Planning commission backs 55-unit affordable housing at 3265 El Camino Real, 3-2

The Planning and Transportation Commission voted 3-2 on Jan. 15 to recommend that the City Council rezone 3265 El Camino Real from Commercial Service to a Planned Community zone to allow a 55-unit, 100% affordable rental development prioritized for Palo Alto Unified School District educators.

Gareth Halls, the city project planner, told commissioners the application now proposes 55 units with on-site parking and expanded tenant amenities and that staff's recommendation was "to recommend approval of the project and the record of land use action to the City Council." The commission's recommendation sends the project forward to council for final consideration.

The proposal calls for 55 apartments, with the applicant committing about 25% of units as low-income units (restricted at 70% of Area Median Income) and the remainder at a moderate-income level (110% AMI). The application package and staff materials describe on-site parking of about 32 spaces (staff) with stacked/lift stalls and 55 long-term bike lockers, four short-term bike spaces at the frontage and five shared electric bikes in the bike room. The applicant and staff face questions about how on-site circulation, trash staging and curbside operations will work given recent Caltrans re-striping along El Camino Real.

The project team said it revised the design after prior hearings to add an upper floor, increase the rooftop open space, enlarge the parking provision compared with the earlier proposal and strengthen its transportation demand management package. Applicant Jason Matloff said the revisions were intended to increase affordability and unit count. "We decided to try to bring a project forward that would address affordable housing, specifically for teachers," Matloff said during the hearing.

What proponents told the commission

The hearing drew about 13 public commenters and multiple statements of support from the Palo Alto Educators Association, the local chapter of the California School Employees…