Planning commission recommends City Council adopt San Carlos downtown specific plan and related zoning and CEQA actions

The Planning and Transportation Commission on Nov. 3 recommended that the San Carlos City Council adopt four related actions to implement a Downtown Specific Plan, including a CEQA addendum, general plan amendments, zoning map changes and the specific plan itself. The motions passed by roll call with Commissioners Anand, Kenistee, Tapias and Vice Chair Bundy voting yes; Chair Clements was excused.

Lisa Porras, the city’s planning manager, told the commission the draft downtown specific plan is the product of a three‑year process that included an 18‑member advisory committee, public workshops, an online survey that drew roughly 700 responses and an outreach record of more than 1,000 pages. “We have reached a really important milestone over the past 3 years, and we are very happy to present to you the commission the public draft downtown specific plan,” Porras said during her presentation.

The specific plan covers roughly 67 acres of the downtown core and is written as a 20‑year regulatory document to guide development, public‑realm improvements and capital projects. The downtown plan carries detailed provisions on land use and urban design, mobility and protected bicycle lanes, outdoor dining and retail display standards, plazas and public art, stormwater and rain gardens, and an implementation chapter that identifies 13 phased streetscape segments and a diversified funding strategy.

Key policy and technical highlights discussed at the hearing included:

- Land use and SamTrans site: Staff proposed one site‑specific exception — the parcel at 1250 San Carlos Avenue (the SamTrans property) — for which the plan recommends raising the minimum density to align with neighboring parcels and to allow a MUD‑120 zoning designation that could…