A downtown Palo Alto housing proposal cleared a key city hurdle this week even though its own developer could have skipped the review entirely. The Planning and Transportation Commission voted 4-2 to advance a project at 332 and 350 Forest Ave. to the Architectural Review Board, all while the development team continues to hold a separate, faster application in reserve that would require far less city input.
The project, whose team includes developer Sares Regis, initially applied to build 89 units across eight stories using the city’s Planned Home Zoning process, according to Palo Alto Online. That plan places its affordable housing component off-site rather than within the building itself. But the same team also filed a more recent, scaled-back version under state Senate Bill 79 — a 69-unit, six-story project — because the Forest Avenue site sits close enough to the Caltrain station to qualify for the law’s streamlined path.
The dual-track approach has become a familiar maneuver on the Midpeninsula since SB 79 took effect statewide on July 1, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which confirms the law legalizes 65- to 75-foot mid-rise housing within a half-mile of high-frequency transit stations through ministerial review that bypasses public hearings and council votes. All three of Palo Alto’s Caltrain stops — University Avenue, California Avenue, and San Antonio — qualify for the law’s top tier because each handles more than 72 weekday train arrivals, per the same agency.
A Two-Week Window That City Officials Didn’t See Coming
Palo Alto tried to blunt the state law’s reach by passing a local ordinance that caps development capacity at 50% of what SB 79 would otherwise allow and exempts historic properties, according to the City of Palo Alto. But that ordinance did not take effect until July 16, leaving a two-week stretch when SB 79 applied in the city with no local restrictions at all. Developers rushed in nine projects during that window using full SB 79 height and density standards, the city said…