Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Steve Monowitz, Director of Planning and Building
Subject: Consideration of an Ordinance and Resolution Implementing the County Housing Element Rezoning Program in Specified Locations
RECOMMENDATION:
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Public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending the County Ordinance Code and a resolution amending the County General Plan, in order to implement the County’s Housing Element Rezoning Program:
A) Open public hearing
B) Close public hearing
C) Recommendation to:
1. Adopt an ordinance amending the County Ordinance Code, Title 8, Article 1 (Zoning Districts, Overlay, and Combining Districts) to add Chapters 8.29 (R3-MU Zoning District), 8.115 (PC-HD Zoning District), and 8.116 (TS-MU Zoning District); and amending County Ordinance Code Section 8.08.060 (Sectional District Maps) to apply the new zoning designations to various parcels, previously introduced to the Planning Commission on April 8, 2026, and waive reading of the ordinance in its entirety; and
2. Adopt a resolution adopting a General Plan amendment:
a. Amending the General Plan Chapter 7 (General Land Use), and Chapter 8 (Urban Land Use), to add a new Transit-Supportive Mixed-use Land Use designation; and
b. Amending the County General Plan Land Use Maps to apply the new Transit-Supportive Mixed-use Land Use designation to various parcels; and
c. Repealing and replacing the Colma Bart Station Area Plan and Colma Bart Station Area Plan maps.
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BACKGROUND:
The County’s 2023-2031 Housing Element of the County General Plan, which replaces the prior, 2014-2022 Housing Element, assesses the County’s housing needs, constraints, and resources, and establishes various policies and programs to address housing needs over the 8-year Housing Element cycle. As required by State law, the Housing Element includes an assessment of available developable or redevelopable sites for housing, to determine if the County has sufficient existing sites to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), the County’s quantified share of regional housing need.
The assessment of available sites in the Housing Element determined that the County does not have sufficient existing sites to meet its RHNA. Because of this deficit, as required by law, the Housing Element also includes a Rezoning Program, HE 11.2, identifying a number of sites for rezoning to allow higher-density multifamily housing to address the shortfall. Sites identified in the Rezoning Program are located in the Harbor Industrial, Broadmoor, and unincorporated Colma areas, outside the County’s Coastal Zone, and in El Granada, within the Coastal Zone.
The Housing Element was submitted to HCD for review, and HCD determined that the Housing Element was consistent with State law. However, until completion of the Rezoning Program, the Housing Element cannot be considered fully compliant with State law.
DISCUSSION:
A. KEY ISSUES
To implement the Rezoning Program, changes are required to:
a. The County’s General Plan Land Use designations, applying new high-density transit-oriented development (TOD) land use categories to various Rezoning Program parcels;
b. The Colma BART Station Area Plan, similarly applying new high density TOD categories specific to the Colma BART Station Area;
c. Apply multiple new zoning designations, implementing design and development standards for high density residential and mixed-use development, to the Rezoning Program parcels.
The zoning text and map amendments, General Plan text and map amendments, and Colma BART Station Area Plan text and map amendments included in this proposal directly implement the non-Coastal portions of the Housing Element Rezoning Program, allowing increased residential densities, objective design and development standards, and ministerial approval processes, as described in HE 11.2. Because the Rezoning Program sites in the County’s Coastal Zone require additional environmental analysis and other processes specific to the Coastal Zone, rezoning of those sites remains in process, and will be considered for adoption at a later date.
The zoning ordinance amending the zoning text and maps is included as Attachment B. The resolution amending the General Plan map and text and Colma BART Station Area map and text is included as Attachment C. The zoning map amendments and General Plan map amendments are included in Attachment D. The Colma BART Station Area Plan maps are incorporated within the amended Colma BART Station Area Plan, included as Attachment E, but are also shown in Attachment D for illustrative purposes. A redlined version of the Station Area Plan, indicating the various amendments, is also included as Attachment F.
1. General Plan Land Use Text and Map Amendments
General Plan land use designations establish the basic allowed uses and densities for any parcel in the unincorporated County. The proposed General Plan amendments establish a new General Plan land use designation, Transit-Supportive Mixed Use, which allows a mix of primarily high-density residential uses with compatible non-residential uses, including commercial mixed use, transit facilities, and transit-serving uses in areas with accessible major transit, with residential densities of between 70 and 150 units per acre. This new designation is proposed to be added to both General Plan Chapter 7, General Land Use, and Chapter 8, Urban Land Use. Minor edits to policies related to Urban Neighborhoods, Special Urban Areas, and Residential Land Use sections of those General Plan chapters are also made for compatibility with the new land use designation. County General Plan maps are proposed to be amended to apply this new designation to all Rezoning Program parcels in the Broadmoor and Harbor Industrial areas, and to portions of unincorporated Colma, as shown in Attachment D. These General Plan amendments are necessary to implement the Rezoning Program.
2. Colma BART Station Area Plan Amendments
Because the Colma BART Station Area Plan has distinct land use designations applicable in the BART Station Area, amendments to these designations are also necessary to implement the Rezoning Program. The Station Area Plan area encompasses the portion of unincorporated Colma directly adjacent to the BART station, approximately bounded by Mission/El Camino Real, San Pedro Road, Hill Street, and F Street.
Amendments to the Station Area Plan add two new residential high-density and mixed-use land use designations, Residential Opportunity and Mixed-Use Opportunity, with applicable goals and standards. Like the new Transit Supportive Land Use designation in the General Plan, these designations allow high density residential and high density residential mixed-use development with residential densities between 70 and 150 units per acre. The Residential Opportunity designation allows various types of multifamily residential development in close proximity to the BART station, with maximum 75-foot building heights, maximum 15-foot front setbacks, and a maximum of one parking space per unit. The Mixed-Use Opportunity designation allows either entirely residential multifamily development, or residential mixed-use development with ground floor non-residential uses comprising no more than 25% of total floor area. Maximum front setbacks are from 10 to 15 feet, and a maximum of one parking space per unit or one space per 1,000 square feet of commercial floor area are allowed.
General land use standards for these new designations are consistent with existing Station Area Plan goals, policies and standards, and appropriate to high density development in proximity to a major transit station. Updates to the Station Area Plan vision and goals are also proposed for consistency with the new land use designations.
Because the Station Area Plan has not been updated since 1994, proposed amendments also include a number of changes to background, contextual, and descriptive information that is now outdated, irrelevant, incorrect, or otherwise no longer applicable. These changes are not substantive, and have no material impact on allowed development or the implementation of the Colma BART Station Area Plan. Since these amendments affect all sections of the Station Area Plan, the entire Plan is proposed to be repealed and replaced, as indicated in the resolution in Attachment C.
3. Zoning Amendments
The proposed amendments add three zoning chapters to the County Ordinance Code. A brief overview of the design and development standards incorporated in each chapter is presented below; the detailed standards are included in full in Attachment B.
a. The PC-HD (Planned Colma High Density) district incorporates new standards and approval processes for high density residential and mixed-use development in the unincorporated Colma area. The PC-HD zoning district has two sub-districts with slightly different standards:
(1) The PC-HD:RES (Residential Opportunity Subdistrict) allows high-density residential multifamily development by right, with all non-residential development, including mixed-use development, requiring a use permit. Maximum building heights are 75 feet. Front setbacks vary depending on the combination of public and private right-of-way required to accommodate pedestrian passage and street infrastructure such as trees and bicycle parking, with a maximum setback of 15 feet. Rear setbacks are 15 feet, and there are no minimum side setbacks. A minimum of 80 square feet of open space must be provided for each unit, and various design standards are imposed to ensure visual and architectural character compatible with the allowed scale of development and the nature of the existing area.
(2) The PC-HD:MU (Mixed-Use Opportunity Subdistrict) also allows high-density multifamily development by right and also allows residential mixed-use development with ground-floor non-residential development of no more than 25% of total floor area by right, with allowed non-residential uses that are compatible with multifamily residential transit-oriented development. Maximum building heights are also 75 feet, front setback requirements are similarly a combination of available public and private right-of-way, rear setbacks are 10 feet, and there are no side setback requirements. A minimum of 80 square feet of open space per unit is also required, and similar design standards are imposed on new development.
b. The R3-MD (Multifamily Residential Mixed Density) district is a new high-density multifamily district for more general multifamily development in both transit-rich areas and areas with less transit access. Maximum front setbacks are 20 feet, minimum rear setbacks are 15 feet, and there are no minimum side setbacks. Multifamily building heights are a maximum of 75 feet. The maximum parking allowed is one space per residential unit. Various design standards are required, appropriate to the scale of structures allowed.
c. The TS-MU (Transit Supportive Mixed Use) district includes new standards for high-density development in proximity to transit facilities, including BART and Caltrain stations, and high-volume, high-frequency bus transit. In most cases, the standards mirror those in the R3 and PC-HD zoning districts, with 75-foot building heights, identical open space requirements, and design and development standards appropriate to the scale of development. There are variations in parking standards and setback standards, with differing standards specifically applicable to TS-MU-zoned parcels in the Harbor Industrial area, the Broadmoor area, and the unincorporated Colma area, as shown in Attachment B.
In general, the new design and development standards across all three new zoning districts, and applicable subdistricts, are intended to allow the uses and densities required by Rezoning Program, and implemented by the underlying General Plan and Colma BART Station Area Plan land use designations, ensuring in particular that residential densities allowed by the land use designations are not constrained by the applicable development standards, while still ensuring that development is well-designed and compatible with surrounding development. All high-density residential uses in each zoning district, if consistent with applicable standards, is permitted by ministerial approval, with no use permit requirement.
All three new zoning districts allow emergency shelters, low-barrier navigation centers, supportive housing, and transitional housing, as those terms are defined by State law, by right, subject to certain standards established by the State. Ministerial approval of these uses responds to the requirements of State law.
As shown on the maps in Attachment D, the PC-HD zoning designation will be applied to parcels in the Colma BART Station Area Plan area, the R3-MD designation will be applied to parcels in unincorporated Colma outside the Station Area Plan area, north and south of A Street, and the TS-MU designation will be applied to all parcels in the Harbor Industrial and Broadmoor areas, and to parcels in the unincorporated Colma area adjacent to Hillside Boulevard.
Environmental Impact
Adoption of a rezoning necessary to implement the Housing Element Rezoning Program is statutorily exempt from environmental review pursuant to Section 21080.085 of the California Environmental Quality Act. The associated general plan and specific plan amendments are a necessary and integral component of the rezoning and are therefore also exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 21080.085.
The County Attorney’s Office has reviewed and approved the ordinance and resolution as to form.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
Implementation of the rezoning identified in the Rezoning Program, Housing Element Policy HE 11.2, are intended to increase housing availability, affordability, and accessibility for County residents, with a specific focus on the equitable provision of housing resources for disadvantaged communities, including racial/ethnic minorities, lower-income residents, special needs communities, and other groups disproportionately impacted by the unavailability of affordable housing and housing designed for the particular needs of specific populations. The rezoned sites will provide additional opportunities for housing development, including affordable housing development, located in proximity to transit, increasing housing affordability and accessibility for County residents of all types, as well as advancing the County’s climate goals by reducing the need for automobile travel to and from these housing sites, with direct mitigating impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, harmful pollutants, and the variety of other negative consequences of auto-dependent transport.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There are no direct fiscal impacts of adoption of the zoning and General Plan map and text amendments. Preparation of the Housing Element Rezoning Program and proposed rezonings involve costs of County staff time and consultant services, but these costs are accounted for in the County’s adopted budget.
Attachments
A. Zoning and General Plan Land Use amendment maps
B. Colma BART Station Area Plan - redlined amendments