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Planning Commission recommends lowering DMU North minimum FAR from 1.25 to 0.5
Summary
The San Ramon Planning Commission voted 4-1 on March 18 to forward a recommendation to the City Council to reduce the Downtown Mixed Use North (DMU North) minimum sitewide floor area ratio (FAR) from 1.25 to 0.5, after hearings, staff analysis and public comment about housing, redevelopment and developer incentives.
The San Ramon Planning Commission on March 18 voted 4-1 to recommend that the City Council approve a General Plan amendment, zoning text amendment and environmental review to reduce the DMU North minimum sitewide floor area ratio (FAR) from 1.25 to 0.5.
Staff said the change is intended to align the zoning standard with current market conditions and to give property owners greater design flexibility that could encourage redevelopment. Missy Yee, planning staff, presented revised tables showing existing building square footage across parcels in DMU North and modeled what minimum building area and a rough dwelling‑unit yield would look like at FARs of 0.5, 0.7 and 0.75. The staff packet included Resolution 325 for the Commission’s consideration.
The item drew comments from the applicant and several members of the public. Stephanie Hill, representing Sunset Development, told the Commission the lower minimum FAR would make it easier to implement a mix of for‑sale and rental housing and to use the city’s inclusionary housing alternatives rather than rely solely on the state density bonus. Public commenters raised concerns that lowering the FAR could reduce future building mass, permit lower density development on mixed‑use parcels, and allow developers to shift affordable units off site or into concentrated locations.
Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant on multiple technical points: how FAR differs from residential density (dwelling units per acre), whether the change would affect the City’s realistic capacity under the Housing Element and RHNA, parking and potential need for subterranean structured parking, CEQA/environmental review, and height limits. Staff said the City’s housing element calculations use density ranges per site (not FAR) to estimate realistic capacity and that floor area ratio was not included in that realistic‑capacity calculation. Staff also said lowering the minimum FAR would not change the DMU North maximum height limit, which remains 85 feet, and that each future project would receive its own environmental review.
On the question of affordable housing, staff and the applicant described options: projects can use the state density bonus (which requires on‑site affordable units to obtain concessions and waivers) or the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and land dedication alternative. The applicant said it intends a larger strategy that could include delivering affordable homes through a dedicated affordable development, but several commissioners and a public speaker warned that moving affordable units off individual mixed‑use projects could concentrate affordable housing in a few locations and reduce for‑sale affordable units.
After deliberation the Commission amended the resolution’s applicant/owner labeling and voted to forward the resolution, with four commissioners voting yes and one commissioner voting no. The Commission directed staff to schedule the item for City Council consideration.
The Commission’s action is advisory; City Council will make the final decision on the General Plan amendment (GPA 2024‑0001), zoning text amendment (TA 2024‑0003) and the related environmental review (ENVR 2025‑0001).
