|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The San Ramon Planning Commission is set to continue talks on a proposed housing development at Woodside Canyon that would take the place of existing office space after previously reviewing the project last month.
Commissioners voted at their Dec. 3, 2024 meeting to continue a public hearing on the project before considering its approval, with the proposed resolution on the table at the upcoming meeting consisting of several revisions to the original.
On the table at the upcoming meeting are development plan, major subdivision, tree removal permit, and environmental review applications for the proposed 54-unit Woodside Canyon townhome project, which would be built following the proposed demolition of the Centerpoint business center currently in place at 18 Crow Canyon Ct.
At the previous hearing, commissioners questioned a density bonus request from the applicant, San Francisco-based City Ventures, and an associated concession and waiver.
According to the staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting, the proposed three units that would be made available to very low income households – consisting of 5.5% of the overall project – makes it qualified for the State Density Bonus Law, which requires the city to grant one incentive or concession and unlimited waivers, and which limits the parking standards to those outlined in parking ratios under that law.Â
“There are some issues that need to be discussed with staff offline, and they do relate to this project as well as other projects, so it was felt that would have been an appropriate way, plus we still technically have to go over the conditions of approval, I spent some time over the weekend drafting them without having the benefit of public testimony so it would also be helpful to do that in the interim,” Commissioner Eric Wallis said on Dec. 3.
The applicant is requesting one incentive/concession, three waivers, and the SDBL parking ratio, with 121 parking spaces proposed.
“The requested concession(s) and waiver(s) are presumed to result in cost reduction necessary for the feasibility of the project,” Division Manager Lauren Barr wrote in the staff report.
Barr added that this presumption is in line with legal precedent established in a Los Angeles case in which a judge ruled that incentive, concession, and waiver requests “need not prove that concession and waivers will result in actual cost reductions,” without substantial evidence otherwise being provided.
“Further, the court determined that local governments are not required to conduct any analysis prior to granting the request, and that there are no financial criteria for granting a waiver,” Barr wrote. “As such, concession and waiver requests are to be accepted as financially necessary on face value and are adequate for determining consistency with any local adopted ordinance, general plan element, specific plan, or other local condition, law, policy, resolution, or regulation.”
If the project is approved at the upcoming meeting, a notice of exemption would be filed with the county clerk’s office, and the resolution would become effective Jan. 18, allowing the applicant to move forward with seeking construction permits, if no valid appeal or call for review is received by Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. However, it is not certain that the commission will vote on the applications currently at hand, with commissioners leaving open the possibility of continuing discussions further to their next meeting on Jan. 21.
The San Ramon Planning Commission is meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 7). The agenda is available here.
