Palo Alto ARB forwards 183-unit El Camino Real project to council with design conditions
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Summary
The ARB voted 3-0 to recommend that City Council approve a seven-story, 183-unit housing project at 3781 El Camino Real (23 units at the below-market rate 13% minimum). The board provided a list of preferred conditions — add an elevator, clarify bike-room circulation and move-in loading, soften garage screening and explore upper-story step-backs — and requested detailed courtyard sections and refined façade detailing.
The Palo Alto Architectural Review Board on Jan. 15 recommended that the City Council approve a seven-story, 183-unit housing project at 3781 El Camino Real, voting 3-0 to forward the application with a set of board-requested conditions and design refinements.
Developer Marissa Riley said the project includes 183 units and meets the city’s affordability target for builder’s-remedy projects: “183 units including 23 affordable units,” Riley told the board during the presentation.
Project scope and status: staff described the site as a consolidation of multiple parcels at the Curtner/El Camino intersection, with proposed demolition of roughly 10,100 square feet of commercial uses and 14 existing residential units to make way for the new building. Staff and the applicant said the project is eligible for AB 1 30 procedures cited in the staff report (transcript references AB 1 30)—a process that can accelerate review and places limits on discretionary changes; tribal consultation remains in progress and could lead to additional conditions before council action.
Key board concerns and conditions: board members and staff focused extensive questioning on circulation and livability: several members urged the applicant to explore adding a third elevator to shorten internal walking distances from distant parking, to provide an off-street loading area suitable for move-ins (applicant noted vertical clearance constraints for interior loading), and to provide a clear path of travel in the long-term bicycle room, including a direct door from the bike room to the parking garage. The board also asked the applicant to improve aesthetic screening of the parking garage where it faces lower-scale residential neighbors, to refine balcony and railing details to reduce perceived facade clutter, and to provide sectional drawings that show courtyard planters, spa elevations and soil depths.
Public comment and applicant reply: nearby resident Charles Santori said Curtner Avenue already has heavy curb parking and asked whether additional project vehicles would spill over onto neighborhood streets. Santori also asked whether the project would replace corner commercial uses; the applicant confirmed the building is 100 percent housing. The applicant said proposed parking slightly exceeds the focus-area 1:1 guideline and emphasized multimodal connections (bike lanes, bus lines) to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips.
Motion and next steps: a board member moved to recommend council approval based on the staff findings, read a set of desired conditions (for example, adding a third elevator, clarifying bike-room circulation and a door to the garage, adding an off-street loading strategy, improving garage screening and facade detailing, and exploring an upper-floor step-back along El Camino Real). The motion passed 3-0. Staff will convey the board’s recommendation and the wish-list of conditions to City Council; the project’s ultimate approvals and any required changes will be determined by council and through required technical reviews (tribal consultation, building code compliance and any subsequent plan amendments).
