San Carlos adopts Downtown Specific Plan, with policies on ground‑floor retail, parking and public realm; SAMTrans zoning deferred for later study

The San Carlos City Council voted unanimously to adopt the Downtown Specific Plan, a 20‑year blueprint intended to guide growth and public‑realm investments across roughly 67 acres of the city’s downtown.

Planning Manager Lisa Porus, who presented the plan, said it "acts as our north star, guiding directions by laying out goals, policies, and action steps for the city to follow," and described chapters covering land use and urban design, economic development, mobility and parking, the public realm, sustainability, infrastructure and implementation. The plan also incorporates the city’s recently adopted streetscape master plan and identifies Harrington Park improvements as an early implementation project slated to begin construction documents with work in spring 2026.

Why it matters: the plan establishes policy tools for encouraging active ground‑floor retail and dining, clarifies development standards (including raising minimum ground‑floor height from 12 feet to a 14–16 foot range), and lays out a phased streetscape and plaza program intended to revitalize…