Condominium project proposed next to Town & Country Village | News

A developer has asked the town of Palo Alto for a zone transform that would permit construction of a 20-condominium advancement next to the Town & Country Village purchasing heart.

The ask for, submitted on May well 23 by Edward Storm of Stormland LLC, relies on the city’s not long ago developed “planned housing zone,” which will allow household developers to negotiate with the city in excess of development specifications. In this situation, the challenge in the commercial zone would call for exemptions to enable for larger height and density.

If accepted, the venture would be positioned at 70 Encina Ave., a web-site just north of City & Country and just south of the Palo Alto Healthcare Foundation that is currently a parking lot. Under the current industrial zoning, the web page would only be permitted to have a ground spot ratio of .6, which would restrict the enhancement to 4 units, Jeff Galbraith, principal at Hayes Team Architects, wrote to the town.

“This minimal improvement probable seriously hinders the amount of housing models that can be designed,” Galbraith wrote. “Coupled with the superior rate of land it also more challenges the inclusion of affordable housing.”

The developer is requesting that the town quadruple the permitted density to 2.4. The challenge would also exceed the city’s 50-foot top restrict, according to the architectural programs, with the parapet increasing its peak to 55 toes. The council would have to sign off on that exemption for the advancement to progress.

According to Galbraith’s letter, the venture would contain 12 1-bed room condominiums with an average size of 1,035 sq. feet and an common selling price of $1.29 million. The remaining 8 units would be two-bedroom condominiums with an average sizing of 1,320 square toes and priced at $1.65 million.

Galbraith further states that 4 of the residences “will be offered or rented” as down below-sector-price units, in preserving with the city’s requirement that new developments contain minimal-cash flow housing.

Because of the site’s business zoning, the council will have broad discretion over the venture. Other new household jobs these kinds of as The Sobrato Organization’s proposed 74-townhome growth at the web page of the former Fry’s Electronics building and SummerHill Homes’ 48-condominium intricate at 2850 W. Bayshore Street are relying on state legal guidelines these as Senate Monthly bill 330 to ensure swift acceptance and minimum modifications by the town to the initial proposal. But since Stormland is relying on “planned dwelling zoning,” the challenge at Encina will have to go through a pre-screening hearing, offering the council an prospect to change or deny the task.

Galbraith wrote in the letter that the proposed design is “supported with the surroundings as there are adjacent prepared neighborhood and clinic buildings of very similar top.” The proposed advancement would be about a block away from the LifeMoves’ Possibility Products and services Centre, which supplies transitional housing and companies for unhoused persons. The LifeMoves setting up at 33 Encina Ave. also exceeds the city’s height restrict.

Stormland is a single of just a handful of builders that have opted to count on the “planned residence zoning” course of action due to the fact the council established it in 2020 to stimulate a lot more housing. Even though quite a few candidates experienced absent by way of the pre-screening procedure for their initiatives, most in the long run refrained from advancing their proposals. The only exception is Smith Growth, which last December submitted a formal application for a blended-use complicated at 660 College Ave.

Smith experienced just lately revised the programs for the four-tale task, which now consists of office area on the ground floor at 65 residential units on the three higher flooring. The application is at present currently being reviewed by the city’s Office of Setting up and Progress Solutions.