Planning Commission recommends returning 3150 Dutton Avenue to industrial zoning; three resolutions forwarded to council

The Planning Commission on March 13 voted 5-0 to recommend City Council approve three actions for a 5.95-acre parcel at 3150 Dutton Avenue: adopt an addendum to a previously adopted 2018 mitigated negative declaration (MND), amend the General Plan land use designation from medium-density residential to general industry, and rezone the parcel from R3-18 (R318) to IG (General Industrial).

Hannah Michaelson, the city project planner, told the commission the site is a vacant, undeveloped parcel located in the city’s southwest quadrant and is surrounded predominantly by industrial uses to the north, south and west, with fully developed residential neighborhoods across the SMART tracks to the east. Michaelson said the parcel had been redesignated to medium-density residential in 2006 because a SMART station had been planned nearby; SMART has since confirmed the station will not be located there, and the owner requested a return to the original industrial designation.

Michaelson said there is no development application before the city as part of this general plan and rezoning request: “there is not a development proposal as part of this project,” she said. Any future project would be reviewed for compatibility and environmental impacts through separate permits and review processes. Staff reported three written comments during the public-noticing period about surrounding uses, proximity of industrial and residential uses and one note of support for industrial use. An MND prepared for a previously proposed multifamily housing project in 2018 was found still relevant; staff prepared an addendum concluding no new or increased environmental impacts would result from the land-use change.

The project history presented to the commission included the council’s 2006 action that had changed the property from industrial to medium-density residential; a 2018 design-review approval and mitigated negative declaration for a multifamily project; and an applicant neighborhood meeting in January 2025 attended by one person. Michaelson also noted the parcel is listed in the adopted 2023–2031 Housing Element as an approved 86 moderate-income-unit site; staff said those units would be offset as part of the upcoming General Plan 2050 update.

Commissioner discussion focused on land-use consistency and RHNA inventory implications. Commissioner Sisco, who said he was on the commission in 2006, said he opposed converting the site to housing at that time and supported returning it to industrial, citing the surrounding industrial corridor. City staff and the commission said the city has surplus capacity in its current housing inventory for the RHNA cycle and that the city will offset units as part of its General Plan 2050 schedule if the council approves the amendment.

Each of the three resolutions was moved by Commissioner Sisco and seconded by Vice Chair Duggan and passed by roll-call vote with the five commissioners present (Carter, Sisco, Sanders, Duggan and Chair Weeks) voting aye. The motions read on the record included identification of the property as 3150 Dutton Avenue and cited file numbers PRJ24-19, GPAM24-002 and REZ24-002 and the Dutton Avenue Residences Mitigated Negative Declaration (2018). The commission’s action forwards the items to the City Council for final decision.

No development entitlements were approved tonight; rezoning and general-plan amendments return the parcel to industrial land use but do not authorize specific construction. Future projects on the site would require separate permit review and environmental review as applicable.