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 pedestrian activity downtown. It also contains provisions for outdoor dining zones, new public plazas and design standards aimed at consistent materials and furniture quality.

Key council directions and edits - Ground‑floor commercial: Council emphasized preserving and incentivizing ground‑floor commercial uses in gateway and high‑foot‑traffic nodes (attachment 10). Staff will draft language for a potential ground‑floor activation overlay and accompanying incentives but will evaluate legal constraints when projects come forward. - Parking and TDM: After debate, the council removed a proposed standard that would have "required" shared parking for new non‑residential development and instead directed staff to "develop and implement policies" to promote shared or publicly accessible parking where appropriate. Council also directed removing required unbundling language for commercial leases from the ordinance and restricting residential unbundling language to market‑rate units only. - Outdoor dining and public realm: Council approved case‑by‑case flexibility to extend dining areas where rain‑garden placements reduce available room, and asked staff to adapt the sidewalk‑cafe permit to accommodate such requests. The council asked staff to allow non‑portable mounted heating devices if approved by the fire marshal and to permit umbrellas in colors from the city palette or complementary shades, subject to zoning administrator review. - SAMTrans parcel (1250 San Carlos Avenue): SamTrans urged the council to retain a lower minimum density for its fully consolidated 1.7‑acre site to preserve near‑term economic feasibility. After public comment and council discussion, the council voted to remove any immediate upzoning of the SAMTrans parcel from tonight’s ordinances and directed staff to study the zoning/density tradeoffs and return with an analysis in the coming months.

Public comment and contested points SamTrans representative Charlotte Gomez told the council that a minimum density set too high "risks leaving the site undeveloped" and urged retaining a 75 dwelling‑units per acre minimum rather than 90 to ensure projects are economically feasible within the current housing cycle. The council balanced that concern by deferring any immediate zoning change for the parcel and asking staff for further analysis.

What was approved The council adopted the EIR addendum and amendments to the General Plan land‑use map and elements, and introduced ordinances to codify the zoning changes and adopt the Downtown Specific Plan (with the staff edits and policy directions recorded by the clerk). Voting was unanimous on the motions and introductions.

Next steps Staff will revise the specific plan text and draft ordinance language consistent with council direction (including updated policy language on parking, umbrella/color guidance, outdoor dining flexibility and the ground‑floor commercial overlay). The council directed staff to study SAMTrans parcel zoning and to return with options for council consideration in the coming months.

Source: Presentation and council deliberations at the Nov. 24 council meeting; Planning Manager Lisa Porus; public comments from SamTrans representative Charlotte Gomez.