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Planning commission backs 0.45 FAR to replace prior unit-mix table, approves senior-housing bonus
Summary
After hearings and public comment, the Los Altos Hills Planning Commission voted unanimously April 22 to recommend replacing its unit-mix/table entry with a 0.45 floor-area-ratio for multifamily zoning and to add a 0.05 FAR incentive for senior housing, directing staff to carry the change to council and to continue negotiations with HCD.
The Los Altos Hills Planning Commission voted April 22 to replace the multifamily unit-mix table in its April 13 recommendation with a single floor-area-ratio requirement of 0.45 and to convert the prior senior-housing incentive into a 0.05 FAR bonus (raising the incentive to 0.50 FAR). The change was put forward by a commissioner motion, seconded, and approved on a roll-call vote with all commissioners recorded as voting yes.
The action follows a staff and consultant presentation explaining the trade-offs between an FAR standard and a prescriptive unit-mix. Consultant Dan Wherry told the commission that a FAR is a familiar, simple standard and that the same relationship between dwelling units per acre and floor area can be expressed either way; he said an FAR-based approach may make HCD more comfortable. “If we did that just as a direct replacement to the maximum average square foot per unit, it would be a very simple scribe change,” Wherry said.
Multiple commissioners and members of the public pushed for caution. John O'Connor urged the commission to provide more analysis and to benchmark to comparable jurisdictions rather than rely solely on SB 79 standards; he warned against rushing a final number before getting HCD feedback. Michael Grady said applying SB 79 transit-area benchmarks to Los Altos Hills would be “ridiculous” and urged the commission to keep FARs low.
Supporters of the 0.45 figure argued it strikes a balance between the town's previous average-unit-size standard and state expectations. Staff said the town's earlier maximum average unit size equated roughly to a 0.41 FAR; increasing the average unit size to 850 square feet would translate to roughly a 0.45 FAR — a middle ground that staff believes is defensible and workable for the three rezoned multifamily sites discussed.
The commission also approved converting the senior-housing incentive previously expressed as larger unit sizes into a 0.05 FAR bonus so that projects that provide assisted-living or senior housing could access a higher development envelope while preserving the new FAR baseline. Staff was directed to reflect the change in language to be transmitted to the City Council and to use the FAR approach in upcoming discussions with the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
The commission asked staff to document the math used to justify the 0.45 FAR and to continue refining metrics for small lots and buildable (net) acreage. The commission also requested that incentive structures be developed or recorded in a later program so they can be negotiated and clearly explained to HCD and to developers.
The Planning Commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration and for staff to incorporate the revised FAR-based language into the housing element amendment materials.
