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San Bruno to study taller mixed-use options, community outreach for Elevate San Bruno initiative
Summary
City staff proposed an Elevate San Bruno program to align land use, fiscal strategy and infrastructure financing; council asked for robust multilingual outreach and directed staff to study an eight-story baseline and discretionary higher heights tied to community benefits in parts of the city.
San Bruno's Elevate San Bruno initiative, presented May 19 to a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission, is a comprehensive land-use, fiscal and economic effort intended to create conditions that attract investment while meeting the city's housing-element commitments.
"Elevate San Bruno is intended to be a long-range fiscal sustainability and land-use strategy to level the playing field for revenue generating land uses," Assistant Community Development Director Kelly Begs said as she opened the presentation. City staff described Elevate as combining land-use policy, fiscal analysis, process improvements and implementation planning under one coordinated initiative led by PlaceWorks, which the city selected in January 2026.
PlaceWorks managing principal Joanna Jansen summarized a community-engagement program that includes a project website (elevates.org), bilingual e-blasts (English and Spanish), pop-up events, online surveys, stakeholder interviews and developer roundtables. "We are making social media posts using the city's established channels," Jansen said, and encouraged residents to sign up for project updates.
Staff presented a study area east of Highway 280 along the city's major corridors and two height alternatives: a baseline that would allow up to eight residential stories (about 90 feet) in the study area, and a second alternative that would set an eight-story baseline but allow additional height on a discretionary, project-by-project basis tied to community benefits. Staff noted mainstream developers currently say buildings taller than eight stories often are not financially feasible in San Bruno under present market conditions, though construction techniques and markets can change.
On housing-element tasks, staff listed programs the city must adopt to comply with state requirements: expand ADU/JADU opportunities beyond state minimums (Program 4F) and modify standards to enable missing-middle housing typologies (Program 5A), including enabling duplexes in R2 areas and allowing rehabilitated legal nonconforming units to be rebuilt.
Council and commissioners emphasized outreach and equity: expand translation beyond Spanish where neighborhoods indicate other primary languages; target outreach to neighborhoods that will be most affected by new heights and to seniors; and develop clearer notification for property owners when parcel status changes under SB79 or Elevate studies. Several members advised staff to identify precisely which parcels make sense for higher heights (for example, deep lots near BART or industrial parcels) and to avoid scaring residents by publishing unrealistic maximums where physical constraints make tall buildings impractical.
Outcome and next steps
Council and commission generally directed staff to continue technical analysis and public engagement: refine the study-area boundaries as needed, study both an eight-story baseline and the discretionary greater-height pathway (including where it might be feasible up to SFO-imposed maximums), and proceed with the housing element programs required by state law. Staff will return with more detailed analysis, translated outreach proposals, and a schedule for community workshops and developer roundtables.
