefield use Byron in an attempt to sidestep the traffic 4
light. They zoom through Byron. This is not a normal residential street nor a normal mixed-5
residential street. The church is an event venue. Two to three times a week, music, dance, 6
ethnic and religious events are held. Parking exceeds spaces in their lot, which then flows out 7
onto Hamilton, Byron, and adjacent residential streets. 8
9
The architects at 660 were not required to provide either a circular drive nor a loading dock to 10
accommodate commercial vehicles. With the size of the community, there’s going to be untold 11
numbers of Amazon-type deliveries. The width of the driveway specified cannot accommodate 12
these commercial vehicles and also allow for ingress and egress for residents. And what is the 13
height of the garage plan? It has not been specified as far as I can see and most likely too low 14
for the commercial trucks. If there’s one more – more than one commercial vehicle, where will 15
it park? If a truck driver decides to temporarily pull up on the drive, it is then blocking egress 16
and ingress and stopping pedestrians that then will need to go around onto Byron Street with 17
canes and walkers. Please keep in mind this area is replete with the elderly, challenged amblers. 18
The architect’s plan, as it stands, is for these large vehicles to park alongside Byron. Maybe one 19
or two spots would fit along the Byron portion of 660. How will emergency vehicles access 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Byron efficiently? Every weekday lunch hour, the church provides senior meals. A stream of 1
residents of Lytton Gardens cross University, challenging drivers to stop to avoid the 2
pedestrians. There’s no crosswalk provided. Transportation needs to look at the intersection of 3
Byron and University. This whole area houses the elderly with 3 communities within a 2-block 4
radius. There are pedestrians with walkers, wheelchairs, canes, and limited ambulatory 5
capabilities. 6
7
Oh, yeah. I want you to look − there were some issues that were shown in the first EIR, the 8
draft EIR. They’re still showing up in the final EIR and to my thinking, they have not been 9
addressed properly. I don’t – can you all see that on your screens? Okay. The answers for this is 10
that it is a normal − I believe Hexagon says it’s a normal street. As discussed in the draft EIR, 11
Byron Street is a local residential street that carries light traffic volumes throughout the day. 12
This is their response to this. “Because the speed and volume of vehicular traffic would be low 13
on Byron Street, it is anticipated that traf-, that accessing the project site would not result in 14
safety or operational impacts.” In addition, the Transportation Impact Analysis prepared by 15
Hexagon Transportation Consultants continues to say there is no safety issue. That – okay. Now 16
here's another issue that I feel is going to be a big problem, and that is during demolition and 17
building, where will the construction vehicles park now that there is very limited setbacks that 18
might have accommodated temporary parking for construction vehicles? There is no room on 19
Byron. Will they park on University or on Middlefield? Doesn’t there need to be a plan up front 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
for demolition and construction to accommodate all the large trucks? Okay. Developers cannot 1
disregard public safety, including traffic concerns and cannot evoke builder’s remedy without 2
providing some mitigation or modification to the project. 3
4
In order to use builder’s remedy, they must provide alternative solutions to secure the safety of 5
the population surrounding the planned development. So I think there – this – they’re using 6
vehicles mild travel − that’s mostly the answer in – to these situations and the requirements. 7
The project checks – it does through vehicle miles traveled check regulatory boxes; however, 8
there has never been an adequate study analyzing the traffic volume and safety issues on Byron 9
and University intersection nor on Byron and Hamilton intersection nor on Byron itself. This 10
would include multiple days and times of observation. The study should be at least a week long, 11
including weekends when church functions often take place. I’m asking the Transportation and 12
Planning Commission to look at the safety situation with common sense rather than a broad 13
descriptive overview of the streets and thoroughfares and traffic flow of Santa Clara County 14
that Hexagon provided. Thank you. 15
16
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Brown. Next. 17
18
Jennifer Armer: If I may through the Chair, just a point to share with the audience. We do ask 19
that there not be audible responses to public comment, positive or negative. Because either 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
way, it can discourage others from feeling comfortable to share their thoughts and that’s 1
important for this process. Thank you. 2
3
Chair Akin: Good point. Thank you very much for bringing that to our attention. Mr. Tavera? 4
5
Samuel Tavera: Yeah. Through the Chair, our next speaker is Kinsey H. speaking on behalf of 5. 6
7
Kinsey H.: Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak and I really appreciate the 8
importance that Palo Alto places on these community comments and I’m grateful for that. I 9
have submitted through Emily two − and directly to the Planning Department, two written 10
statements which are relevant to this. And they’re – one of them was sent today, so you 11
haven’t seen it yet. It – the one you’ll see today, [inaudible 58:24] follow with that. The other 12
addresses the question of the builder’s remedy. And I – let me just mention one thing about 13
that. I believe – and if you read what I’ve sent, you will agree that the 680 builder’s remedy 14
application is actually dead letter. And the reason for that is that when the application was 15
filed, it has a 20 percent reduction from 88 – from 110 to 88 units; however, the law does not 16
allow a reduction of 20 percent or greater without resubmitting the preliminary application and 17
the effective date of the resubmitted application is not – does not occur until the resubmission 18
is finished. That means that the builder’s remedy application disappeared when the actual 19
application was filed because the actual application is exactly a 20 percent reduction, which is 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
greater than the allowed range. Emily pointed out a top limit of – what was 131, I think. The 1
bottom limit is 89. The application they submitted was 88; therefore, they had to resubmit a 2
preliminary application. So that means no builder’s remedy because the City’s Housing Element 3
was approved in the meantime. 4
5
Turning to this, first on the Oak tree, my personal experience is that there was this tree in the 6
city – in the town of Los Altos near where I used to live before we moved over to The Hamilton, 7
where there’s an Oak of similar dimension in size and essentially the same thing happened. The 8
root structure was trimmed way back. The trim was – the tree was pruned asymmetrically and 9
it did fall. A big, giant limb fell. Fortunately, it didn’t land on a car or person or the cor-, the car 10
would be flat or the person would be dead. So this is not a trivial matter and it does happen. 11
Now in that case, those changes were all arborist-approved. They got permits. There was 12
nothing legally improper. But the consequence was as Chris is concerned about. The other thing 13
about – I want to mention here and again, this is described in detail – more detail in what I sent 14
you this afternoon. This little strip of Byron is actually not even − in my mind, is not even a 15
residential street. It’s more like an alleyway or a long driveway because it’s blocked at both 16
ends; it’s just one block long. So to analyze the traffic impacts, solely with respect to ingress and 17
egress from the garage, is glib and inappropriate. I think that you have the legal obligation to 18
take a look at the greater impact. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Everybody who gets − exits onto that 500 block of Byron has to go somewhere and they’re 1
going to go to University or over to Hamilton. So you have to look at the effect of these 2
additional units which have cars, which in the abstract are not great in the number but when 3
you get added to the already-existing, heavily-burdened streets, it’s a different story. Also, you 4
need to look at things like the synchronicity between the traffic lights. When you come out of 5
Byron and want to turn to the right on University, often you have to wait for the stop light at 6
Webster to turn red. If at that point the stop light on Middlefield is red, it’s filled up. That 7
means the car who’s on Byron will not be able to move or it will make a traffic maneuver, which 8
is risky. If they want to turn left on Middlefield, they have – the problems are more 9
exacerbated. Oddly enough − I know there’s the problem of the narrowness of the street too. 10
Oddly enough, the solutions that might fix that, like limiting parking or making it one-way, 11
actually exacerbate the problems because if it’s made one-way, all of the traffic will have to 12
funnel out in one direction and get − all the traffic coming in will funnel in from the other 13
direction. If you just remove some parking spaces and leave it two-way, you’ve now increased 14
the parking deficiency problem, not decreased it. 15
16
The difficulty here is – I also support additional housing and affordable housing; those are all 17
excellent, excellent need − things and things the City needs. It’s just this isn’t the way to do it. 18
This building that they proposed is too big and it’s in the wrong place and it’s of the wrong type. 19
By [inaudible 63:22] type, these units are really tiny. If you look – I mean they’re – the studios 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
are like 400, 500 square feet. Even the two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments are less 1
than 1,000 square feet. People don’t live in these places very long. This is a form of slightly 2
extended transitory and temporary housing. That is what happens over at the Mia, which is a 3
similar kind of project just a few blocks away. The Mia shows things like very short-cycle times 4
between when a unit comes on the market and when it’s taken off because it’s been rented. It 5
shows that – this is all based on AI research, so you can decide how reliable you think that is. 6
But the rental rates are about $7 a square foot compared in average to the rest of Palo Alto for 7
about $3 a square foot – 3 to 4. So this is not cheap housing, even at discounted rates for below 8
market. This is not long-term residents. This is not the kind of housing that Palo Alto would like 9
to encourage, in my opinion. 10
11
The – returning back to the traffic problems, if you think about someone coming down 12
University from work and they want to go into Byron, they would have to make a left turn. 13
There’s a short little storage lane; that will fill up. When that fills up and there's another car 14
that wants to get in it, all of University traffic will be blocked. The absence of the place to – in 15
front of the building to drop off people, pick people up, make deliveries, and so forth 16
significantly exacerbates this problem. Similarly, you get the same kinds of problems on 17
Hamilton. It’s − if you’re going to go left on Middlefield and right on Hamilton and loop around 18
to Byron, then you have the risk that the left-turn lane from University to Middlefield, which is 19
already overtaxed, will be completely dif-, made difficult. The – to look at this building from a 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
traffic point of view, only based on Byron – the 500 block of Byron, which is what the EIR and 1
the two consultants have done, is really inadequate and in my opinion, improper. You have – I 2
think you have no choice under the law to – except to expand your analysis to include the direct 3
impacts on the major arterials like Hamilton and University, the interactive effects on Lytton, 4
the [inaudible 66:00]. And cars are like water drops, they find some way to go downhill. Water 5
starts here, it goes there. Cars do the same thing. 6
7
That’s why you have the – all the complexities of left turns and so forth on Middlefield between 8
University and Menlo Park. That’s why you put in all these roundabouts, one-way streets, and 9
stop signs in the residential neighborhoods in Palo Alto. This type of property will make all 10
those kinds of problems come back again. So don’t approve it. Very simple. And I don’t think 11
there’s really any – [inaudible 66:44] okay. Well, we don’t want to have an entrance to the 12
garage on University or Middlefield for lots of reasons which you know far better than I. If you 13
make an entrance on Byron, you just kicked the can half a block down the street. You either got 14
to turn left or right into the garage or left or right into Byron. One half block. Doesn’t solve 15
anything to push the garage around to Byron except create lots of problems around Byron. I 16
think that this whole project is ill-conceived and ill-advised. It doesn’t provide the right kind of 17
housing. It doesn’t provide adequate address – it doesn’t address adequately the parking 18
problems. It creates all sorts of traffic concerns and complications and really is not something 19
you should approve. Thank you. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Thank you. 2
3
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Carol G. followed by Faith B. 4
5
Carol G.: Good evening. And thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for the work that 6
we all do; 3½ years’ worth. I am Carol Gilbert. I am a resident on Byron. When the project at 7
660 is completed, it’ll be foolish to believe that the number of parking spaces included will 8
meet the demand. And given that the developers even engaged a Transportation Demand 9
Management company that offers a plan to reduce the parking demand by encouraging people 10
who move into this building to simply not have cars is a dream and unenforceable. Would you 11
put up Slide 1, please? 12
13
Male: It’s up. 14
15
Carol G.: Oh, it is up. Okay. Great. This graphic shows something that was done in 2014. All the 16
parked areas around the spot – the property that we’re talking about, were physically counted 17
in the Hamilton area. The situation has only grown worse since then. Clearly, if a spot is in red, 18
you are never going to be able to park there. If it was in yellow, it would have some turnover 19
and it would take you far out of the lines to get to really open and available parking. Between 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
2014 and now, that situation has only been exacerbated. Could you put up Slide 2, please? I 1
physically walked all around the area and marked what was 2-hour parking and no-hour parking 2
around where we live on Byron. Same thing is true if it’s red, there is not parking. And you can 3
see the location of the building they want to put up. And then in green where there is 2-hour 4
parking. The only visible place for auto ingress/egress is on Byron Street. I’m sorry that we 5
brought that up 3½ years ago because clearly, Middlefield and University were not going to be 6
wise choices. I don’t even think that Byron is a really wise choice but of the three possibilities, it 7
kind of was the only place you could come and go from. The accommodation… 8
9
Samuel Tavera: This concludes your time. 10
11
Carol G.: Oh, am I almost finished? 12
13
Samuel Tavera: [Inaudible 71:11]. 14
15
Carol G.: Okie-dokie. 16
17
Chair Akin: Ms. Gilbert… 18
19
Carol G.: I will just get to my… 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: …I’ll allow you another 30 seconds but we do need to wrap up. 2
3
Carol G.: Thank you. We need a lane width wide enough to pass other vehicles. We need 4
parking restrictions that must prevent blocking by trucks. Emergency vehicles need to enter 5
from both Hamilton and University. Planning Transportation members, you have a duty to 6
consider all of us within the reach of 660 University and recommend to the City Council that 7
they must make changes to the configuration of Byron Street traffic, parking, and safety. Of 8
course, adding parking to the proposed building would help tremendously. 9
10
Samuel Tavera: Your time is up. 11
12
Carol G.: Byron changes will be made only by the City Council. But you can forward what you 13
really think of your consideration. 14
15
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Gilbert. 16
17
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Faith B. followed by Tim P. 18
19
Faith B.: Is that – that’s Faith Brigel? 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Samuel Tavera: Yes. 2
3
Faith B.: Okay. Hello. Two weeks ago, I was in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where I used to live. I 4
met up with a former neighbor who became a lawyer and then a judge. We talked about the 5
growth in Toronto that it was not the same as when I used to live there. There are many more 6
high-rises and a lot more traffic and congestion. It used to be one of the most beautiful cities in 7
Canada but it is not any longer. I thought of Palo Alto and I fear that you are letting the same 8
thing happen here. You’re so focused on the growth and more housing and I understand that a 9
lot of it is state mandated but please consider the quality of life of the neighborhood of − 660 10
University Avenue is what I’m talking about. If you were going to approve it, please go back to 11
the 4 stories, not 6 stories. And actually now I’m a little confused because I thought it went up 12
to 6 stories because they said you wanted more setback. And I thought they said, “Okay, you 13
can have setback – more setback but we’ll go up.” So I’m a little confused about that but 14
definitely 6 stories is way larger than any other in that area and it sets a precedent for other 15
new developments. And definitely, please request more parking, as everyone before me said. 16
We are relying on you to protect Palo Alto and our quality of life. Thank you. Do I have any 17
more time? 18
19
Samuel Tavera: Yeah, you have 1 more minute. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Faith B.: One more minute. Balconies. One – I think it was the developer who said, “Everybody 2
loves balconies,” but the neighbors don’t. I’ll just leave it at that. It will affect the quality of our 3
lives to have so many balconies and people on the balconies. And I agree with everything that 4
was said about the parking, that there isn’t enough parking. You’re going to have – it’s a large 5
building. It is multiuse. You’re going to have delivery trucks and where are they going to park? 6
In the middle of the street? If they do that – well first, that’s illegal but also that’s definitely 7
going to affect the neighbors, me. I’m across the street. I think that’s it. 8
9
Samuel Tavera: Your time is now up. 10
11
Faith B.: That’s it. Thank you very much for all your consideration. 12
13
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Brigel. 14
15
Samuel Tavera: And just a reminder for the public, there is a timer on the podium, so you’ll see 16
how much time you have. Our next speaker is Tim P. followed by Stephen L. 17
18
Tim P.: Hi. My name is Tim Presine. I’m a Palo Alto resident and I have been so for 10-plus 19
years. And for the first time tonight, I support their development at 660 University and ask the 20
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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 ten (10) 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 Commission to move this item onto the City Council for a vote. As we know, the 1
project has been in review since 2021. Last year, I sent an email to the Planning Commission; I 2
don’t know if you got it − to support 660 University. This year, my thought come around again 3
and I decided to show up in person. So there are many reasons to support 660 University; one, 4
it's downtown location within walking distance to retail and services. It’s near Caltrain 5
transportation and adjacent to transit. And 20 percent of the homes will be affordable housing, 6
which could help Palo Alto make progress on fair housing. As we know, Palo Alto has a bit of a 7
reputation for being an exclusive community, and this development could help create 8
opportunity. So in conclusion, I support this proposed development and ask the Planning 9
Commission to vote to move this onto City Council. Thank you. 10
11
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Presine. 12
13
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Stephen L. followed by Xenia H. 14
15
Stephen L.: Good evening. I come tonight as a representative of the Palo Alto League of Women 16
Voters who have sent you a letter. I’m here to summarize the high points of the letter. I’m a 17
member of the League Board and co-chair of the League’s Housing and Transportation 18
Committee. The League ask that you send this project forward to the City Council. Please add 19
your comments and suggestions but it is time for a decision. The letter notes what many others 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
have said, the number of units is up − the number of larger units is up. The 20 percent 1
requirement is being met with some units for very low and moderate-income residents, so this 2
supports the League’s policy of increasing the diversity of housing opportunities with an 3
emphasis where we can on low and very low and moderate-income residents. The project also 4
supports the League’s commitment to environmental protection. As Tim said, the downtown 5
location is close to shopping and dining services and jobs. For residents who go downtown from 6
this project will be able in many cases to walk and bike. It’s a huge positive for the environment 7
and also will mean that they don’t have to take up the precious downtown parking spaces if 8
they walk and they bike. The League letter notes the challenges that you and the Council are 9
working on to make it easier and faster to get 100 percent affordable projects but it is difficult. 10
It's increasingly difficult with the funding challenges. 11
12
The downtown parking lot proposals are now in a lawsuit and that could affect the financial 13
feasibility. So getting units in these mixed-use projects is a very positive outcome toward our – 14
by the way, the state gave the region a goal but our Council and this Commission adopted the 15
housing goal. It is our goal now to meet. Finally, please move it forward. The next ending 16
comment is personal. I’ve been to many of these meetings over the 4 years. People have a right 17
to speak but we’re hearing the same thing again and again. Please add your comments and get 18
it to the Council, so they can, again with everybody’s comments, finally reach a decision 19
whatever that may be. Thank you. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Thank you, Mr. Levy. 2
3
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Xenia H. followed by Ali S. 4
5
Xenia H.: Hello. Can you hear me? Okay, great. I’m Xenia Hammer. I’m a Palo Alto resident and I 6
also have family members in nearby senior residences. So I’m all in favor of more housing and 7
this is a good location for a new apartment building. At the same time, there are serious 8
concerns that have been brought up today and I agree with many of those concerns. The 9
setback requirements need to be met on University Avenue and Byron Avenue – on Byron 10
Street as well as Middlefield, yeah. This current proposal somehow increased space on the sixth 11
floor and that exacerbates concern about daylight planes and so consider rolling back that extra 12
space on the sixth floor close to Byron. That’s a significant change from the last version you 13
have considered. But what I really want to focus my comments on today is the need for a 14
loading space in front of the main entrance on University Avenue. Palo Alto Municipal Code 15
Section 18.52.040 Chapter D clearly states, “Residential and mixed-use structures with 50 or 16
more dwelling units shall provide at least 1 on-site, short-term loading space for passenger 17
vehicles to be used by taxi cabs and similar transportation and delivery services.” This 18
requirement makes sense anywhere. It’s common sense. In this location, it is crucial. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
This location is a gateway for traffic in and out of downtown on University Avenue and it is the 1
block right before Middlefield. It is also an avenue for through traffic, connecting 101 and 2
Stanford. A huge amount of traffic. So without the loading space in front of the main entrance 3
on University Avenue, you’re going to have traffic backing up on University Avenue, slowing 4
down traffic in and out of Palo Alto. People will not be use − able to use a right lane to turn 5
right on Middlefield. There’s a bus stop nearby. It is crucial to have that loading space in front of 6
the main entrance. 7
8
Samuel Tavera: This concludes your time. 9
10
Xenia H.: Please insist on that change to the project. Thank you. 11
12
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Hammer. 13
14
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Ali S. followed by Zachary A on Zoom. 15
16
Ali S.: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Ali Sapirman and I’m here on behalf of the 17
Housing Action Coalition. Our endorsement committee had the opportunity to review Smith 18
Development’s proposal at 660 University. We proudly endorse the project. Palo Alto, in order 19
to meet their state-mandated RHNA, has to build 6,086 units with 1556 units for very low 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
income households and 896 for low-income households. Smith Development’s proposal will 1
help meet those requirements by bringing 70 much needed new units to Palo Alto. We were 2
impressed with the projects’ dedication to affordable housing, with 20 percent of the units for 3
lower-tiered affordable housing, which is high, especially considering the current economic 4
conditions. By prioritizing affordable housing and urban development, we can create more 5
sustainable and inclusive communities for everyone. We also appreciate the reduction of 6
parking and we would support further reduction in parking in order to maximize housing. We 7
are simply not in a parking crisis; we are in a housing crisis. 8
9
In terms of land use, the project’s site central location with proximity to essential downtown 10
amenities, including Caltrain station and the inclusion of ample bike parking facilities, 11
underscore a commitment to promoting environmental sustainability and reducing reliance in 12
automobiles. The office space is critical in the funding for the project, namely the housing, and 13
especially the affordable housing does not pencil with the of-, without the office component. In 14
terms of overall design, we commend the steps Smith Development has taken to preserve the 15
Oak tree on site and even has incorporated it into the design. The project will be critical to 16
support Palo Alto and the bay areas housing needs. Please move this project forward without 17
any further delays. Thank you. 18
19
Chair Akin: Thank you, Ms. Sapirman. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Samuel Tavera: Our final speaker is Zachary A. Zachary, you may now speak. 2
3
Zachary A.: Good evening, Transportation Board. My name is Zachary Anglemyer. I am a former 4
4-year resident of Palo Alto. Now I’m here on behalf of Pathway for Kids, an organization based 5
in San Francisco that helps under-served kids but also helps build up communities. I’m also here 6
because I’m working very hard at making it easier for projects like this to be one – maybe 1-7
year projects as far as getting approved as an endeavor of mine and some others – people that I 8
work with. Now I have watched this project for the last 3 years, commented a few times, and 9
while I highly support anything related to housing in Palo Alto and just in general, you have to 10
look at each building in the context of its community, and in the case of this building, it has 11
been looked at in isolation. It’s as if someone designed a building, picked the site, but didn’t 12
design a building for that site. And that is unfortunately what occurs across the United States 13
quite often. I just came back from Vienna for work and it is clear that in that part of the world, 14
they do not think of things that way. And so you get really responsible development. And I bring 15
this up because there are many wonderful sites in downtown San – Palo Alto that are 16
underutilized or partially utilized that could spread the additional units that you have been 17
adding to this site to help reduce some of the size. So that’s just something to consider. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
But on another note, I want to bring up two things very briefly. One, everything that’s been said 1
about ingress and egress is very important and everything that’s been said around setbacks are 2
very important. You need consistency, particularly at the gateway to a city. But I think there’s 3
really two areas that are being overlooked. And as a circular economist, I know that you can 4
make this building pencil out to 50 percent low-income housing. If you think of the – if you add 5
sort of two elements; one, if you make the entire roof agricultural space and being able to sell 6
that as a revenue generator for the building. Two, actually increasing the office space and – 7
slightly, maybe by 20, 30,000 square feet. [Inaudible 88:24] by 10,000 square feet. That will 8
provide more revenue for the building, so you can actually increase the amount of that. And 9
then two, parking. It really isn’t an issue as long as the parking garages in the area that have 10
excess parking overnight – not saying they have it necessarily during the day but overnight is 11
permitted for people in this building as if it is their own garage. 12
13
Samuel Tavera: This concludes your time. 14
15
Zachary A.: Yes. Just 10 more seconds. So in conclusion, this building has the right concept but 16
the wrong execution. And it should not be moved forward until the execution meets the 17
concept. Thank you. 18
19
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Anglemyer. Mr. Tavera, do we have any other speakers? 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Samuel Tavera: Through the Chair, that concludes public comment. No more requests to speak. 2
3
Chair Akin: Thank you. So Mr. Smith or Mr. Korth, if you would like to respond to any of the 4
comments you’ve heard, then we will turn it over to Commissioners if they have any clarifying 5
questions for you. 6
7
Boyd Smith: How much time do I have to respond? 8
9
Chair Akin: Three minutes. 10
11
Boyd Smith: Three minutes, okay. So I’ll do my best. There’s a lot that was covered there. But 12
more than anything I just wanted to take this time to appreciate all the comments that have 13
been made in this project over the last 4 years, both in favor and against. I know that there’s a 14
lot of passion behind this project, both of those in favor and against. And I appreciate all of you 15
here helping us in this process and staff. So just to point out – and I know The Hamilton has 16
shown up for all these hearings and has consistently provided complaints regards to the project 17
and we do feel like we’ve made a lot of changes and there’s been a lot of iterations to this 18
project to accommodate. We want to be good neighbors, so I just hope you got the knowledge 19
that we are trying. We also want to acknowledge too that there is a lot of people who have 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
consistently been in favor of this project, Housing Advocacy groups, residents, as well as League 1
of Women Voters, and a lot of other groups as well. So let me just go to a couple of key points 2
here. Let’s first talk about the tree really quick. And I don’t want to dive too much into this 3
other than the fact that − Chris Ream, I appreciate the fact − I like mathematics too and I have 4
done some calculations for various things on this project as well. 5
6
The City arborist is in full support of our approach to the tree, has been all along the process. 7
He’s available for comment. Any questions you have or that the residents have in regards to 8
that, the City arborist is available and ready to answer questions. Full support of what we’re 9
doing in our approach. Working with our arborist very closely. In terms of the transportation, 10
just want to highlight that we have gone from 30 percent reduction in parking to 13 percent 11
reduction in parking. Just want to clearly highlight that Santa Clara Valley Transportation 12
Authority defines the corner of University and Middlefield as a major transit corridor. It is − if 13
you look at this slide right here, our area is barely outside the half-mile zone. In that zone, we 14
would be required to do zero parking. Interestingly enough, VTA deems our site actually as a 15
major transit corridor, perhaps to even no parking because we’re right across the street from a 16
major bus corridor. You can see here all the different bus lines that it serves. I recognize that 17
cities have different interpretation but if you just look at the VTA itself, they view us a major 18
transit corridor. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Also, coupled with the fact that the Palo Alto TDM program is designed to specifically reduce 1
parking by up to 30 percent in certain locations. Because we’re in a major transit corridor, I feel 2
like it goes – it is in perfect line of Palo Alto’s plan in the downtown to deem this site at least 3
subject to a 20 percent reduction. We’re only asking for a 13 percent reduction. Again, we have 4
a very robust plan that actually will accommodate up to a 30 percent reduction. We’re very 5
confident in that. Also, just one last thing, we also really like the tree. We are dedicated and 6
want to save the tree. This is why we had so much effort with our arborist and the City arborist 7
to make sure this tree lives. So any other comments, we have lots of more things we could 8
discuss. 9
10
Chair Akin: Thank you very much. We have an opportunity for clarifying questions from the 11
Commission for the applicant. Do I have any requests? Commissioner Hechtman. 12
13
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. So just clarifying questions now. This is for the applicant. 14
Last time you were before us, there was a fair amount of discussion about the possibility of an 15
off-street loading spot and if I’m remembering correctly, it may have related to the area where 16
you’re going to be holding the garbage and then bringing it out to the street; that was 7 months 17
ago. And I’m wondering what you can tell us about your efforts to find a place for an Uber or an 18
Amazon or whatever to pull off the street, off of Byron for a pick-up or delivery. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Amanda Borden, KSH Architects: Hi. I’m Amanda Borden with KSH Architects. I’m going to share 1
my screen real quick here. So you should be able to see the proposed plan and what’s shown 2
here is the area of off-site trash staging. So we have a trash room that’s on site here. Those 3
trash bins are pulled off site to this loading area that will be assigned for the trash pick-up. So 4
outside of those trash pick-up areas, it would remain as street parking. In addition, beyond the 5
10-foot sidewalk, we have 13 feet setback to where that roll-up door ends. And so there’s 23 6
feet there with space for pedestrians to still pass for a car to pull on site. The area within the 7
trash is not tall enough for a trash vehicle or a larger loading vehicle, so the Palo Alto code 8
requires a 15-foot height loading stall. As you can imagine 15 foot of clear height is very difficult 9
to accommodate on such a small site, but we think that we’ve provided enough space for those 10
taller vehicles off site with the limited hours, the trash, and that there’s room for cars, 11
passengers to pull up. And then that’s also the move-in loading and unloading area that 12
residents will have access to. 13
14
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. I didn’t entirely follow you. So I think what I’m seeing is that 10 15
foot 3 dimension, that’s off Byron, right? That’s not on the street. 16
17
Amanda Borden: That is the public sidewalk. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Okay, that’s a public sidewalk. So you’re not going to pull a vehicle – 1
an Uber is not going to pull onto the sidewalk to pick somebody up, right? That’s not the plan. 2
3
Amanda Borden: They’re – no. There can be a curb cut there. We are limited with how close the 4
curb cuts can be. There is – currently, the trash can be pulled to our driveway curb cut or I 5
believe we – it is hard to see on this plan if we still have our curb cut there but the intent would 6
be that we could have a curb cut there for somebody to pull on site into the 13-foot area. 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. And that 13-foot area, that has to do with the height issue. So 9
like an Uber, no issue. But is that where the overhang would be? So a tall Amazon truck 10
couldn’t go there but a Uber vehicle could. 11
12
Amanda Borden: The overhang is not all the way to the property line there but it – not all of 13
that 13 foot would be available to an Amazon truck. 14
15
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. Understood. And then the area on Byron, there’s going to be a 16
portion there that will need to be available on trash days, and so is that like a red curb zone 17
that people can’t park in? 18
19
Amanda Borden: Typically, it’s handled with signage, so that there are certain hours. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Okay. 2
3
Amanda Borden: Kind of like street sweeping. 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So that would be off limits to parking and therefore available 6
for somebody to swing in only during whatever those trash hours were. Okay. All right. That 7
answers my question. Thank you. 8
9
Amanda Borden: Yep. 10
11
Chair Akin: I have Vice-Chair Chang followed by Commissioner Ji. 12
13
Amanda Borden: Hi. 14
15
Vice-Chair Chang: Since I’ve got the architect up here, maybe you can help me. So we went 16
through the presentation very quickly. When you were speaking about – or when Mr…. 17
18
Amanda Borden: Korth. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Vice-Chair Chang: …Korth was speaking about the − moving the balconies around, could you go 1
through that again and then… 2
3
Amanda Borden: Yeah. 4
5
Vice-Chair Chang: …the unit implication? I just wanted to slow down there because that’s new 6
to us and I don’t think was in our packet unless – yeah, I don’t think it was in our packet. Ms. 7
Kallas, could you verify that that’s new to us? 8
9
Emily Kallas: Yes, in my presentation, I had also briefly touched on that there had been changes 10
about the balconies. These were reviewed by the Architectural Review Board, and so for the 11
purpose of my staff presentation, that was seen as more under their purview but, of course, 12
please ask any clarifying questions. 13
14
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. Before I ask them more questions, can I quickly ask you – so in terms of 15
the unit counts and the affordability, is what we have in our plans, the accurate count of what’s 16
on the table or is this – I got a little confused there. 17
18
Emily Kallas: The applicant did show a slide in their presentation that talks about the 19
affordability in a way that, unfortunately, I was also not following. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. So that’s – so this is where my questions are. So if you could just start 2
with where the bit about the change in the balconies and the change in the units and – if you 3
could just go through… 4
5
Ted Korth: Sure. 6
7
Vice-Chair Chang: …that a little bit more carefully. 8
9
Ted Korth: So… 10
11
Vice-Chair Chang: Slowly, I mean. 12
13
Ted Korth: So the idea was to trim the tree 6 feet from the face of the building just to – just 14
literally build the building and the balconies – this is in the base scheme, that 70-unit scheme. 15
Then the balconies would be installed at the end of construction and they wouldn’t even touch 16
that tree because it had already been trimmed back 6 feet. If the ARB – a couple of the 17
members asked that those 2 balconies that were there in the center of the site, kind of center 18
on the tree, could be deleted even though they understood the whole thing with the tree 19
trimming. So we thought our client would like to have private open space for every unit, and so 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
in order to do that, we tried a version where we split 2 one-bedroom units over the center of 1
that tree, and so that the balconies are shown – Amanda has that. Now, you can see where the 2
balconies would be located outbound of the area where the ARB had questions or had asked 3
that those 2 balconies go away. So this splits them out. It changes the unit count from 70 to 66. 4
And then the mix changed a little bit but the exterior of the building, other than the balcony, 5
there’s no proposed change at all. It would be identical. 6
7
Vice-Chair Chang: And what would it do to the – okay. So – sorry. You had shown a chart about 8
the mix change, could you show that? 9
10
Ted Korth: Yes. Now I’m doing this from memory because I can’t see that far. But I think it went 11
from 33 one-bedrooms in a 70-unit building to 39 one-bedrooms. And then the studio count, I 12
think, is 28 in the 70-unit plan and it’s 19 in the 66 plan. And the 9 – there were 9 two-13
bedrooms in the original version. And this would be 8 two-bedrooms. So that was just the result 14
if you make the units bigger, then you have to remove some units in order to do that. 15
16
Vice-Chair Chang: All right. Got it. Okay. Thanks. That’s very helpful. And then from an 17
affordability standpoint, we would have to adjust the mix as well, is that correct? 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Amanda Borden: Yes, that’s correct. You can see that on the right side of this chart here that 1
talks about the BMR, so we go from… 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Got it. 4
5
Amanda Borden: …a total of 14 to 13. 6
7
Vice-Chair Chang: Too much data for me to… 8
9
Amanda Borden: Yeah. 10
11
Vice-Chair Chang: …like absorb on the fly. Okay. 12
13
Amanda Borden: Yeah. That’s why Ted memorized it. 14
15
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. So it’d go from 14 to 13 in the mix. We basically lose a studio. Got it. 16
That I can… 17
18
Amanda Borden: Yep. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Vice-Chair Chang: That I got. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. My other question for the 1
architects or applicant while you’re up there is could you show the corner shots again, sort of 2
the corner elevation? Yeah, there we go. Okay. This is something in my lack of experience as a 3
plan reader I missed. So in the p-, the last time this was here, the PTC had asked to consider 4
bird-safe glass up on the sixth floor. So I wanted to see if that is – like what are those two 5
corners on the sixth floor where a bird could theoretically see through the glass? Can – what is 6
that space right there? 7
8
Ted Korth: It’s a residential unit. There’s a bedroom and a living room in that area. 9
10
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. And so the concern about re-, did you guys consider bird-safe glass 11
there at all? 12
13
Ted Korth: The bird-safe glass, we thought – again, this is us think – trying to think this through, 14
but before when there was the terrace on the other side of the building facing The Hamilton − 15
the big terrace – there was an office place. That had landscaping on it and birds would tend to 16
fly towards vegetation. It’s not an exact science but because this is just – there isn’t vegetation 17
in the foreground of it, then the bird isn’t going to be confused and hit foliage or try to land on 18
foliage. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay, just so that – because this Commission has heard a whole long item on 1
bird-safe glass in our – like what we had learned during that presentation was the issues with 2
bird safety come up when there’s lots of glazing that may be reflective or that a bird can see 3
through and think that it can fly through. So that was my concern upon seeing the corners and 4
when I had looked at the plans, I didn’t realize that because I was only looking at elevations that 5
didn’t show the corners. So is it feasible to do bird-safe glass there? 6
7
Ted Korth: That’s up to these guys. 8
9
Boyd Smith: It’s something we’re happy to explore, yeah. 10
11
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. Thanks. Thank you very much. 12
13
Chair Akin: Thank you, Vice-Chair. Commissioner Ji. 14
15
Commissioner Ji: Thank you, Chair. I just also was a little bit lost with the new data about the 16
unit distribution. So on Packet Page 19, it says that the number of units is 70 but what I’m 17
hearing is that the number of units is now 66. Is that correct? 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Ted Korth: Our thought was to show you the option. If this Commission really wanted to 1
eliminate any balcony in that tree area, then we would – we’re happy to go either way with 2
this, to go 70 units and to keep the balconies in that tree canopy area or if this Commission 3
would prefer to eliminate balconies in that location, our preference would be to go to 66 units 4
and just shift those balconies out as was described. Does that make sense? 5
6
Commissioner Ji: Yeah. And then do you have the – like on Packet Page 19, there’s a kind of 7
distribution of the different income levels, like in the 66 design, how does that kind of play out 8
here? 9
10
Ted Korth: I’m going to have to defer to Amanda on that one. That may be something we need 11
to revisit and figure out exactly how we’re going to distribute if we go that 66 route option, 12
which we’ll do it proportionally in a very similar way to what we did with the 70 units. 13
14
Boyd Smith: Sorry. I’ll just respond real quick. Without going into exact detail, as you can see on 15
this chart, we go from 14 affordable units to 13 and we go from basically the same number of 16
one-bedroom, the same number of two-bedrooms. There’s just one less studio. So really we’re 17
just talking about how to allocate that one studio… 18
19
Commissioner Ji: Okay. Thank you. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Boyd Smith: …[inaudible 106:31]. 2
3
Commissioner Ji: Another question I have is that – so in our last discussion about the special 4
setback on Middlefield, there was some discussion about how there are staircases and a bunch 5
of other utilities that may be existing in the special setback as currently designed. Do you know 6
if those are still there in this current version? 7
8
Amanda Borden: Yes, we still have the stair from the 6 floors above that is within that 24-foot 9
setback. 10
11
Commissioner Ji: Okay. Thank you. 12
13
Chair Akin: Commissioner Templeton. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you, Chair. I was hoping that the applicant would answer or 16
respond to the comment from the public about whether or not you need to reapply based on 17
these changes. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Ted Korth: I – we have an attorney, Holland and Knight, that represents us in that process and 1
from what they’ve told us we have complied with the applicant process that’s needed to 2
comply with the builder’s remedy application. And we have a tolling agreement in with the City 3
that has that on hold until this process unfolds. 4
5
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. But I was wondering did you already talk about that with the 6
City? I mean I… 7
8
Ted Korth: Yeah. 9
10
Commissioner Templeton: What your attorney’s going to say is going to be what you want. But I 11
want to know what your conversation with the City has been. 12
13
Ted Korth: Our attorney is the one that communicates with the City on this and they’re the 14
ones that submit the revised application, the revised builder’s remedy. You’re probably familiar 15
with Holland and Knight; they do a lot of the work here in Palo Alto with [inaudible 108:14] 16
many projects. I’m pretty sure they’re very competent and aware of what needs to happen. 17
18
Commissioner Templeton: I’m sure. I’m not interested in talking about them. I want to know 19
what is going on between you and the City. So you have… 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Ted Korth: As far as what… 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: …heard this… 4
5
Ted Korth: …I’ve been told the City… 6
7
Commissioner Templeton: Yeah. 8
9
Ted Korth: …agrees that our application − builder’s remedy revision was applied appropriately 10
and is in… 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. 13
14
Ted Korth: …good standing. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: So you don’t feel that that’s why you didn’t respond to it because 17
that’s not an issue that has been brought… 18
19
Ted Korth: Yeah. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: …to you. 2
3
Ted Korth: I’ve never heard of it, yeah. 4
5
Commissioner Templeton: That’s great. Thank you. I’ll save the rest of my questions for staff. I 6
appreciate you clarifying that. 7
8
Chair Akin: Are there any further clarifying questions for the applicant? All right. It’s time then 9
to begin general discussion. I do want to put a little bit of a framework around this. I know we 10
have a few comments on the Comp Plan Amendment and I don’t want those to get lost in what 11
will be the much larger discussion about the PC, so I’d like our first round of discussion 12
comments to focus on the Comp Plan, and if necessary, the EIR. And I suspect we can wrap 13
those up fairly quickly and then move onto the more substantive matters. So Commissioner 14
Templeton. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: Oh, you can pass me for later. 17
18
Chair Akin: I have a request for a break. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Vice-Chair Chang: [Inaudible 109:44] minutes. Before we march into discussion. 1
2
Chair Akin: All right. Yeah, let’s – I think that this is a reasonable request. Before we get into the 3
major discussion, let’s go ahead and have a break. So we – it is currently 7:51, let’s return at 4
8:00. If I could, everyone take your seats, it’s about time to resume. Folks, it’s time to resume. 5
So if you would take your seats, please. All right. Welcome back, everyone. During the break, I 6
have been informed that we need another round of clarifying questions of staff before we 7
begin consideration. So I will now open it up to another round of clarifying questions for staff 8
beginning with Commissioner Templeton followed by Commissioner Hechtman. 9
10
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you so much, Chair. And thank you to everybody who came 11
here to share their perspective tonight. I know we’re all very passionate about a lot of things 12
around here, housing and trees are some of the top. So it’s very exciting to be able to engage 13
the public on issues like this. My first question to ask of staff is really I want to know a little bit 14
more about the tree and the history of the tree. And so I was wondering if we could bring the 15
arborist on to answer some questions about that. 16
17
Peter Gollinger, Manager Urban Forestry City of Palo Alto: Good evening, Commissioners. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: Hi. Thank you so much for joining us and it’s really a pleasure to have 1
you here. As you know, it is something that we really appreciate your expertise on, especially in 2
issues like this where we have a conflict – or a seeming conflict between housing and our 3
beloved trees. So my question is can you tell me about the history of this tree, how old is it, and 4
do we have any, for example, historical pictures of the site from before development? I’m 5
thinking like – I’ve seen some pictures of Palo Alto in the 1890’s and we can see some of these 6
kinds of trees are present. Is it one of those kind of trees? 7
8
Peter Gollinger: No, I do not believe so. Based on aerial imagery that is available in Google 9
Earth, the tree does not appear to predate development. I… 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: Can you show… 12
13
Peter Gollinger: …can share my… 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: …us that? Yeah. 16
17
Peter Gollinger: Yes, I can. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: That’d be fantastic. I’d really like to see that and I’d also like to see 1
what trees present on the site adjacent, The Hamilton, before it was developed. 2
3
Peter Gollinger: So what I did was I cut and – some images from Google Earth. And so here is 4
the most recent image from March of this year and I measured canopy estimate of just under 5
90 feet, which fits with the arborist measurements from the arborist reports. And as you can 6
see, the tree is located here basically on the – virtually on the property line between the two 7
parcels. The earliest aerial photos available in Google Earth are from 1948 and as you can see, 8
the tree is barely there. If you look, there’s some larger trees off to the left and right and 9
there’s one actually just below this image that I didn’t get in the screen snip. But the generous 10
estimate would be about 30 feet for canopy width, which would put the tree in 1948 probably 11
about 20 to 30 years old, maybe a little bit more. So I would say the tree is at most about 100 12
years old at this point. Compare that to the tree we recently lost at Rinconada Park where the 13
canopy width in the 1948 image is the exact same as what was measured recently. So that tree 14
was several hundred years old. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: Wow. 17
18
Peter Gollinger: Dramatically different. That tree predated development, whereas I believe this 19
tree did not. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: This is really informative. While you have that picture up, can you 2
show us the adjacent site in the historical photo? 3
4
Peter Gollinger: Let me see if I can get it over here. So there’s a larger tree here. I don’t know if 5
– did it switch to the Google Earth view for you guys? 6
7
Commissioner Templeton: Yes, we have the… 8
9
Peter Gollinger: Okay. 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: …historical picture, yeah. 12
13
Peter Gollinger: So if you look down here below the – right here along Byron, there was a very 14
large Oak there, whereas you can see where the Cardinal Dental label is, there’s really not 15
much. That’s the canopy width from the current tree. And then if we zoom out a little bit, we 16
can see that there’s some open space here across Middlefield and some additional trees further 17
that direction. Just to give you kind of a… 18
19
Commissioner Templeton: That’s really helpful. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Peter Gollinger: Yeah. 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: Yeah. Thank you so much. That was my question. Thank you. 4
5
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Templeton. I have Commissioner Hechtman, then Vice-6
Chair Chang. 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. So staying with Mr. Gollinger, the proposed plan – the 9
version that’s in our packet, not the new October version that was introduced to us tonight. It 10
shows on the tree side that the tree would need to be cut back 6 feet – I think it’s 6 feet from 11
the face of the building to allow the face of the building to be built. Is that your understanding? 12
13
Peter Gollington: Correct. That is my understanding that it would need to be at least the width 14
of scaffolding to erect the building and based on discussions with the developer at the previous 15
meetings, the balconies could be installed in that same envelope. So there would be no 16
additional tree pruning required to install the balconies. There would be a minimal ongoing 17
maintenance with the presence of the balconies there but tree canopies are not a solid wall. 18
They’re constructed of areas of limbs and small branches and foliage and voids. And so I find it 19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
unlikely that these would dramatically impact the tree beyond what was going to need to be 1
pruned for the construction. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. And focusing on that for a minute, what would need to be 4
pruned for the construction, do you have concerns that that pruning − which again, my 5
understanding is it needs to be pruned back far enough for the scaffolding and I think I heard 6
the figure 6 feet. Do you have concerns that that amount of initial trimming for the 7
construction will present a hazard that risks the longevity of the tree? 8
9
Peter Gollinger: So due to the unique structure of this tree, the majority of the pruning that’s 10
going to be required to facilitate the project is the removal of one large lower scaffold limb that 11
happens to provide most of the foliage near the proposed building location. Because it’s not 12
pruning an entire side of the tree back a certain amount − it’s going to be selective pruning. I 13
think the impact’s going to be relatively minimal on the overall foliage or stability of the tree 14
because we’re not cutting everything back to a predetermined line that it is going to need to be 15
clear but it is going to be selective pruning to achieve that. 16
17
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. And then after construction, if the balconies are installed in 18
that open area, the branches will be initially at the edge and over time, they may extend over 19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
the balcony. And that I think is what you were referring to as it would need some ongoing 1
maintenance trimming, correct? 2
3
Peter Gollinger: Yes, as would the tree in relationship to the face of the building. 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 6
7
Peter Gollinger: So there’s still going to be ongoing maintenance whether the balconies are 8
there or not. 9
10
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. Those are my questions for you. Thank you. I have 11
one more question for Mr. Yang. Good evening, Mr. Yang. So in our staff report, as in our last 12
staff report, it states that the application that we’re considering is an alternative to a pending 13
builder’s remedy application, which is on hold. In our current staff report, it refers to a tolling 14
agreement that lasts until, I think, the end of the year. We heard during public comment 15
tonight, a remark that the builder’s remedy application may, in fact, no longer be legally valid 16
for reasons that I didn’t entirely understand. But I wanted to ask if it is the opinion of our City 17
Attorney’s Office that there is a defect in that builder’s remedy application that the City 18
Attorney’s Office is aware of. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Assistant City Attorney Albert Yang: Yeah, so the public commenter did identify a potential 1
issue that staff had not previously identified in terms of the – kind of the difference between 2
the preapplication and the formal application that was filed for this – for the builder’s remedy 3
project on this site. But because of the tolling agreement that we have, the applicant actually 4
still has the opportunity to correct that defect. So I would not say that – I would not – yeah, I 5
would say that the builder’s remedy application still has the potential to proceed if in the event 6
that this PHC is not what the applicant wants to go forward with. 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: All right. Thank you. 9
10
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Hechtman. I have Vice-Chair Chang and then 11
Commissoner Ji. 12
13
Vice-Chair Chang: Thank you, Commissioner Hechtman, for asking most of the questions I 14
wanted to ask. I wanted to ask Mr. Gollinger one more question, so if we could have you pop 15
back on. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Gollinger. So there – when this was last here at the PTC, there was a 16
question about the asphalt covering – currently covering the base of the tree. And in our staff 17
report, the staff report captured the information about the tree as follows, it said, “Urban 18
Forestry Manager, Peter Gollinger, stated that it is important for the asphalt to remain during 19
construction but could ideally be removed once the project construction is completed.” And I 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
also kind of vaguely remembering you saying that it’s probably better for the asphalt to be gone 1
after the project is done. The applicant stated that both their arborist as well you agree that it’s 2
okay for the asphalt to stay. And so I wanted to ask you – or that it’s preferable for the asphalt 3
to stay for the safety of the tree. So I wanted to ask you, which is better? 4
5
Peter Gollinger: So it’s a combination of both. So for sure during the construction, the existing 6
asphalt should stay in place to protect the roots that are there. What has changed since the last 7
time we were with the PTC, I believe, has been the design of the outdoor area there with the 8
patio. I can’t remember the exact amenities there but it would have less impact on the tree if 9
those amenities are placed on top of the existing asphalt and then the asphalt is removed 10
around that area. The applicant could probably better answer that but during the ARB, that 11
was, I believe, when that was presented and I had a discussion with the project arborist and we 12
agreed that, at least underneath those amenities, it would make sense to preserve the asphalt 13
to avoid additional disturbance of the root, so. 14
15
Vice-Chair Chang: Thank you. That’s really helpful clarification. I appreciate it. 16
17
Chair Akin: Thank you, Vice-Chair. Commissioner Ji. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Ji: Sounds like a lot of us have the same questions, so – but the one additional 1
question I have is, Ms. Kallas, do you have the NFIP document now available? 2
3
Emily Kallas: Yes. So the staff report did not specify a number because there are 11 of these 4
bulletins and ultimately, the project does need to be compliant with all of them; however, 5
Technical Bulletin 6 is the one that refers to below-grade parking being allowed below mixed-6
use buildings. 7
8
Commissioner Ji: I’m just going to pull it up. But that’s all my questions for now, so we can go 9
asynchronously. 10
11
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Ji. Do I have any other requests for clarifying questions of 12
staff? All right then, I believe we can proceed to discussion. And as I mentioned earlier, since 13
we have these three items to deal with as part of this project, the EIR, the Comp Plan 14
Amendment, and then the PC itself, I expect the bulk of the discussion will occur when we are 15
discussing the PC, so I’d like to see if we can clear out the Comp Plan Amendment and EIR 16
relatively easily. And I know we have a few questions or comments about the Comp Plan 17
Amendment. So if we can make this next round focused on those two things, we’ll knock them 18
out quickly and move on. Vice-Chair Chang. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Vice-Chair Chang: So I know Commissioner Templeton will have to leave and I understand your 1
desire to kind of knock out the ea-, the low-hanging fruit or the easiest discussion first, but I’m 2
also worried – like I don’t want to lose her thoughts for the back – for the remainder, so I just 3
thought maybe if we could have her go first to talk about things, that might enable us to at least 4
benefit from her thoughts. 5
6
Chair Akin: Commissioner Templeton, are you prepared to give us a brain dump of the things 7
that are of concern to you? 8
9
Commissioner Templeton: I don’t know if it’s a brain dump but I also know what kinds of things 10
you guys will be asking, then we’ll have to dig into because I know you’re passionate about. But 11
there are a few things I wanted to share. And I don’t have to leave until 9:05, so if we think we 12
can get through this Comp Plan stuff soon and then we can get to that discussion, I’m happy to 13
be patient but if it’d be okay with you, I would love the chance to speak before I leave on my 14
general comments. Would that be okay? 15
16
Chair Akin: I think so. 17
18
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Chair Akin: I don’t anticipate any controversy about the Comp Plan Amendment or the EIR, just 1
some observations that I have already been informed people would like to make. 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. Well, let’s just go with that. And then I really appreciate Vice-4
Chair Chang’s consideration and I will jump in when we get through or right before I leave. 5
Thank you. 6
7
Chair Akin: Okay. Vice-Chair, do you have a comment on the Comp Plan Amendment or the EIR? 8
9
Vice-Chair Chang: Not on EIR but yes, on the Comp Plan. So I was interested in – let’s see if I can 10
find the language that I pulled up for the Comp Plan. And now I’ve lost it. But I was interested in 11
specifying that the office with the commercial space that is allowed to be redeveloped – or kept 12
in a multifamily zone be designated for neighborhood-serving uses. So my thought is that even 13
though the situation is pretty limited based on staff analysis, if we are keeping commercial 14
space, what we know is that in the areas where this commercial space is – it’s mostly around 15
Cal. Ave. and University, so community-serving commercial would be quite appropriate, I think. 16
And we do have this job/housing imbalance, so the idea of just preserving any amount of office 17
when it should be housing instead. I just would really like it to be neighborhood-serving ideally. 18
So I was hoping that we could add that. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Chair Akin: Commissioner Ji. And followed by Commissioner Hechtman. 1
2
Commissioner Ji: Thank you, Chair. I think that Vice-Chair Chang makes a great point. A lot of 3
the discussion so far also has talked about this site in particular as being pretty close to 4
downtown amenities and with lots of foot traffic, I think that having some kind of 5
neighborhood-serving usage for the office space or the commercial space is useful. And I also 6
want to call out that Municipal Code Section 1816030F actually has a definition for 7
neighborhood-serving uses. And so I’d like to maybe insert that into the language for the Comp 8
Plan Amendment. So it would read something like, “As a part of the planned community zone 9
or in accordance with the retail preservation requirements, existing commercial footage may be 10
maintained or re-, wait. Existing commercial footage may be used – may be maintained, rebuilt 11
as neighborhood-serving spaces as a part of a housing development project.” Or something 12
similar to that. 13
14
Chair Akin: Thank you. Commissioner Hechtman. 15
16
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. Ms. Kallas, can you remind me − it was in one of your 17
earlier slides, this Comp Plan Amendment is potentially applicable to how many properties? 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Emily Kallas: I identified approximately 35 in a survey starting with the list of properties and 1
then… 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 4
5
Emily Kallas: …looking at Google… 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. 8
9
Emily Kallas: …Maps and that sort of thing. 10
11
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. So I’m supportive of moving the Comp Plan Amendment 12
forward if we decide to move the project forward. Even though we’re talking about them 13
separately, I really think that they’re connected. If for some reason we weren’t willing to move 14
the project forward, we can defer conversation on this, but as a part of that package, I am 15
supportive of it. I will note that this amendment will apply to roughly 35 properties, give or 16
take, and this is a comment I made back in March, the findings for the various policies, many of 17
them focus on this particular circumstance. And all of those, which is Policy L1.1, L1.4, L1.6, 18
L2.2, and L2.6, so nearly all of them need to be made generic because we’re going to do a Comp 19
Plan for this property. We’re finding we are going to do it for the whole city. And so the findings 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
have to be applicable to the whole city or the subset of the whole city that was identified by 1
Ms. Kallas. So that I think is important. In terms of the potential modification that’s been 2
suggested by the Vice-Chair and supported by Commissioner Ji, I’m hesitant to apply, in this 3
instance, a one size fits all to perhaps 35 projects because I don’t know where they’re all 4
located and I don’t know for every single one of those what they’re giving up and what they 5
would be potentially converting to neighborhood-serving as defined in our zoning code. 6
7
And so I think a more appropriate way to address that is going to be on a case-by-case basis. In 8
this instance, we’ve got a project in front of us and if we want their 1984 square feet to have a 9
particular limited use, then I think we should make that a condition of approval. And I did notice 10
incidentally in the finding for Policy L-1.6, we actually used the term, “The needs of the 11
community for maintaining existing medical office.” And again, I didn’t know if that was site 12
specific here but if we didn’t change that, then it would be medical office in all 35 spots, which I 13
didn’t think was appropriate. I’m not adverse to talking about a limiting of that office use on 14
this site, but that’s why I don’t want to do it for the other 34 because I don’t know what’s 15
involved. Oh, and on the EIR, the EIR had come to us in March. There have been changes in the 16
project and staff determination that, from a CEQA standpoint, the reduction of office and the 17
addition of additional units were really a de minimis environmental impact and I think that is 18
supported in the record. So I really find that it’s appropriate to recommend the EIR to the City 19
Council. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Before I [inaudible 142:37] to Vice-Chair Chang, does staff has any – does staff have 2
any comment on Commissioner Hechtman’s suggestive re-writes for the findings? 3
4
Emily Kallas: No, it is clear that it should be more broad and not specific to this project; that 5
makes sense. 6
7
Chair Akin: Okay. Vice-Chair Chang. 8
9
Vice-Chair Chang: So thank you, Commissioner Hechtman, for that point of view about a way to 10
address in this specific location. I just did want to say that my thought about a broader Comp 11
Plan – the broader language to apply to the city-wide is because of the analysis shown on the 12
top of Packet Page 17 where talking about 35 properties where the majority of them have 13
medical office use and the majority of them are located around downtown but that some are 14
also located around Cal. Ave. And so that was my logic for it but I’m also fine addressing the 15
specific situation as you proposed as well. I’m just leery always of Comp Plan Amendments 16
because they do have that broad and far ranging effect and if we’re saying that we want to 17
preserve – that we’re going to allow office to be preserved, I know that based on prior 18
discussions here in the Commission, what we are really wanting in terms of that commercial 19
space in general is more neighborhood-serving. So just food for thought there. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Further question for Commissioner Hechtman. I’m curious as to why you suggested 2
that this shouldn’t strictly proceed as a package. We did talk about this some the last time this 3
project came before us and there was concern that, strictly speaking, some of the decisions to 4
be made about this project required that the decision about the Comp Plan be made first. So 5
what was your rationale for preferring that they go forward as a package? 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: Well, I suppose what I prefer is that they leave here as a package. My 8
point was if it becomes clear that it’s the will of this Commission that we’re not going to 9
recommend this proposal in any form − we’re going to recommend that it be denied, then in 10
that scenario, I don’t know that we need to forward a recommendation on the Comp Plan. I 11
don’t believe that’s going to be the direction but the discussion will tell and so I’m wondering 12
can we vote on them sequentially at the end, right? After we’ve discussed all three, can we first 13
vote on the EIR recommendation, then the Comp Plan recommendation, and then the project 14
[inaudible 145:55]? 15
16
Chair Akin: I think we can. We have the freedom to choose that. I was interested in getting the 17
discussion of the Comp Plan and the EIR out of the way first because I really expect us to 18
concentrate on the PC. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Yeah. 1
2
Chair Akin: And I didn’t want to – I didn’t want things to get lost in that larger discussion. But I 3
think I’m hearing we have a sense of where we would like to go with the Comp Plan and the 4
EIR. I will add my single comment on this, which is I did go through the EIR updates in some 5
detail and they are interesting. There are some interesting changes, particularly for 6
transportation. But again, I see no reason to object to the conclusions that have already been 7
reached with respect to the EIR. All right. So given that I think we have a sense within our own 8
minds, at least, of where we’re going with those two, let’s proceed to the PC itself, where I 9
think most of the interesting discussion will happen. And Commissioner Templeton, would you 10
please go first. 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you. Yeah, I – this is such an interesting project. Yes, we’ve 13
discussed it before but I’ve been really engaged by how organized the different constituencies 14
have been and, of course, the applicant. We are getting a lot of very helpful engagement. And 15
so I’ve been trying to wrestle with, as I mentioned before, this tension between the tree and 16
the building of the homes and the experience that those that are living nearby are predicting or 17
worried about. And one of the things that really struck me, and this is why I asked the question 18
before, is I’m just trying to understand if this project − we have expressed explicitly how much 19
we want to protect this tree, right? 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
This is something we have talked about as a body, that the applicant has made adjustments, 2
they understand the seriousness of this and our hope for it. And we’ve heard from public 3
comment that this tree shall not be touched and we really need to consider that any of the 4
changes to the tree would affect the health of the tree. And so that’s what got me to thinking 5
about what is the history of the tree, how important is this tree, how old is this tree, how fragile 6
is this tree, right? Are we actually in danger of killing the tree if we make any of these 7
modifications, including the root base, the trimming for the scaffolding and things like that. So 8
what I heard from the arborist is that these plans really do not concern him about the health of 9
the tree and I’m wondering, and this may be a question for staff, is what is going to happen if 10
some – if the tree is damaged? 11
12
Emily Kallas: Yes, one of the conditions of approval – and this has been in place – it was already 13
in the draft… 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: Right. 16
17
Emily Kallas: …in March − is to have a bond on the tree, so if anything were to happen that goes 18
outside of what is anticipated, then that fee – I don’t have the amount. 19
20
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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Commissioner Templeton: That’s okay. I remember us talking about it. And it’s worth bringing 1
up again. So thank you for that. 2
3
Emily Kallas: Yes. 4
5
Commissioner Templeton: So with that kind of insurance so to speak in place, I – now I’m 6
thinking about the engagement of people who are so against the touching of the tree, that 7
they’d want to kill a project like this. And it is something I’m really struggling with because what 8
we saw was many trees were cleared in order to make the project that is the current home of 9
all these fine people. And so for me, I struggle with that because I’m happy that they live here, 10
right? I’m happy that they have a home to live in and I want people to be able to live across the 11
street. So then my thought process here is well, can we not touch the tree, right? And we’ve 12
talked to the builder and currently, with our height restrictions and other cost things to pencil 13
out, that’s not on the table, right? And so then I look at it to what extent is that our fault as a 14
city because we’re trading off the height for the tree and – but now as a result, we’re affecting 15
the tree because of our height situation. So I don’t know that we can resolve it. I did want to 16
walk through that thought process together because I know we are all working and wrestling 17
with all of the parameters that we have to deal with. 18
19
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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But from my perspective, I’m very satisfied with the changes that were brought here from the 1
applicant and that the community has been engaged and has had a chance to speak up and I 2
really hope that we can come to an agreement on how to move this project forward. So I do 3
want to hear everybody else’s thoughts as well. But generally, I feel the tree protection is there, 4
we have affordable housing on deck, we have potentially some community amenities on deck, 5
and with the suggestion of the bird-safe glass, I think this could be a really good project. The 6
biggest thing − probably that’s something the Chair will get into. But the biggest thing is how to 7
make sure that that traffic on that street really works because I think that was the major issue 8
that was brought up by the public but I also feel like that’s one we can work through. So I’m 9
hopeful that we can come together on this. So thank you for listening to my thoughts. 10
11
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Templeton. I have Commissioner Hechtman and then 12
Vice-Chair Chang. 13
14
Commissioner Hechtman: I think that’s a ghost light. 15
16
Chair Akin: Okay. Vice-Chair Chang. 17
18
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you to all the members of the community for coming out and for 19
your extensive research. I can tell that a lot of effort went into it and I appreciate it. So I found 20
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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
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the concerns that the community – that the neighbors voice − compelling with respect to the 1
traffic and the circulation and the type of housing one public speaker mentioned that this 2
project offers. With respect to the tree, I think that last time – I’m not a tree expert, so if our 3
City arborist is comfortable with it, then I go with what the City arborist says. And I think that he 4
explained his logic and reasoning and it made sense to me. So for this project, it is very large 5
and its traffic impacts could potentially be very severe given its location. On the one hand, it’s a 6
great location because it’s near downtown and we want denser housing near downtown. But 7
then the sticking point for me, aside from the tree, remains the setbacks because even though 8
we may not have a bike lane or an extra lane of traffic all the way along Middlefield, that is a 9
bus-, that intersection specifically is a very busy intersection. There’s a potential SB 330 10
development down in Menlo Park. If that happens and in some version, it likely will, the traffic 11
on Middlefield is going to be even more congested. 12
13
And so I could see the – I mean it’s kind of – the applicant actually showed an image and 14
showed that if you really extend much past University and Middlefield, there is – there are a lot 15
of buildings there that extend into the 24-foot setback; however, that block itself on that side of 16
the block is clear right now. And I can imagine that our city may want a host of things, such as 17
pedestrian islands for senior corner to make it safer for pedestrians there, especially as we 18
move towards a world where we’re hoping that a lot of people aren’t coming with cars. Now 19
how realistic or not that will be, that’s a debate. But if that’s what we want, then we need to be 20
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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
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planning for a world in which that intersection is safe. And so it’s kind of University and then 1
either street to the north and south of University. Those are the intersections that are 2
particularly important for us to protect. And if you look at that picture that the applicant 3
provided, it’s actually pretty darn good there if we wanted to do kind of small things like left-4
turn lanes for congestion or pedestrian islands. And so that setback is very important to me. 5
And so my decision really hinges – and the only reason that we’re considering encroaching into 6
– or the only reason that I – I’m really looking at this project and possibly going to recommend 7
to City Coun-, like recommend approval by City Council is because of the SB 330 application. 8
9
So my – because other than that – if that SB 330 application didn’t exist, according to our own 10
code, this PC would violate all sorts of thigs in the special consideration section, which is 18.138 11
– sorry, 18.38.150. And so I find myself in this unusual situation where I can’t make Finding 12
Number 3 for kind of technical reasons. So Finding Number 3, Packet Page 35 – and I had 13
checked with Mr. Yang beforehand about why our findings are in the Record of Land Use Action 14
and not in the PC ordinance, and he said that, “Oh, they should probably be in both places.” 15
And that’s something that staff could do for – between now and Council if we do indeed 16
recommend this project for approval. But for Finding Number 3, it says, “The user use as 17
permitted in the site development regulations applicable within the district shall be consistent 18
with the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan and shall be compatible with existing and potential uses 19
on adjoining sites or within the general vicinity.“ And it’s not just the Comp Plan; it needs to be 20
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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
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consistent with our code. And I don’t think that this project is consistent with 18.38.150 for any 1
number of reasons, including that this was zoned RM-20 and there’s – it’s zoned RM-20 next 2
door and as a result, certain daylight planes apply and we know that those daylight planes are 3
being violated. And staff has done a really good analysis of the issues with respect to 18.38.150 4
on Packet Page 54. 5
6
So I kind of can’t – I can’t make Finding Number 3. Similarly, on a like technical basis, the Comp 7
Plan has – this is not consistent with the Comp Plan because – and we had a little bit of a 8
discussion of this last time this was here. Like the Comp Plan Amendment should have been 9
done first. Now, of course, City Council can do whatever they want to. So that’s why staff has 10
brought us a Comp Plan Amendment at the same time. But I literally cannot make Finding 11
Number 3 because the Comp Plan has not been fixed or to allow this project. With that said, 12
there’s this overarching issue of SB 330, and so then on balance, approving this project would 13
be consistent with the Comp Plan because the alternative project, assuming that this SB 330 14
application is still valid, would be way worse in terms of being consistent with the Comp Plan. 15
So those are sort of my broad thoughts. 16
17
There are a bunch of small things that I would like to add, such as bird-safe glass for those 2 18
units on the sixth floor, removing the asphalt surrounding the improvement – the patio 19
improvements under the tree. I thought that the applicant’s proposal to address the feedback 20
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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from the ARB regarding the balconies was a good one. I like that alternative better for a host of 1
reasons. One, the impact on the tree but also the change in the unit mix, I think, creates units 2
that are – like it creates fewer studios and more one-bedrooms and that is better in terms of 3
housing that is less transitional and likely longer-term housing for residents of our city. So I like 4
that option that the applicant brought. And thank you very much for bringing it. So those are 5
my thoughts right now. 6
7
Chair Akin: All right. Seeing no other requests to speak at the moment, I’m going to jump in 8
because some of what I wanted to say in this round dovetails with what Vice-Chair Chang has 9
just said. I will be interested in proposing some conditions of approval on the next round but 10
these are just more general comments. Yeah, I too observed that this project violates the 11
special requirements for PCs and that makes Finding Number 3 very difficult to justify. And I 12
think that’s not only on the basis of concern about the Comp Plan Amendment but also 13
compatibility with nearby sites. And the development standards that determine that 14
compatibility are specifically called out in the Finding and those are specifically the standards 15
that are violated − that are specified in 18.38.150 that are violated. So I have a hard time with 16
this. My inclination is to forward the project to Council; however, I find myself in this kind of 17
untenable position of wanting to recommend the project but the plain language of the code 18
says I can’t. 19
20
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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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.
And my general comment about this for staff is it would be really nice if we could make the 1
code self-consistent in this respect and we don’t have that at the moment, as we’ve discussed 2
in the past. Another approach that might be worth considering that could be accomplished 3
more easily would be to borrow the concept of a statement of overriding considerations from 4
CEQA. So if we had an option – if we had the option of saying, “Despite its benefits, this project 5
also has negative impacts that can’t be mitigated but I find that the project has enough benefit 6
to justify it moving forward despite that incapability.” So that’s the mechanism I’d like to have 7
that I can’t seem to find that would make it easier to move things forward. So please take that 8
as a recommendation for something to consider in the medium term. All right. And once again, 9
I will have some COA’s to propose in the next round but in the meantime, I would like to hear 10
Commissioner Hechtman. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. So really my starting point in this analysis is something 13
some of the other Commissioners have mentioned and that is based on the information we 14
have, we are not looking at this project in a vacuum; we are looking at it in contrast to a 15
builder’s remedy application, which as our City Attorney just explained, it is the view of our City 16
legal staff that the pending application is legal or if for some reason, it’s technically not, it is 17
correctable within the framework of the tolling agreement. And so I think for our purposes 18
tonight and certainly my views are colored by that. And so I am comparing the project proposed 19
tonight with what I view as the alternative. And that alternative instead of somewhere between 20
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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66 and 70 units is 88 units to apparently 131 units, according to one of the slides we saw. And I 1
suspect that has to do with issues like density bonus that can grow a project. Instead of 2
something like 66,000 square feet, it could be up to 101,000 square feet. And so I appreciate, as 3
at the prior hearings, the neighborhood showing in force and forcefully expressing their 4
concerns. But part of those concerns are their quality of life and my view is that it would not 5
have surprised me after we heard this in March for the developer to say, “It’s already been over 6
3 years, that’s enough. Let’s just turn our attention to the builder’s remedy.” 7
8
To their credit, they made refinements and I think improvements. And I’m appreciative of that. 9
But I suspect their patience has some end and I don’t want to be a part of the process that 10
causes them to pivot to that builder’s remedy project, which all of you neighbors will feel 11
inflicted upon with greater height, smaller setbacks, more traffic. And so I’m looking at this 12
project in that lens and on the merits. I want to note that in our Housing Element process, our 13
City Council has recognized that this property is a housing opportunity site for 65 units. And so 14
the contemplation of the City is that that is the desirable level of density for this site and with 15
the current proposal at 70, I think we’re there. I appreciate that since March, we’ve reduced 16
the office space in this building by 80 percent – 70 percent, from 9,000 down to 2,000 and that 17
has allowed an increase of the units from 63 to 70 and an increase in the size of those units. 18
And that’s a benefit. On the tree, I find that based on the views of our arborist, it’s adequately 19
protected and my preference is of the alternatives, if you will, the 70-unit version with the 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
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balconies because we need more units. We need more units of every size, and while it’s true 1
that if we took the new October version and reduce down to 66, those units would be 2
somewhat larger, there will be other larger units. Remember we have something like 1500 3
affordable units to build in this RHNA cycle and so I’m interested in opportunities to get that 4
number reduced by filling some of those blanks sooner. That’s 4 more units for people to live in 5
sooner. And so that’s where I am coming down on the 70 versus 66 plan. The loading space, I 6
appreciate the additional thought that the applicant has undertaken and had an answer for that 7
tonight. I’m not positive it will work but it could ameliorate some of this issue and so I think we 8
have to figure it out and go forward with that one. Let’s see. Oh, on the tree, our arborist is 9
now suggesting rather than move all the asphalt, only move the part that’s around the outside 10
of − I think it’s a deck that’s going there. I don’t even know how much asphalt that is. I’m okay 11
and I probably should have asked the applicant earlier if that presented any problems. I’m okay 12
with making that a condition of approval and if the applicant has as issue with it, they can raise 13
that with the City Council and say, “Here’s why that doesn’t work.” I’m supportive of the staff 14
solution for the treatment of the part of the garage that’s in the special setback that there be 15
an easement to secure those rights long term. 16
17
I do think that if we do that, somewhere in the conditions of approval, which should state a 18
number of parking spaces, if ever that easement becomes utilized, It’s not clear to me. The 19
applicant letter said 3 spaces less. I thought I saw somewhere in the staff report 5. Whatever it 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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is, it should be clarified that if the City activates the easement, then the parking requirement is 1
reduced from 78 to whatever the number is, so that we don’t get into a fight years down the 2
road about, “No, now you’re under parked.” The bird-safe glass concept, I guess the issue’s 3
coming up because it’s a corner. And so a bird would kind of fly in sideways, which I think is 4
better than head-on but I don’t have any incidents on how birds survive hitting a window at 45 5
degrees versus dead-on, so I’d be supportive of a condition of approval dealing with that for the 6
sixth floor residential. And then I noticed in the Record of Land Use Approval, there are a few 7
changes that need to be made. Potentially there are three references to 66 units that might 8
become 70 in our recommendation and in Finding 3, there’s the language, “Maintain the 9
proposed to remain medical office use.” I haven’t heard that – and again that − this may be a 10
discussion that we’re going to have about whether that 2,000 square feet should be limited to 11
that. 12
13
So that may or may not need to change. Incidentally, on Finding 3, like the other findings, I 14
think the findings can be made. I think I interpret it a little differently than the Chair and the 15
Vice-Chair because I think what Finding 3 is in the planning purview, it’s really focused on the 16
use and not the design. Those design aspects are really in the ARB Finding Section 4, which are 17
not in our purview, and that’s so because we don’t interpret findings to be repetitive of each 18
other, we have to see why we would have different findings, and so that’s how I break it down. 19
So I’m comfortable making all the Findings, 1, 2, and 3. Thanks. 20
_______________________
1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at
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1
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Hechtman. Yeah, I think the source of disagreement 2
between us on Finding Number 3 is that I see not just the land uses but also the phrase, “And 3
the site development regulations applicable within the district.” So I see there are two 4
conditions to be met there. Vice-Chair Chang. 5
6
Vice-Chair Chang: So I don’t want to jump the gun or cut off discussion but I can see that there 7
are no other lights here. So I was ready to make a motion and then again, as usual, hopefully 8
the rest of the Commission will help. 9
10
Chair Akin: Would you like COAs before making the motion or after? 11
12
Vice-Chair Chang: Well, I had COAs in mind also regarding the parking but if – I think that’s 13
right. You had said that you wanted to [inaudible 173:18] some COAs in as well. So please go 14
ahead. 15
16
Chair Akin: Before I do that, I think Commissioner Ji was in ahead of me. 17
18
Commissioner Ji: Thank you, Chair. I am also in agreement with my – with some of my fellow 19
Commissioners about Finding 3. I find that those on the Commission know that I am very 20
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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
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3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers.
intimately aware with Section 1838150, the PC amendment. And I won’t kind of comment on 1
any of the specifics. I think the public comment has done a great job and I really appreciate all 2
the public comment that has come forward highlighting all of the exceptions that we’ve had to 3
make on Packet Page 53, like setbacks, density, the loading space, etc., so I kind of won’t 4
comment specifically on that. I also happen to have a transportation plan background and I also 5
am really concerned with the transportation havoc that is going to occur here. My grandparents 6
live at Lytton Gardens, and so I’m pretty familiar with the space here. I may or may not have 7
been one of those people who has parked on Byron because it is very convenient as of right 8
now. So I apologize for that in advance. And I do think that kind of on Packet Page 61, with the 9
PTC motion responses, that the applicant saying that the parking permits are − for the cost, it’s 10
unable and not financially feasible for this project. I think that my guess is that Chair Akin will 11
probably have some creative commentary in his conditions of approval, which I’ll defer to at the 12
next statement. 13
14
But I just kind of want to reiterate the comments from my fellow commissioner that Finding 3 is 15
kind of something I struggle with. And I know that also the ARB findings are technically out of 16
scope for the PTC but I’ll just kind of comment on them as a general matter. So for example, 17
ARB Finding 4 on Packet Page 37 says that the design is functional and allows ease and safety of 18
pedestrian, bike traffic, and providing elements to support the building’s necessary operations, 19
convenient access to property, utilities, etc. Anyone who has been on Byron can probably say 20
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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 ten (10) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that
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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.
that the new design is not really that compatible, the amount of traffic that’s going to come in 1
here, especially with the senior corner that we previously mentioned, and also that ARB Finding 2
2 that says that the project provide – enhances living conditions on the site and adjacent uses. I 3
think we’ve kind of heard loud and clear that the adjacent use of the living condition is not 4
being improved by this project. But those are out of scope and I know those don’t impact our 5
decision making here but just wanted to call those out. 6
7
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Ji. Any other comments? If not, I will dive into some 8
transportation COAs. All right. As staff suggested and, I think, Commissioner Hechtman agreed, 9
we should establish an easement on the Middlefield side to protect potential use for what was 10
once regarded as the special setback, now seems somewhat conditional. And we need to do 11
that and provide enough depth below grade, so that we can relocate signal poles if we need to. 12
My recollection is that Senior Engineer Rius’ estimate was around 16 feet the last time this 13
came up for discussion. But the applicant’s architect has designed for a depth of 20 feet and 14
that’s certainly a reasonable choice. So I would propose my COA Number 1: Establish an 15
easement covering the area reserved for the Middlefield special setback to a depth of 20 feet 16
below grade. Now, this is larger than the 400-square-foot area that’s identified on the plans 17
today and I don’t anticipate needing to go below grade for that entire area but I can quite easily 18
anticipate needing at grade for that entire area. So we need to figure out how we would like to 19
express that sort of constraint. So what I propose is the easy one, just make it all 20 feet deep 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
with the likelihood that we would use that [inaudible 178:09] all of it being very low. The other 1
two conditions that I’d like to propose are related to spillover parking. 2
3
So I think there is really good reason to worry about spill over from this project. The on-site 4
parking has been reduced. State law requires us to allow the residents of the project to park on 5
the street. We can’t restrict that in any way. And the financial incentives strongly encourage 6
parking on the street because you’re talking about for a resident, $1800 a year versus $56 a 7
year. It’s clear that a significant number of people are going to go for $56. And perhaps the final 8
straw is that there are no specific spillover measurement or enforcement provisions in the TDM 9
plan. And there are only a few casual mentions of the issue with nothing that’s either specific or 10
enforceable. So having heard the feedback on the proposal I made last time to constrain the 11
price of the on-site parking, I’d like to propose a couple of conditions that will hopefully cover 12
the same concerns but with a great deal more flexibility. So Condition 2, we need to gather 13
some data. So beginning 2 years after start of occupancy, the building’s management will 14
report annually to the Office of Transportation the number of on-site spaces that are being 15
leased. I’ll explain a little later how that comes into play but I think that’s not an onerous 16
requirement and it’s similar to requirements we’ve used on other projects. This allows the 17
Office of Transportation to determine if the on-site spaces are being used effectively and that’s 18
one of the key things we need to know to deal with spillover. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Now RPP permit − Residential Preferential Parking Program permits are associated with the 1
address of the permit holder. So that means the Office of Transportation has the ability to make 2
a good estimate of how much spillover is caused by the project. I specifically want to avoid 3
having to do surveys because that’s expensive and the time you do the survey makes the 4
results unreliable. This measure is easy, inexpensive, and consistent. I want to give the Office of 5
Transportation the flexibility to decide how much spillover is too much and just as in other 6
cases, what penalties or incentives should be applied to fix the excess spillover if it occurs. I 7
don’t want to specify that tonight. That should be done by the professionals and the OOT; 8
however, I want to give you an example of how this would work because I spent a fair amount 9
of time trying to see how it could be made viable before making these suggestions. So this is 10
just an example. The Office of Transportation often assumes that an area is fully parked if it’s 11
more than 85 percent occupied. As far as I know, there’s no standard for excess spillover, so 12
OOT would have to establish one but I trust that they can define one that is reasonable. For the 13
sake of this example, let’s say it’s 15 percent of the number of on-site spaces. So in total, we’re 14
covering about 100 percent of the on-site spaces. For this project, 15% works out to be about 15
12 spaces. 16
17
So there are three conditions that arise. If there are fewer than 12 permits − RPP permits sold 18
to building residents, then everything is working as intended and no action is needed. So if you 19
believe the TDM plan will accomplish its goals, then this is the case that applies. If there are 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
more than 12 permits sold and the on-site occupancy is greater than 85 percent say, then that 1
means the demand reduction in the TDM plan is not working. And that’s a piece of information 2
OOT needs to adjust the TDM plan. Finally, the third case, if there are more than 12 permits 3
sold and the on-site occupancy is less than 85 percent, then you have spillover. Then people are 4
choosing not to park on site; they’re going onto the street. And that exports the inconvenience, 5
safety hazards, pollution, noise, all the problems associated with excess parking to other 6
people’s neighborhoods. In that case, the Office of Transportation should consider applying 7
penalties or requiring that the price of on-site parking be reduced in a negotiation with the 8
building management to encourage residents to move their cars back on site. I would hope that 9
building management would support this idea because this is the situation in which they’re 10
losing revenue because they don’t have good occupancy for their on-site parking places. So 11
they have an incentive to try and make sure that occupancy on site is as high as is practical. Ms. 12
Armer. 13
14
Jennifer Armer: Yes, through the Chair, I wanted to note that I believe we had a Commissioner 15
who has to leave at this time. I wanted to give her a chance to make that statement or anything 16
else before she does. 17
18
Chair Akin: All right. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: Thank you. Are we close to making a motion in the next 4 minutes? I 1
can extend 5 minutes. 2
3
Chair Akin: I’m through with my example. I will just read the condition. Just say that I believe – 4
well, I believe this is a good example of how things could work. It really has to be done – the 5
design has to come from OOT. But I want to make sure the problem is not ignorable and thus 6
the third condition. As part of the TDM plan, the Office of Transportation will develop a method 7
to assess spillover parking created by the project and impose incentives or penalties when 8
spillover is excessive. So those are the three conditions that I would consider adding to the 9
motion. Commissioner Templeton. 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: No, I’m not making the motion. I thought Vice-Chair Chang was. 12
13
Chair Akin: No, I just wanted to know if you had any further comment. Okay. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: No. 16
17
Chair Akin: If not… 18
19
Commissioner Templeton: If we can vote before I go, I’ll participate and if not, I appreciate… 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Vice-Chair. 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: …everybody’s comments. 4
5
Chair Akin: Vice-Chair Chang then. 6
7
Vice-Chair Chang: So I’m going to attempt to capture things. I might not – I’ve been trying to 8
type notes and I may not have done everything. So I move the staff recommendation with the 9
following changes: First, in order to address the issue of balconies in the Tree Protection Zone 10
as highlighted by the ARB, that the project be modified to either be the 66-unit option as 11
presented by the applicant tonight or that the project remove the balconies from the H2 units 12
for floors 2 to 6 to reduce the encroachment into the Tree Protection Zone as recommended by 13
the H – ARB. Second, the addition of the following conditions of approval to the Record of Land 14
Use Action. So first, the three COAs that Chair Akin suggested, which is one: To establish an 15
easement covering the area reserved for the Middlefield special setback to a depth of 20 feet 16
below grade with the provision that if the easement is used, the applicant is not responsible for 17
replacing the parking spaces that are removed, which I think is what Commissioner Hechtman 18
suggested. Okay. Second COA: Beginning 2 years after the start of occupancy, the building’s 19
management will report annually to the Office of Transportation the number of on-site spaces 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
that are being leased. Third COA: As part of the TDM plan, the Office of Transportation will 1
develop a method to assess spillover parking created by the project and impose incentives or 2
penalties when spillover is excessive. 3
4
Fourth COA: Remove the asphalt under Tree Number 10 after construction as recommended by 5
the Urban Forestry Manager – Palo Alto’s Urban Forestry Manager. Five: Bird-safe glass for the 6
2 units at the corners of the sixth floor, which I believe are Units E and F2 on the sixth floor. Six: 7
Designating that the approximately 1900 square feet of commercial space is for a 8
neighborhood-serving use. So that is it. Now are there other conditions of approval that I 9
missed? Or do we need to make changes regarding the Comp Plan goals that are cited for the 10
Comprehensive Land Use Element modification, as you had suggested Commissioner 11
Hechtman. 12
13
Commissioner Hechtman: Well, I think actually in your Condition 6, you just did that. 14
15
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. 16
17
Commissioner Hechtman: By specifying for this site that 1894 has to be used for neighborhood- 18
serving, you’ve addressed it. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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 Templeton: And maybe recommending Council send it back to us for broader use 1
if we need to consider it more broadly. 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: No. So I made a – the condition of approval would restrict the use for this one 4
site. But you, Commissioner Hechtman, had brought up other issues with the actual text of the 5
amendment, I believe. 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: Oh, sure. You’re talking about the Record of Land Use approval 8
document, which actually… 9
10
Vice-Chair Chang: Right. Had… 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. 13
14
Vice-Chair Chang: …cited a bunch of Comp Plan goals and policies and we need to… 15
16
Commissioner Hechtman: That’s – yeah. That’s on the Comp Plan, so we’re not – right now… 17
18
Vice-Chair Chang: It… 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: …you’re making a motion on… 1
2
Vice-Chair Chang: I’m making a motion for the entire staff recommendation… 3
4
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 5
6
Vice-Chair Chang: …which has 3 parts… 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes. 9
10
Vice-Chair Chang: …the EIR… 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. 13
14
Vice-Chair Chang: …the Comp Plan… 15
16
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 17
18
Vice-Chair Chang: …as well as the PC and the Record of Land Use Action. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Yes. Then on the record of land use action, if you’ll include in your 1
motion that they should consider making the findings in that Record of Land Use Action more 2
generic. 3
4
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. What… 5
6
Jennifer Armer: For… 7
8
Vice-Chair Chang: …he said. 9
10
Jennifer Armer: …the Comp Plan. We – understood. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. 13
14
Jennifer Armer: We’ve got that. 15
16
Vice-Chair Chang: Great. So that is my motion. 17
18
Commissioner Templeton: Second. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: All right. Just a clarification because you’ve used the term, 1
“neighborhood-serving use,” which I’m fine with. Finding 3 in the… 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Page? 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: On Packet Page 35, Finding 3, the description currently refers to 6
maintaining the proposed to remain medical office use. Do you need that changed to be… 7
8
Vice-Chair Chang: So… 9
10
Commissioner Hechtman: …consistent? 11
12
Vice-Chair Chang: …I have asked staff about this beforehand and I apologize. 13
14
Jennifer Armer: It’s a typo. 15
16
Vice-Chair Chang: It’s a typo. It’s a typo where red lines weren’t like fully captured and staff 17
meant the language to actually say, “Maintain office use.” 18
19
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Vice-Chair Chang: Not maintain medical office use. So now I’m just saying we switch that to 2
neighborhood-serving use. 3
4
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. So Finding 3 is going to be revised to be consistent 5
with Condition of Approval 6 of… 6
7
Vice-Chair Chang: Yes. Correct. Okay. 8
9
Chair Akin: Very good. Do we have a second? 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: Second. 12
13
Chair Akin: Pardon me, I just spaced there. You did get it in in time. All right, then. I believe it’s 14
time for a vote. 15
16
Samuel Tavera: Yeah. Commissioner Peterson? 17
18
Commissioner Peterson: Aye. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Templeton? 1
2
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. 3
4
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Ji? 5
6
Commissioner Ji: Yes. 7
8
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 9
10
Commissioner Hechtman: No. 11
12
Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 13
14
Vice-Chair Chang: Yes. 15
16
Samuel Tavera: Chair Akin? 17
18
Chair Akin: Yes. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Samuel Tavera: Motion carries 5-1, noting Commissioner James absent. 1
2
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you. I have to… 3
4
Chair Akin: Would you… 5
6
Commissioner Templeton: …excuse myself now. Thank you. 7
8
Chair Akin: Thank you very much, Commissioner Templeton. Would you like to speak to your no 9
vote? 10
11
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes, please. So just… 12
13
Jennifer Armer: And if I – sorry. Before you do, just a clarification that Commissioner James is 14
absent, not Ji. 15
16
Samuel Tavera: Yeah. 17
18
Chair Akin: And Commissioner Templeton has left. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: So while largely I supported the motion, there were a couple aspects 1
to it that I felt we left 4 units on the table. I explained that earlier. I thought the units were 2
right-sized at 70 and then if I didn’t have that issue, I probably would have just asked that 3
Condition of Approval Number 3, regarding the RPP permits, be voted on separately but we 4
were going to lose a Commissioner and since I wasn’t supportive of the main part of the motion 5
because the loss of units, I didn’t feel the need to do that. But I will say on that issue, first, as 6
shown in one of the diagrams, this location is about 2 blocks from a half mile to the Caltrain 7
station where buildings will be able to be built with no parking. And anybody who has a car and 8
wants to live in one of those buildings will likely be applying for an RPP permit. And so my 9
thought is this is like putting a finger in the dam. There’s a much bigger issue that I think we 10
should be talking about comprehensively. Here, I think you just run the numbers and there’s a 11
delta per parking space of $1740 a year, there’s 78 parking spaces. I just did math. I figured 12
well, just carry that out 20 years, that’s $2.7M. 13
14
Now you’d have to reduce that to present value; it’s still a pile of money. Now I think the City is 15
interested in not having this parking spillover to the neighborhood but I doubt the City would 16
be so interested that they’d be willing to reduce their impact fees by that amount to ensure 17
that this owner could park everybody at $56 a year that wanted a parking space there. So I was 18
supportive though of the idea of collecting the data, which is now a part of our 19
recommendation, so I’m happy for that because I do think in this bigger discussion of what 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
we’re going to do in parking downtown with all these places that might be built with no 1
parking, I think that is going to be useful data. So those are the reasons for my no vote. But I am 2
pleased to see the project moving forward to Council. 3
4
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner. And just an observation, projects that are built in the CD 5
Zone are not eligible for residential parking permits. So without again saying all the rest of the 6
fine points that you just made, that’s useful to know. All right, then. I believe we are concluded 7
with this item. 8
9
Action Items 10
Public Comment is Permitted. Applicants/Appellant Teams: Fifteen (15) minutes, plus three (3) minutes rebuttal. 11
All others: Three (3) minutes per speaker. 12
13
3. Request for a Zoning Text Amendment to Palo Alto Municipal Code Title 18 14
(Zoning)Section 18.18.120 [Noncomplying (Grandfathered) Uses and Facilities] to 15
allow existing floor area to be replaced in new buildings without increasing the 16
degree of existing noncompliance. CEQA Status: Exempt from CEQA per Section 17
15061 (b)(3) (Common Sense). 18
19
Chair Akin: And we are ready for Item Number 3, Request for a Zoning Text Amendment to 20
18.18.120 to allow existing floor area to be replaced in new buildings without increasing the 21
degree of existing noncompliance. Do we have a staff presentation? 22
23
Jennifer Armer: Staff will take just a minute or two to get switched over and then we’ll move 24
onto this project. 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 ten (10) 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 Akin: Let me know when we’re ready to proceed. 2
3
Jennifer Armer: And I think, as Commissoner Ji just stepped out, we’ll ask him to return. All 4
right, we are ready to proceed whenever you are. 5
6
Chair Akin: Thank you. Mr. Switzer, please proceed. 7
8
Senior Historic Planner Steven Switzer: All right. Well, good evening. Here before us we have – 9
I’ll wait for people to exit the chambers. All right. Well, good evening and before us this 10
evening, we have a text amendment to amend the noncomplying grandfathered uses and 11
facilities in the downtown commercial district. So just a little bit about the request. This is to 12
allow existing noncomplying floor area to be replaced without restricting the existing building 13
envelope. It’s commonly referred to as the Shrink Wrap Rule. And to kind of frame the 14
discussion tonight, I wanted to provide a little bit of background of the legislative history of 15
how we’ve gotten here today. So if we go back to the 1980s, back in 1986, there was an 16
ordinance that is detailed on the screen here that established the commercial downtown 17
district. So that was in response to some soaring development in the early 1980s and some 18
concerns about the compatibility of either large commercial projects with some nearby 19
residential neighborhoods. In creating that commercial district, Council had the foresight to 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
understand that there needed to be a provision of some replacement of noncomplying floor 1
area for these existing structures that didn’t meet the current standards that were put in place 2
in the CD district. So following that, in 1988, they report – prepared by staff – concluded that 3
buildings within the newly-formed commercial downtown district can be remodeled or 4
replaced if there’s no increase of noncompliance. So that could result in either a increase of 5
either height if it’s still within the governing CD District regulations linked with footprint, what 6
have you. 7
8
And that continued for about 27 years of consistent staff interpretation of that 1988 report. 9
And if we move forward to 2013, there was a proposal to relocate a noncomplying floor area in 10
the property across the street at 261 Hamilton; it was roughly around 6,000 square feet that 11
would be relocated from the basement to form a rear addition on the structure. Following that 12
after multiple hearings, in 2014, Council clarified that the Zoning Code section prohibits shifting 13
the grandfathered floor area, if you will, in the downtown, including from below grade to above 14
grade. And following that in 2015, Council directed staff to prepare a code amendment to 15
reinforce set provision. So after some time and preparation on staff’s behalf, in 2017, an 16
ordinance was adopted. This was roped in with quite a number of items but Ordinance 5373 17
clarified and provided a definition of the building envelope and the current CD District. And it is 18
detailed on the screen as well as in the staff report and it prohibits the replacing of 19
noncomplying floor area in a way that would alter the existing buildings’ 3-dimensional shape 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
rather than its potential maximum buildout. Following that, in 2022, there was a prescreening 1
for 616 Ramona Street to allow for the replacement of noncomplying floor area. While that 2
project was – or potential project, should I say, was well received, there was some concerns 3
cited by Council. And I have highlighted those in the staff report as well as on the screen here. 4
And just to go through that briefly is the potential number of properties that would be 5
impacted by a code amendment. 6
7
Highlighting some of the pros and cons of said code amendment change, such as either historic 8
impacts to some of the historic structures in the downtown area, seismic, and ADA 9
improvements that could be sustained with new buildings as well as additional open spaces or 10
rooftop terraces that might come with new development as well as some opportunities for 11
Council to potentially incentivize housing in the downtown area as well as a relationship, if any, 12
to the Transfer of Development Rights Program that currently allows some flexibility in floor 13
area in the downtown district. So on to the actual proposal, so the applicant has provided a 14
proposal and Attachment A with the proposed text amendment language and that would 15
essentially remove the subsections that were added in 2017. So that would allow existing 16
noncomplying floor area to be demolished and replaced with either renovations or new 17
construction at perhaps differing heights, footprints, and building envelopes with now – with 18
not increasing the degree of noncompliance. Staff provided a little bit modified version rather 19
than perhaps writing, say a blank check, if you will, for the reconfiguration of this floor area that 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
comes with some limitations for retail and residential exceptions. So those modifications could 1
potentially incentivize or incorporate residential and retail uses and redevelopment projects 2
when opting for the reconfiguration of this noncompliant floor area. And that language is 3
provided in Attachment B. So some considerations for the discussion tonight. The staff report 4
does provide a little bit more detail than those are highlighted on the screen here. 5
6
And just going through some of these – finding the connection of some of this language to the 7
Council’s priority of retail revitalization, potential impacts, if any, to some historic resources in 8
the downtown area, the relationship to the Transfer of Development Rights Program , the 9
Downtown Development Cap Evaluation from 2014, the ongoing efforts that we have with the 10
downtown housing plan, some fiscal and resource impacts detailed in the staff report, the 11
ongoing efforts with Senate Bill 79 as well as potential properties affected, which is in 12
Attachment D. And I have those highlighted on the screen here. So out of the 302 total parcels 13
in the CD district, 87 of those have sustained some either remodels or rebuilding from building 14
permit data from 2011 to 2025, so those are unlikely to rebuild soon; 19 of those have had a 15
floor area above 1:1 and 66 parcels have that noncompliant floor area. So of those 19, if we 16
subtract that, there’s likely 47 parcels that would be affected by this said code change. For the 17
recommendation, staff is looking for the PTC’s feedback on the proposed text amendment and 18
we’re definitely all ears. So with that, I can entertain any further questions and I know that the 19
applicant has a presentation that provides some context as well. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Akin: All right. Clarifying questions for staff? Commissioner Hechtman. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. First question, the title of this item refers to allowing 4
existing floor area to be replaced in new buildings without increasing degree of existing 5
noncompliance. My impression is that the Shrink Wrap Rule would apply to a substantial 6
remodel, not just a teardown, new building. And I think that’s what’s intended here, new 7
construction in buildings. But I just wanted to make sure that the title is broad enough that we 8
can go forward tonight. 9
10
Jennifer Armer: We’ll defer that to the City Attorney to see if he is comfortable with us 11
proceeding with this discussion. 12
13
Albert Yang: Yes, I’m fine with that. 14
15
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay, thank you. Next question, the staff report recommends that 16
we review the applicant’s request and provide feedback to staff. That’s in the recommendation 17
but on Packet Page 250, it says, “Following the PTC’s review and recommendation, the 18
ordinance would go to City Council.” So my question is does staff want feedback or a 19
recommendation to come out of this agenda item? 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Steven Switzer: Feedback for tonight and that section of the staff report that you were 2
referencing is more so about process of next steps, so. But feedback for tonight would be 3
desired. 4
5
Jennifer Armer: Yes, and we would continue this discussion to a date uncertain because 6
eventually if there is a code change, it would require a recommendation from PTC to Council, 7
Council making the final decision. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. So we’re going to see this again. So feedback tonight. 10
When it comes back to us, a recommendation. All right. And then the third question I had is one 11
of the slides referenced 27 years of consistent interpretation, I’m wondering if staff has a rough 12
count of the number of interpretations that happened between 1988 and 2015. I know in the 13
Hayes’ letter, they cite, I think, 10 that were specific to them, right? And they were aware of 14
others, so I wonder if staff has a broader number, so we can get a sense of its utility during 15
those years. 16
17
Steven Switzer: There is some limited records but ours do align with the applicant’s for the 18
more recent projects but if we get a little bit further back in time, record keeping is a little 19
difficult to kind of connect those dots. So as for an exact number, I do not have that for you. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Okay. Fair enough. Thank you. Those are my clarifying questions. 2
3
Chair Akin: Any other clarifying question for staff? If not, then I believe it’s time for the 4
applicant’s presentation. 5
6
Ken Hayes, The Hayes Group Architects: The – here for a meeting. Good evening, Chair Akin and 7
members of the Commission. Thank you so much for your – how much – do I have 15 minutes? 8
Okay. I should be fine. Thank you for your service and for your endurance, especially. My name 9
is Ken Hayes with Hayes Group Architects and I want to talk to you tonight about the Shrink 10
Wrap Rule. The – a little bit of history. Of course, staff has done some of that. A little bit about 11
the paralyzing effect that the Shrink Wrap Rule has had on the downtown in the last 10 years 12
and offer a very simple solution that I was actually looking for a recommendation to Council on, 13
to tell you the truth. But it all started in 1986. So in 1986, Council adopted Ordinance 3696, 14
which reduced the FAR and the CD-C from 3.0/1 to 1.0/1. But they acknowledged at the time 15
that many properties would become noncomplying as a result. The ordinance that was adopted 16
required that facilities that when built were complying facilities shall be deemed to be 17
complying, “Such a facility shall be permitted to be remodeled, improved, replaced without 18
necessity to comply with site development regulations. Any such remodeling, improvement, or 19
replacement shall result in increased floor area, height, length, or any other increase in the size 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
of the facility only pursuant to exceptions to floor area regulations.” And those are historic 1
bonuses, seismic bonuses and TDRs. 2
3
This language not very clear, obviously led to confusion over noncomplying floor area. So to 4
clear things up, in March of ’88, the City manager staff report to Council offers an 5
interpretation; an area that’s highlighted in yellow there says, “Where existing floor area at or 6
above grade is eliminated, whether that’s the whole building or a portion is demolished, such 7
buildings would be permitted to be remodeled and replaced provided there would be no 8
increase in the building’s noncompliance in floor area or in height. However, in remodeling or in 9
replacing, such buildings would be permitted to be reconfigured in terms of length, width, and 10
height, so long as existing floor are was not increased except for the aforementioned 11
exceptions.” Also [inaudible 212:10] could you go higher than 50 feet. It goes on to say that – 12
and this is in the staff report − this could mean that a 2-story, 10,000- square-foot-building, 13
which is shown on the left, could become a 3-story, 10,000-square-foot- building with a 14
reduced building footprint so long as the height limits were not exceeded, the 50 feet. Such an 15
interpretation permits reasonable − this is quote, “reasonable flexibility for buildings 16
undergoing remodeling and a replacement, so that improved building design that the city has 17
identified over time is contributing to the enhancement of the downtown, will be encouraged.” 18
Close quote. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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.
So one can imagine the green area there in the building on the right, which is the same floor 1
area, could be used for site amenities or a better site plan but the building is the same in terms 2
of area as the 2-story building. And these are just some examples of our projects in the 3
downtown, all of which − and this is probably from 1990, let’s say, until 20 – 1996 until 2015, 4
and they all utilize non-complying floor area. But everything changed in 2016, when Council 5
adopted Ordinance 5373 − and this is different than what staff said. Staff said 2017. I believe it 6
was 2016 − during controversy on 261 Hamilton across the street and added the red text to 7
1818120 (a)2(C) and (b)2(C). And it reads – if I again may read, “Grandfathered uses and 8
facilities are permitted to remodel, improve, or replace site improvements provided such 9
remodeling improvement or replacement complies with all the following” – and this was how it 10
was interpreted forever. “Shall not increase the floor area. Shall not relocate the low-grade 11
floor area above grade.” And C., “Shall not result in an increase in the height, length, building 12
envelope, new text, building footprint, or any other increase in the size of the improvement.” 13
And then for the purposes of this section, “Building envelope” shall mean the 3-dimensional 14
shape and size occupied by an existing building. It’s not sort of the envelope of the site for the 15
potential development of the site. 16
17
The red text is the birth of the Shrink Wrap Rule, as I’ve diagramed there with my pallet. The 18
Shrink Wrap Rule renders noncomplying facilities frozen in time, paralyzed, unless an owner 19
wants to eliminate existing floor area to build a new, better building. In a typical class B 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
commercial building, existing floor area is worth at least 1200 bucks a foot. The Shrink Wrap 1
Rule says to replace a building and existing noncomplying floor area, the new building must 2
match the existing building’s 3-D shape as though covered in plastic shrink wrap, just like the 3
pallet on the slide. No owner I know is going to tear down their building to build back the same 4
building. They want a better building. We all want a better building. Therefore, owners of 5
existing buildings – noncomplying buildings are paralyzed. To replace a building with a new, 6
better building with greater floor-to-floor heights and reconfigured footprint or to provide 7
needed housing in our downtown in a mixed-use building, the new building must eliminate 8
existing noncomplying grandfathered commercial floor area. Therefore, an existing 2-story 9
building with an FAR 2:1 must eliminate one story. And a 3-story building with an FAR of 3:1, it 10
needs to eliminate 2 stories of existing floor area to be compliant. For a 5,000-square-foot site, 11
common in the downtown, this is at least $6M to $12M in value. No owner is going to tear 12
down their building to lose value. Owners of existing buildings are paralyzed. 13
14
I did some of my own research and also had a public record search done to help prove my case. 15
New buildings in the downtown since January 2016, almost 10 years now, total 1. It is 620 16
Emerson, which is the Nobu Garden building but it wasn’t subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule; it 17
was a complying building beforehand, so they could do whatever they wanted. Four twenty-18
nine University – we’re all familiar with that − was approved before the Shrink Wrap Rule, so it 19
wasn’t considered; 355 Hamilton, which is actually outside the housing down-, my boundary is 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
the housing study area. Staff’s boundary is the CD-C − but if it was, it would not have been 1
subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule either because it too was a complying building before the 2
demolition. That’s on the corner of Webster and Hamilton. Remodeled buildings in the 3
downtown since 2016, total 2; 480 Lytton, which was one of ours, it was not subject to the 4
Shrink Wrap Rule since it was a complying building. And 355 University, which was the Design 5
Within Reach building, it was subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule, and it’s the only project in 10 6
years that has the constraint of the Shrink Wrap Rule that an owner embarked on a project. 7
And that actually wasn’t the owner; it was the tenant. So that was also our project. New 8
buildings built or remodeled in the downtown subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule totaled 1 in 9
nearly 10 years; this is paralysis. 10
11
Owners of noncomplying buildings don’t know what to do. They’re unable to move. They’re 12
paralyzed. Lewis Mumford, Urban theorist and historian of cities said, “The city must 13
periodically divide and renew itself or risk suffocation.” Mumford warned that cities that 14
refused to divide and regenerate become stagnate and diseased. He believed that cities should 15
grow like living organisms shaped by human needs, nature, and history. The Shrink Wrap Rule 16
has led to paralysis and it will lead to the eventual suffocation of our downtown. Here’s a parcel 17
disposition map that I prepared based on the downtown housing study area, not the CD-C 18
properties. Historic properties – it lists historic properties, recently redeveloped properties, 19
noncomplying properties. And I’m happy to come back to this later if you have questions about 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
it. But in the upper right-hand corner is this legend and basically this is what the legend says, 1
there are approximately 276 parcels in this area that I studied. Subtracting recently 2
redeveloped parcels, historic properties, public facilities, and residential properties from this 3
leaves 98 properties available for redevelopment in this study area. Of these, 42 – or 43 percent 4
are subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule and will likely not redevelop because of it. However, 5
according to the City’s map in the staff’s – in your packet tonight actually, it is worse; 47 out of 6
66 properties or 71 percent are subject to the Shrink Wrap Rule. However, the benefits of the 7
downtown and building owners by eliminating the Shrink Wrap Rule are many. 8
9
We get better buildings responding to contemporary needs, healthier builders and workplaces, 10
energy-efficient, all-electric buildings with solar arrays offsetting embodied carbon over time, 11
greener buildings with daylighting, safer code-compliant buildings, accessible buildings. Many 12
of these existing buildings that are multi-story have no elevators, no accessible toilets, or 13
perhaps even entries. We get more desirable retail spaces with higher ceilings and storefronts. 14
It encourages owners to build mixed-use housing projects by allowing owners to replace their 15
commercial floor area You get increased property tax base. There’s no increase in commercial 16
floor area; it’s the same floor area that exists, and it restores the natural process of renewal 17
that was interrupted by the Shrink Wrap Rule in 2016 and it is fair to building owners who have 18
paid property taxes and parking assessment in-lieu fees for years on existing floor area. I 19
propose the City remove the Shrink Wrap Rule Sections 1818120 a(2)C and b(2)C. Removing 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
these two sections will allow existing floor area above grade to be replaced in new buildings 1
that better respond to the natural and built environments. These new buildings may have 2
different footprints, heights, and envelopes and they will be able to maintain their existing floor 3
area without increasing the degree of noncompliance while complying with all other site 4
development requirements. Please make a recommendation to Council tonight and move this 5
forward, the Shrink Wrap Rule. Eliminate the Shrink Wrap Rule and restore the natural 6
evolution and health of our downtown. And I’m happy to answer any questions. Thank you. 7
8
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Hayes. Normally, we would find out if there’s public comment, so 9
that you have an opportunity to respond to it before we question you. 10
11
PUBLIC COMMENTS 12
13
Chair Akin: So Mr. Tavera, do we have any public commenters? 14
15
Samuel Tavera: Yes, through the Chair, I have 2 requests to speak. 16
17
Chair Akin: Then, let’s proceed. 18
19
Samuel Tavera: All right. Our first speaker is John S. 20
21
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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 ten (10) 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.
John S.: Thank you very much. Good evening, Commissioners. And I also applaud your fortitude 1
in getting through all these things and spending so many nights here. John Shenk with the 2
Thoits Brothers. I’m representing the Thoits’ family who’s been an active member of the 3
community for – I don’t know – 130, 140 years. And we today probably have the most numbers 4
of properties in the CD-C and we stay in very close contact with our many retail – more retail 5
than office tenants but we have retail and office in the downtown and as well as the neighbors. 6
As Mr. Hayes was describing the – I think my term has been the mumification of the downtown. 7
We’ve looked at acquiring a property and ended up not because of the Shrink Wrap Rule. We 8
knew we couldn’t do anything to the building in the future without losing more than half of 9
what we were thinking if we would buy. I know it also dampens the marketplace in the 10
downtown from companies who want to look at, “Hey, if we were to move in and we want to 11
be able to grow, could we add on? There’s some land that” – no, you can’t. No, we can’t. And 12
that’s bad. Some people think and there’s been a voice in the community that’s sort of anti-13
office, like somehow office is bad but, “Boy, retail is great.” If we don’t have office, we’re not 14
going to have retail. 15
16
Our retailers have all submitted to the City, especially at the beginning of COVID, when we were 17
trying to figure out what’s going on, 70, 80 percent of their sales are from the office employees. 18
We need that. We need to reinvest in our buildings and our spaces and just – there’s also 19
something just from the ownership side − of the property owner’s side where there’s – and it 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
just feels wildly unjust to say, “Hey, you built a building according to code” − the City Council 1
did what it did early on recognizing, I think more in the moment, what the intent was and what 2
the City’s position was on these legal non-conforming buildings. And to now, “Hey, thanks for 3
paying all your assessments on it, on all this square footage and all these things.” But to 4
reinvest and get a retail height that’s decent and redo the office and get rid of asbestos in 5
buildings and all these things that happen in a more normal course − but we can’t. You’re just – 6
you’re – leave it as it is or get rid of it. It doesn’t make sense. And I’m also hoping and I implore 7
you to stay focused on the Shrink Wrap Rule in these words and not conflate this issue with 8
other meaningful things, like how do we generate more housing? How do we this? How do we 9
do that? I think we need to really focus on this as we work on all these other matters. Thank 10
you very much. 11
12
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Shenk. 13
14
Samuel Tavera: Our next speaker is Mark M. 15
16
Mark M.: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Mark Moragne and I ‘m – we’re the 17
owners of 616 Ramona, which is just across the street on Ramona here from – and in – I want 18
to say that I think the ordinance that was passed in 2016 was an ill-conceived ordinance. It was 19
– I think it was really targeted for a specific property and not – didn’t have the foresight to see 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
what the impact of it would be on our building stock in the CD District, specifically, and in 1
downtown in general. In 2022, we had a prescreening with the City Council to talk about our 2
project and I think it was well received but they simply, for all intents and purposes, said, “We 3
can’t do anything about it because the Shrink Wrap Rule doesn’t allow you to effectively touch 4
the exterior of the building or modify it at all.” And 2 years ago, in front of the Architectural 5
Review Board, we had a study session and it was well received by the members of the 6
Architectural Review Board. And, in fact, Chair – I’m going to probably get this mixed up but 7
Chair Baltay took a straw poll of all members at the – that asked whether or not they 8
supported, in our case, increasing the building height by 10 percent. All of them thought that 9
was acceptable to do. Again, the code wouldn’t allow that to happen. But it just shows the 10
difficulty or really impossibility of working with the Shrink Wrap Rule. So thank you for your 11
consideration on this matter. 12
13
Chair Akin: Thank you very much. Mr. Hayes, you have three minutes to respond if you wish. 14
And I suspect we will have some questions for you. 15
16
Ken Hayes: Yeah, I guess my response – I mean it’s – I’m consistent with what they’ve said that 17
it just seems like a real unjustice that was done kind of in the heat of the moment in 2016 18
without fully understanding what the consequences might be on the downtown building stock. 19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
And I think we’re finding that out now and it’s going to have a greater effect on the future. So I 1
really think it’s an urgency. So, thank you. 2
3
Chair Akin: Thank you. Commissioners, if you have questions to ask of Mr. Hayes – 4
Commissioner Hechtman. 5
6
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. Mr. Hayes, can you pull up the slide that you had with the 7
changes the Council made in 2016? 8
9
Ken Hayes: Oh… 10
11
Commissioner Hechtman: Can you… 12
13
Ken Hayes: …me? 14
15
Commissioner Hechtman: …put it up on – yeah. 16
17
Ken Hayes: Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said staff. 18
19
Commissioner Hechtman: No, I’m sorry. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Ken Hayes: My apologies. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: No. Yeah, if you can… 4
5
Ken Hayes: Yeah. I’m here a lot but – I am so sorry. 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: That’s okay. That one, yep. Okay. So I want to ask about Part B, “Shall 8
not relocate below-grade floor area above grade,” because that’s a provision that, according to 9
our staff report, was actually added in 2016; that was one of the changes they made and which 10
might make sense because the project that spurred this was 5,000 square feet coming from 11
underground up. So it was new in 2016 but from your proposed change, it seems like you’re not 12
proposing to delete that. 13
14
Ken Hayes: So I’m not 100 percent sure that it was added in 2016. 15
16
Commissioner Hechtman: All right. 17
18
Ken Hayes: You think it was, Steven, for sure? Anyway, that was the policy since I’ve been 19
working in Palo Alto. So that would go back to 1989. And you would never – you were never 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
allowed – like the two set – Joseph Bank’s building. The reason it has that basement down 1
below with that nice – well, it’s an office space. We thought it could be retail − was because we 2
couldn’t bring it up. 3
4
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. 5
6
Ken Hayes: And that building was done in 2001. 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 9
10
Ken Hayes: Something like that. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: All right. So… 13
14
Ken Hayes: It was always the policy that you could not bring below-grade floor – below-floor 15
area above grade. 16
17
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. So – and that’s why when I am looking at your 18
proposed modification, you’re not touching that prohibition. 19
20
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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 ten (10) 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.
Ken Hayes: I was not. 1
2
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So then when we look at C., what I think you are correctly 3
showing here, the language added by Council, in 2016. 4
5
Ken Hayes: Correct. 6
7
Commissioner Hechtman: You’ve commented in your letter and here that before Council made 8
these changes, from the time of the interpretation in 1998 until the Council made the Shrink 9
Wrap Rule, it worked fine. The ordinance as interpreted worked fine. So that made me wonder 10
why your proposed revision for C. doesn’t just take us back to what C. looked like in 2015 but 11
rather you’re proposing we delete the whole thing, which seems like it would make more 12
flexibility than we had before 2016. 13
14
Ken Hayes: Well, so I think that C., the text in black, that was there before, the – that’s, I think, 15
left over from the original language… 16
17
Commissioner Hechtman: Right. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Ken Hayes: …that staff had to issue an interpretation in that staff report in 1998, this is what we 1
meant. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Right. 4
5
Ken Hayes: I still think this is very unclear. I mean it says, “Shall not result in an increase in the 6
height, length, building envelope, or any other increase in the size of the improvement.” How 7
would you interpret that if you were an architect or – and with staff even if this red text was 8
removed? 9
10
Commissioner Hechtman: But… 11
12
Ken Hayes: It just needs to be cleaned up, I think. 13
14
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So – but I think the answer from 1998 to 2015 was you look at 15
the interpretation. 16
17
Ken Hayes: Correct. 18
19
Commissioner Hechtman: And that worked for you on at least 10 projects. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Ken Hayes: Yes. 2
3
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So do you think by doing your amendment which takes all of C. 4
out, are you creating actually more flexibility than existed from ’88 to 2015? 5
6
Ken Hayes: More flexibility, yeah. Without that there, I don’t see that it would result in a 7
different building than if it is there; I just think it makes it clearer. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. 10
11
Ken Hayes: You can’t move below-grade floor area above grade and you can’t increase the floor 12
area unless you have exempt floor area, which would be TDRs and seismic and historic bonus. 13
14
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. Thanks for that. 15
16
Ken Hayes: Yeah. 17
18
Commissioner Hechtman: I’m clearer now. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Ken Hayes: Okay. Thank you. 1
2
Chair Akin: Thank you. Any other clarifying questions for Mr. Hayes? All right. Thank you, Mr. 3
Hayes. It’s time to open it up for discussion. And I would like to needle staff a little bit about our 4
intended action tonight. What’s the rationale for not making a recommendation to Council? 5
6
Jennifer Armer: So I’ll start and the project planner may have something to add. But as stated in 7
the staff report, there are a lot of moving parts going on in downtown right now. And so things 8
like the – going through the process for the Downtown Housing Plan and the potential for 9
Senate Bill 79 could be signed by the governor any day, which would potentially increase the 10
heights and densities and FAR for all of these parcels up to 70 – 65 to 75 feet in height and FARs 11
of 3 or 3.5 depending on how far you are from the transit center for projects that are at least a 12
certain percentage of housing. There’s so many changes, it’s – the recommendation from staff 13
is to have this initial discussion because we do have an application before us. But with the 14
understanding of all of those things going on at the same time, that this may not be the time to 15
move forward with an action on this given that next week, the environment for this, the 16
context, at least in terms of the state law, could be drastically different than it is today. 17
18
Chair Akin: I see. Thank you. That’s sufficient for my understanding, anyway. Further questions? 19
Commissioner Hechtman. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: So questions of staff now? 2
3
Chair Akin: We can proceed to discussion if… 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: Oh… 6
7
Chair Akin: …no more questions remain. 8
9
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. So I do have a question for staff. And that really relates to the 10
dialogue I just had with Mr. Hayes. I understand the staff alternative version in Attachment B 11
removes the Shrink Wrap Rule in a more limited set of circumstances to retail, retail-like, and 12
residential. What I’m trying to understand is the version proposed by the applicant; is it 13
effectively the same as existed prior to the Shrink Wrap Rule or is it more flexible? And the 14
explanation from Mr. Hayes, which by all means might be right, is the applicant’s version equals 15
the pre-2015 version plus the 1988 interpretation. It gets you to the same place, so that for any 16
application, you wouldn’t get more or less. And that may well be so but I’d like staff to weigh in 17
on that and if you don’t know tonight, if this is coming back to us, then I think that’s something 18
we should understand. And again, my perspective on that is if it didn’t appear to be broken 19
prior to 2015, then why shouldn’t we just go back there but maybe with retaining the sentence 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
about you can’t move from underground up, which appears from the staff report to be 1
something that was added in 2016. So do you know now or is that something you need to 2
study? 3
4
Steven Switzer: I can definitely take a stab at that. I think this text amendment offers a timely 5
opportunity to address some barriers to the existing code that we have in downtown. There − 6
as mentioned by the Assistant Director, a lot of ongoing planning efforts at either the state level 7
or the local level with our housing plan – Downtown Housing Plan and some retail 8
revitalization, priorities of Council. If we’re looking at the language itself, it’s a little hard to kind 9
of pinpoint how removing C. all together would either make it more or should I say less 10
restrictive than the 1988 interpretation. I think having no language there, I think it definitely 11
would be understood that you could reconfigure the floor area. Having the 1990 – 1988 12
interpretation, that staff report was provided because the language that if we were to revert 13
back to was unclear. So I think if we’re considering that, at least from my viewpoint, it’s a code 14
– text – language in the code as well as an interpretation that has to be paired with it in order 15
to get that final conclusion. So if we’re able to provide some more clarity or conciseness in the 16
code without having to have the reliance on an interpretation document, that perhaps would 17
be a good situation to be in, so. 18
19
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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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: So if there are other questions, I’ll yield; otherwise, I can make some 1
comments. 2
3
Chair Akin: I see no other lights, so let’s proceed to discussion. 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: All right. So – and staff, thank you for that. Conceptually, I agree that 6
I think it’s ideal to have a code that can stand on its own without a separate 30-plus-year-old 7
interpretation that has to be read as a companion. And I think you’re right, this is a good 8
opportunity to do that through this process. So first, I wanted to thank the Hayes Group. We 9
have applications from architects and developers all the time. Usually, they’re focused on a 10
single project. It’s pretty rare that an entity will take the laboring oar and bear the expense to 11
actually change an ordinance that’s beyond their project, really for the benefit of the whole 12
city. I think it does take a long-time player in Palo Alto and we have a lot of extraordinary talent 13
in the development community here in Palo Alto. So I just wanted to acknowledge that I 14
appreciate – you didn’t have to do it but you did it and it’s a problem that I think needs a 15
solution. Lawyers have this saying, “The bad facts make bad law.” And what it refers to is 16
sometimes you get these weird situations and judges react with a ruling that might make sense 17
for that one weird situation but the ruling isn’t limited to the one weird situation. 18
19
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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 ten (10) 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.
It applies across the board and when you start to apply it across the board, you get all these 1
unintended consequences that really weren’t thought of because they weren’t in the little 2
bubble that that judge was addressing. And I feel like that might have happened here. 3
Back in 2015 − 2016, an application was made that the Council really disliked and they said, 4
“We have to fix it. We have to fix it so this can’t happen. We have to clarify this.” And so they 5
added this provision, you can’t move stuff from below grade above but then they added some 6
other things perhaps because those weren’t an issue on that site, not thinking through what 7
had happened. But now we’ve got 10 years of data or more accurately, the absence of data, 8
showing that there were some unintended consequences. I did read the minutes because the 9
transcript of those 2016 minutes was here, I figured, “Oh, this must be in the Stanford item,” 10
which is at the back; it’s like 70 pages. So I read through that, not finding this except there were 11
actually some references to, “Oh, they’ve got some legal non-conformity but that’s okay 12
because of the ordinance.” So there’s actually some kind of backward references. But one of 13
the questions I had is what happened? Why did this happen? That was anticipated by our staff 14
in answering that. 15
16
So now we’ve got 10 years of non-data to know there’s a real problem with an unintended 17
consequence. And so I do think we need to fix it. And because it seems like we’re not making a 18
recommendation, I would like staff, as this goes forward, to ensure that losing the language in 19
C. that was there before 2016 won’t somehow create the unintended consequence of allowing 20
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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 ten (10) 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.
things that couldn’t happen between ’88 to 2015 to happen. You might have to sort of think 1
through a few examples to do that. So then the last comment I’ll make is there’s a staff 2
alternative, which is really to apply this in a more limited setting to retail, retail-like, and 3
residential. And I appreciate the provision of the alternative but I think we need our buildings to 4
become new when they can, to upgrade, and there’s only 47 of them that we’re talking about 5
anyway, and so I don’t want to eliminate some of those and force them to stay as they are, 6
inefficient, outdated because the owners aren’t able to renovate because of the Shrink Wrap 7
Rule. So it would be interesting to know how many of the 47 might that apply to? In other 8
words, I think the realistic universe for the applicant’s version is 47. I didn’t see in the staff 9
report, the realistic universe for the staff version. I’m assuming it must be somewhat smaller on 10
that. Unless – maybe it’s in there; I just didn’t see it. 11
12
Steven Switzer: If I may, 66 parcels would be affected and that’s removing the 19 that had 13
sustained some renovations from 2011 through 2015. So that would bring it down to 47. So 47 14
would be the number that would likely be able to redevelop in the near term if we’re thinking 15
about that. 16
17
Jennifer Armer: But it would apply to all the same parcels. The difference between the two has 18
more to do with what’s proposed than what’s existing. 19
20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Hechtman: Right. So unless I was one of those 47 parcels I was proposing retail, 1
retail-like, or residential above ground floor, I’d have the Shrink Wrap Rule. 2
3
Chair Akin: Thank you, Commissioner Hechtman. Vice-Chair Chang. 4
5
Vice-Chair Chang: So I also would ask – I mean Commissioner Hechtman had some really good 6
questions there. My initial reaction to kind of the two options that were presented were that I 7
appreciated staff’s restriction of the applicability but what the applicant said about showing 8
that you could make the building higher and set it back further, that makes a lot of sense to me. 9
So it’s unclear to me – like I don’t have a good sense of what the goals are. If we’re saying that 10
this office is here and we’re fine with that office continuing, then I don’t see any problem with 11
changing the shape of it. I don’t know. I’m trying to understand what the purpose of the Shrink 12
Wrap Rule was and without that context, it doesn’t make any sense because the zoning is what 13
should determine the shape of the building. And if we’re grandfathering stuff in, then the 14
question is – it’s kind of a larger question − policy question. Do we want that office – existing 15
office to be transitioned to something else? And if that’s the case, then we need to think about 16
what we want it to be transitioned to, and then the staff inter-, the staff Option B – sorry, 17
Attachment B would make sense. But I think that’s the big question. And I don’t think I have 18
enough information in terms of kind of interplay between office and retail and housing and all 19
of that. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
I mean it is very, very linked to the Downtown Housing Plan and SB79 and what happens there. 2
So that sort of – I think it’s sort of like what are the goals that we are trying to achieve here. I 3
don’t think Shrink Wrap itself is the goal. So – but then what are the goals that Shrink Wrap was 4
trying to achieve? And I don’t think we have enough context for that. So that’s − I mean I think 5
– yeah, that’s my overall feedback. I need some sense of what Council wants here or what the 6
Downtown Housing Plan wants in order to figure out what changes should be made. I do think 7
that the current language in the code is not good. It doesn’t make any sense at all for any 8
number of reasons. So – okay. Thank you. 9
10
Chair Akin: Thank you, Vice-Chair. Anything from Commissioner Ji or Commissioner Peterson? 11
Commissioner Peterson. 12
13
Commissioner Peterson: Thank you, Chair. Yeah, I’m supportive of it. When three people come 14
from the community, they’re practitioners and seem to have a unified voice on it, I think it 15
speaks to me that definitely this is something that needs to be done. And I’m looking at the wall 16
over here and I’m trying to say, “Okay, who did it?” And yeah, I’m favorable of definitely these 17
revisions. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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.
Chair Akin: Commissioner Ji, anything? All right. I have a few comments. I appreciate the 1
incentive that is baked into staff’s proposal in Attachment B; however, I like the simplicity of 2
the applicant’s version in Attachment A. So while I would find either acceptable, I find version 3
A preferable, assuming that the concerns raised by Commissioner Hechtman have been 4
addressed. Is there any other feedback you would like from us? 5
6
Steven Switzer: Thank you for the feedback that was provided. I think it definitely gives us some 7
more things to think about in this opportune time that we have with some ongoing efforts. So 8
thank you. 9
10
Chair Akin: Thank you and good luck working your way through all of the complexity of the next 11
period. 12
13
Vice-Chair Chang: Because this is… 14
15
Chair Akin: Vice-Chair. 16
17
Vice-Chair Chang: …listed as an action item, do we need to continue it to a date uncertain? 18
19
Jennifer Armer: I will defer to the City Attorney, if he has an opinion on that. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Albert Yang: Yes, there should probably be a motion to that effect. 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Okay. I move that we continue this item to a date uncertain. 4
5
Commissioner Ji: Second. 6
7
Chair Akin: Yeah. 8
9
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Peterson? 10
11
Commissioner Peterson: Aye. 12
13
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Ji? 14
15
Commissioner Ji: Yes. 16
17
Samuel Tavera: Commissioner Hechtman? 18
19
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes. 20
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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
Samuel Tavera: Vice-Chair Chang? 2
3
Vice-Chair Chang: Yes. 4
5
Samuel Tavera: Chair Akin? 6
7
Chair Akin: Yes. 8
9
Samuel Tavera: Motion carries 5-0, noting Commissioner James and Templeton are absent. 10
11
Chair Akin: Thank you, Mr. Tavera. I have a quick question for staff before we move on to 12
Commissioner Questions. And that is still no minutes to approve? 13
14
Jennifer Armer: That is correct. Sometimes we do receive them in batches. And we will share 15
them with you at a reasonable pace once they become available. 16
17
Chair Akin: Okay. Thank you very much. 18
19
_______________________
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 ten (10) 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 Questions, Comments or Announcements 1
2
Chair Akin: All right. It’s now time for Commissioner Questions, Comments, and 3
Announcements. Do we have any? I see none. Very well then, we are adjourned. 4
5
Adjournment 6
10:12 PM 7
8
/ls 9