Atherton planning commission recommends council adopt housing-element revisions responding to HCD comments

On Jan. 29, 2025, the Atherton Planning Commission voted 3-0 to adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council approve revisions to the Town of Atherton general plan housing element and limited municipal code changes intended to respond to a Dec. 30, 2024 comment letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

Town planner Brittany Bendix told the commission, “Our recommendation tonight is that the planning commission adopt a resolution that recommends that the council adopts these revisions to the Atherton general plan and municipal code to comply with the Dec. 30, 2024 letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development or HCD.”

The commission’s recommendation covers several narrowly described edits staff said are intended to secure HCD’s finding of substantial compliance so the housing element can be certified. The changes staff outlined include adding site-plan analysis for two nonvacant properties cited by HCD (Menlo School and Sacred Heart), expanding redevelopment indicators in housing-element tables, clarifying ministerial approval paths for multifamily standards in RM‑20 and RM‑40 zones when projects provide at least 20% lower-income units, and some program-language updates.

Most significant in practice, staff said, are the new exhibits and short explanatory text meant to “show our work” to HCD on why certain existing institutional sites and other nonvacant parcels are suitable for some multifamily yields. Consultant Asher Cohn said HCD…