Gatekeeper Process, DTPP Amendments & Development Cap Adjustments
General Plan Amendment Initiation Requests
Initiated Gatekeeper Projects | Current Development Projects | Contact
What's New?
The City Council approved the Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP) Plan-Wide Amendments and certified the SEIR at a public hearing on June 26, 2023. Prior to the that, the Planning Commission reviewed and recommended approval to the City Council to approve the DTPP Plan-Wide Amendments and certify the SEIR on June 6, 2023. The approved DTPP Amendments are available to review at the following (Link).
Gatekeeper projects are still being reviewed through the entitlement process for completeness and against the City's requirements. These projects will also conduct CEQA consistency checks, land appraisals (if needed) and Community Benefits Analyses before conducting project entitlement hearings, with final action taken at City Council). More information can be found on each project webpage under the 'Current Development Projects' tab.
Environmental Impact Report
Gatekeeper projects located within the DTPP will need to conduct consistency checks against to certified Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) linked below to ensure that the project proposal is consistent with what has been studied.
The SEIR and related documents can be accessed with the links below:
What is the Gatekeeper Process?
The City implemented a one-time Gatekeeper process to evaluate pending General Plan Amendment Initiation requests. A “Gatekeeper” process is an approach to address the multiple proposed General Plan Amendment and Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP) Amendment requests. Throughout 2020-2021, the City Council considered, at a high level, multiple potential projects at one time to decide which projects should be reviewed and considered for General Plan/DTPP amendments. Consideration of these projects was be based on basic submittal requirements and a detailed project narrative that would be analyzed against the Council’s Strategic Plan and Priorities to determine if a project should continue to move forward with discretionary planning and environmental review. More information on the DTPP plan-wide amendment, development cap adjustments and initiated Gatekeeper projects with next steps for application review and environmental review are detailed below.
DTPP Amendments, Development Cap Adjustments & Environmental Review
The DTPP Amendments will amend the City’s General Plan and Downtown Precise Plan to: 1) increase the office and residential maximum allowable development caps to potentially accommodate additional development capacity from the Gatekeeper Projects (described below) located in the DTPP collectively, 2) extend the DTPP boundary approximately 0.1 miles northward between El Camino Real and the Caltrain tracks (including four additional parcels: APNs 052-271-040, -050, -080, and -090), and 3) change certain DTPP development standards.
The DTPP sets maximum allowable development caps for office, residential, retail, and hotel development Downtown. The caps for office space and residential uses are almost met, so any project proposing to exceed these caps must request both a General Plan and DTPP amendment to increase the caps. The DTPP amendments are informed by the City Council’s direction, given in October 2020 and May 2021, to review and recommend an appropriate maximum allowable development cap based upon six “Gatekeeper Projects” located in the DTPP. These projects are located at: 1) 651 Camino Real, 2) 901-999 El Camino Real, 3) 2300 Broadway, 4) 603 Jefferson/750 Bradford, 5) 1900 Broadway, and 6) 601 Allerton Street. The office and residential caps would be increased to accommodate these six Gatekeeper Projects and additional anticipated development capacity for the parcels to be added into the DTPP boundary (Figure 1). The retail and hotel development caps would remain unchanged. A portion of the residential and office development caps would be set aside for affordable housing and small office development, respectively.
The DTPP Amendments would also include adjustments to parking ratios, circulation, and other DTPP development standards (such as frontage regulations and permitted architectural styles). Certain design-related Development Regulations may be converted from Mandatory Standards to advisory Guidelines to provide for potential flexibility, such as build-to-corner, height stepdown, and side setback requirements. The process for granting project-specific Waivers and/or Concessions may also be revised.
A program level Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) will be necessary to evaluate the environmental impacts of the DTPP Amendments. The SEIR will analyze the comprehensive effort to increase the maximum allowable development caps (in both the General Plan and DTPP) to potentially accommodate the Gatekeeper Projects collectively, as well as the boundary changes, and revised development standards. This SEIR will not analyze any of the Gatekeeper Projects individually or at a project-specific level as the City’s actions proposed relate to only policy and plan amendments, not project approvals.
Figure 1- DTPP Area with Potential Extended Boundary
Figure 2-Estimated Timeline
Past City Council Hearing Dates and Project Initiations
Given the number of projects proposed and consideration of ongoing Council strategic priorities, the City Council considered the projects over two hearings. The first hearing on August 10, 2020 focused on predominately housing projects outside of the DTPP. The second hearing on September 21 consisted of projects that are predominantly commercial and projects within the DTPP area. On October 12, 2020, the City Council initiated 6 projects, and on May 24, 2021 initiated 2 additional projects. Background on the Gatekeeper process and the original project submittals can be found in these staff reports. The chart below describes every initiated project. Projects that have submitted their formal application will include a link to their project page, and projects that have not submitted will link to their Gatekeeper application materials.
|
Project Address |
Commercial/Non-Residential |
Market Rate Units |
Below Market Rate Units (affordable) |
Total Units |
|
5000 sq. ft. retail, 6000 sq. ft. daycare |
360 |
70 |
430 |
|
|
651 El Camino Real (note: Project has been withdrawn from City review) |
11,275 sq. ft. for American Legion |
233 |
68 |
301 |
| - |
51 |
9 |
60 |
|
|
259,000 sq. ft. office, 8,000 sq. ft. teen center, 3,000 sq. ft. retail |
- |
100 |
100 |
|
|
200,000 sq. ft. office, 15,000 sq. ft. retail |
- |
80 |
80 |
|
|
170,000 sq. ft. office |
87 |
Applicant has not yet indicated if any of these units will be deed-restricted affordable |
87 |
|
| 1900 Broadway | 225,000 sq. ft. office, 10,870 sq. ft. retail, 1,840 sq. ft. community art space and City storage, and 11,000 sq. ft. public open space | - | 71 | 71 |
| 601 Allerton (note: project has been withdrawn from City review) | 85,000 sq. ft. office, 540 sq. ft. retail | - | 26 | 26 |
|
Totals: |
939,000 sq. ft. office |
731 |
424 |
1,155 |
In addition to the public hearings above, the City Council held a Study Session on May 8, 2023 on the proposed amendments to the Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP) and General Plan, including permissible office use types, and on the Gatekeeper process and related development projects, including affordable housing delivery challenges. The proposed DTPP Plan-Wide Amendments which informed the DSEIR, is based on the following direction:
1. Corrections and updates to address any factual inconsistencies;
2. Amendments required to facilitate the study of the proposed Gatekeeper projects within the DTPP (including increased office and residential capacity);
3. Amendments to the approval process to ensure City Council discretion when considering proposed projects; and
4. Revisions to the DTPP to "clean up" drafting to improve the use and efficiency of the DTPP.
Documents
City of Redwood City Public Notice- Availability of Notice Preparation
Notice of Preparation of SEIR regarding Downtown Precise Plan Amendments
Next Steps
Projects that were initiated by the City Council will need to submit a formal application and go through the review process including environmental review.
More information on the Gatekeeper projects that have been submitted can be found on the City's current development page and will be identified as a Gatekeeper project in the title and project description.
Links
Contact Us
William Chui
Senior Planner
(650) 780-5916
wchui@redwoodcity.org