Staff recommends denial for RN4 rezoning on Gertrude Avenue citing steep slopes and narrow street

Planning staff recommended denial of a rezoning and plan amendment request to change a roughly 15,500‑square‑foot lot on Gertrude Avenue in the South Waterfront area from RN2 (low density) to RN4 (medium density).

Staff said the lot sits in a long‑standing single‑family neighborhood and is entirely within a hillside protection overlay; much of the neighborhood and the subject lot have slopes exceeding 25%. Staff noted that the South Waterfront Mixed Use Special District Type 2 land classification in the 1‑year plan permits consideration of RN4 in some locations, but the South City sector plan’s MDR guidance recommends sites with slopes no greater than 15%. Planning staff concluded that Gertrude Avenue is narrow and unstriped and that Engineering would require the developer to expand Gertrude to 20 feet from its current width to Davenport Road if more intensive development were pursued.

Staff also said RN4 would permit more intensive multifamily forms (up to seven units on the lot under RN4 in some configurations) and that the requested RN4 expansion would be a minor extension from the west but is incompatible with the immediate single‑family context and hillside protections. The applicant was told of the engineering requirement and “received that information, and still wanted to pursue this rezoning,” staff said.

Staff recommended denial because increasing intensity would be incompatible with the site’s environmental constraints, substandard street, and the neighborhood’s long‑standing character. The agenda‑review transcript records the staff recommendation; no formal commission vote is recorded in the agenda‑review session.