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Draft documents reviewed by the Atherton Planning Commission show Atherton has added additional sites for multifamily housing sites as it works toward a state-approved housing plan. These include spaces discussed publicly by the Atherton City Council but not previously part of the plan, such as four lots along Bay Road and three lots along Ravenswood Avenue. A map also shows possible multifamily zoning overlays on portions of park and open space land in the town.
Documents presented at the Atherton Planning Commission’s July 24 meeting show additional proposed sites for multifamily housing in the town, which is currently zoned for entirely single family housing. The state said the town’s previously submitted housing element “falls short” of affordable housing requirements and rejected Atherton’s plans in April 2023.
Though the meeting was informational in nature, several residents who attended the meeting expressed their displeasure with the location and nature of the multifamily housing sites proposed for the town. The housing element is part of a process, every eight years, in which cities and towns throughout California are required to update their housing plans according to the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation program. For this housing cycle, which runs from 2023-31, the town has to plan to add 348 units of housing, a significant increase from the requirements in the previous housing cycle.
“The issues of having 10 families, or potentially more, sitting that close, with all of their activities makes (the town) a hellhole,” said one resident Atherton named John, who identified himself only by his first name. “You’re not going to bastardize our properties.”
Residents and planning commissioners also expressed concern that the town’s environmental analysis and transportation study did not take into account the large developments being constructed in nearby Menlo Park, such as the Parkline Development at the SRI campus.
At the meeting, the Atherton Planning Commission got a first look at the revised draft resolutions and documents that Atherton will need to submit to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in order to have the town’s housing element certified by the state.
These draft documents include California Environmental Quality Act analysis of Atherton’s proposed housing plans and multifamily housing sites, amendments to the housing element itself, amendments to other elements in the town’s general plan, amendments to the town’s municipal code and amendments to Atherton’s zoning map.
The town’s CEQA analysis of the housing plans found several areas where there may be potentially significant impacts unless mitigation measures are implemented. These include air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, transportation and traffic and tribal cultural resources. A mitigation plan is included as part of this analysis.
Changes to the housing element were made in response to issues with the document raised by California HCD in April 2023.
Following this meeting, commissioners as well as members of the public have the chance to send additional feedback on the documents to town staff, who will then revise the documents. After reviewing these documents and discussing them again at its next meeting on Aug. 28, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council on whether or not to adopt the amendments to these documents and resubmit the town’s housing plans to the state.
Where will multifamily housing be allowed in Atherton?
The materials presented by town staff to the Planning Commission include draft changes to the town’s zoning map that show the sites that the town has identified for possible multifamily development. The town identified seven sites in fall 2023 as possible locations for multifamily housing in addition to the sites that were already included in the town’s housing element, which was adopted on Jan. 21, 2023.
Possible multifamily zoning overlay sites also include California Water Service land near Bear Gulch Reservoir that is currently used for offices, a portion of Menlo Circus Club land and the Gilmore House area in Holbrook-Palmer Park where the town’s police chief currently resides.
Atherton city staff proposes to either rezone, or adopt an overlay zone on the proposed properties that would allow multifamily housing at a density of up to 10 units per acre. If all 8.5 acres of the proposed sites are approved and used for multifamily housing, the town would gain 85 units of housing.
There are also several sites at schools around town that have been identified as possible sites for multifamily housing. These include three sites on the Menlo College campus that have been identified as possible locations for faculty and student housing, two sites on the Menlo School campus and one site on the Sacred Heart Schools campus where five apartments for retired nuns are currently located.
Atherton proposes to rezone these sites to allow multifamily housing at a density of 20 or 40 units per acre, depending on the site.
Though the proposed multifamily overlay sites are not technically final until the council approves them and changes the zoning map, it would be very hard for Atherton to add new sites to the list at this point in the process, according to Town Planner Brittany Bendix. The town conducted CEQA analysis for the sites listed above, and would be required to do so again for any additional multifamily housing sites that may be identified in the future.
“The CEQA analysis looks at the largest scope of the project that could be considered,” Bendix said. “What happens if additional sites are added to the housing element? That means we have to go back through CEQA. … It would take quite a few months to do that. So the question really is at this point, how do you change the extent of the scope and work down.”
Some commissioners expressed concern that many of the identified multifamily housing sites are located so close to planned developments located in Menlo Park.
“It’s not our responsibility to deal with the Parkline and SRI traffic report, but it’s clearly going to be thousands of cars,” said Commissioner Thom Bryant. “The question that I’d like the traffic people to confirm is: as SRI and Parkline move through the processes, does their assessment for the Ravenswood parcels change?”
Commissioner Bob Polito, who served on the council and helped shape the housing element document, said that multifamily, and associated changes in the housing element, would add almost 5,000 daily car trips, and yet the traffic analysts say “everything is hunky dory.”
“(Atherton’s traffic study) clearly had to be done without consideration of the Parkline project,” he said.
Bendix said that the town’s traffic analysis did take into account some level of the Parkline project. She also said that the project is not likely to change the analysis of vehicle miles traveled for the lots on Ravenswood Avenue.
What will multifamily housing look like in Atherton?
As part of the housing element update process, Atherton is also updating its municipal zoning code to establish design standards for multifamily housing in the town.
In the draft updates to the zoning code, the maximum height for multifamily housing in the town has been set to 40 feet, however this heigh can only be achieved if the developer builds multifamily housing with a sloped roof. The design standards also state that if the roof of a multifamily dwelling is flat, the building can only be built to a maximum of 34 feet tall.
“The housing element directed us to work with a 40-foot, or four-story maximum height, but we heard a lot from the community that they were very uncomfortable with that,” said Tom Ford, a planning consultant contracted by the town. “(We are) trying to incentivize a sloped roof, which we feel might be more indicative of the character of the town.”
The maximum height for single family development in the town is currently 34 feet.
The design standards also require that multifamily housing be set back a minimum of 20 feet from the property line, unless that property line is shared with a single-family residence, in which case it must be set back 30 feet from the property line.
The draft zoning code also states that multifamily dwellings can not occupy more than 50% of the lot size. However, additional floor area can be gained if developers design buildings with pitched roofs or by placing 100% of its residential parking underground.
Residents react
Some Atherton residents remain vocal in their disdain for the multifamily housing that is planned for the town. Many commenters at the meeting cited privacy, traffic and maintaining the character of the town as their main concerns.
Carol Flaherty, a member of the Atherton Housing Coalition, a group of Atherton residents who wrote their own proposal for Atherton’s housing element, said that though there are a lot of good elements to the town’s updated housing element documents, she and other Atherton residents worry that the plans will lead to the character of the town changing.
“The Housing Coalition had a ton of one-on-one meetings with council members, and in those meetings we were told ‘don’t worry, we’ll take the perimeter properties, Bay, Ravenswood, Ringwood, and we’ll limit the multifamily to that,’ but that’s not what this plan says.” she said. “Then we were told ‘don’t worry, we’re not going to have more than two story multifamily,’ now we have overlays of four stories. What happens to the Lindenwood people that are backing up to (multifamily housing)? … What happens to their property values? They’re trashed.”
Polito said he didn’t know what was said in the one-on-one meetings, but during those types of meetings, council memberscandidates “want to be friends with everybody.”
“What they say in one-on-one meetings is not always what’s going to happen,” he said.
One commenter who said that he owns one of the properties identified as a possible location for multifamily housing said that the stringent design standards that Atherton is proposing for multifamily housing in the town will prevent potential developers from actually building in the town.
“It may be worthwhile to talk to actual developers and see if it actually makes sense (for them) to even do this,” said the homeowner. “Otherwise I mean what are we even doing? Are we just doing multi(family) housing theater here?”
What’s next in Atherton’s housing element update
Atherton has been mired in a drawn-out and contentious housing element update process since 2022. The state has not approved the town’s state mandated housing plans for 2023-31.
The July 24 meeting was the first of two Atherton Planning Commission meetings set for commissioners to review the CEQA analysis, updates to the housing element and updates to the zoning code and city ordinances. At the commission’s Aug. 28 meeting, it is expected that they will provide recommendations to the City Council.
Town staff also plan on finalizing and releasing the town’s inclusionary housing ordinance draft in August. This ordinance would direct the town to study a program that would require multifamily developments to provide 20% of apartments at affordable rates, or pay a fee.
Once the updated documents and materials are passed on to the council, council members will finalize the sites for multifamily housing development, and vote on submitting the housing element update package to HCD. According to a housing element update timeline posted on Atherton’s website, town staff estimate that this process may span two to three City Council hearings, which are currently planned for September and October.
Residents and interested parties are welcome to submit comments on the revised housing element documents throughout the process. “I would invite any of the public … to feel free to schedule time with me one-on-one,” said Bendix.
