Planning Commission urges San Bruno City Council to adopt housing-element updates and related rezones

The San Bruno City Planning Commission on a unanimous voice vote recommended that the City Council adopt an addendum to a prior mitigated negative declaration and approve amendments to the city’s 2023–2031 Housing Element and related land-use and zoning changes.

Planning staff told the commission the item packages a 45-page housing element and a longer technical background report and reflects changes made since January 2023, including several rounds of resubmission to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). “We received only small preliminary edits from HCD this afternoon,” the staff presenter said, and asked the commission to authorize staff to make those wording changes before the Council hearing.

Why it matters: staff framed the package as the step that will enable specific sites to be available for the city’s housing goals. The staff presentation listed the planning-period target reported in the record as 3,165 units, noted 1,130 units counted as credits, and stated the remaining need as 2,158 units; staff also said the sites-inventory contains a buffer of roughly 394 units above the remainder called for by the state guidance.

What the commission approved to recommend: the resolutions the commission moved to forward ask that the Council (1) adopt an addendum to the January 2023 mitigated negative declaration, (2) adopt the amended 2023–2031 Housing Element (finding it substantially compliant with state housing laws), and (3) approve the General Plan, specific plan and zoning amendments necessary to allow the housing units identified on the sites inventory. A commissioner moved the recommendation and a second was given; the motion passed and the record does not show a roll-call tally.

Key changes and site-specific measures: staff explained one large project (record reference: the 840 San Bruno project) was removed from the sites inventory and moved into the credits list because it is now an approved project; staff also proposed adding a new “very high density residential” land-use category in the US Navy specific plan to allow up to 120 units per acre on two sites identified in the packet (referred to in the record as the Russo Dental Building and the Pet Hospital site). The package includes specific General Plan land-use map amendments and rezonings for parcels where current zoning does not allow the proposed unit counts.

Environmental and timing notes: staff said the January 2023 environmental analysis remains the basis for review and that an addendum was prepared concluding the amendments would not increase environmental impacts. Staff outlined an entitlement schedule that targets completing entitlements by the end of 2025 and said a major project in the pipeline is expected to supply a substantial share of the identified inventory during the planning period.

Next steps and caveats: staff asked the commission to forward the recommendation to Council and to allow staff to make the minor edits necessary to respond to HCD. The commission’s recommendation will go to City Council for final action; the staff presentation noted some Council actions (for example, certain site approvals) may require an override of airport noise-compatibility policies. The record shows no public comments were offered on this item at the Planning Commission meeting.