Planning Commission backs zoning changes to implement housing element and Measure T, recommends higher administrative approval threshold

The San Mateo Planning Commission recommended Feb. 11 that the City Council adopt two ordinances to amend the city's zoning code to implement the 2023'2031 Housing Element and to bring zoning into consistency with the General Plan and Measure T.

The recommendation, passed 4'0to'00 with one commissioner absent, also included a policy direction on administrative approvals: the commission endorsed staff's package of code amendments and amended the recommendation to set an administrative approval threshold at 50 units for projects that meet objective design standards, while adding a supplemental recommendation that the council consider eliminating the threshold entirely for such projects.

The zoning changes before the commission stem from the city's housing element and the 2040 General Plan, staff said. "The zoning code amendments before you tonight stem from the San Mateo housing element, which was adopted in May by the City Council and certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development in July," Planning Manager Anira Sandhir told the commission. Staff described three broad groups of proposed changes: updates driven by state law and housing element policies (definitions and permitted uses for a range of housing types); revisions to administrative approval thresholds; and amendments to make existing zoning…