Redwood City Planning Commission Regular Meeting - November 19, 2024
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Redwood City Planning Commission Regular Meeting - November 19, 2024
The Redwood City Planning Commission held a regular meeting on November 19, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers at 1017 Middlefield Road, with remote access via Zoom. The meeting was called to order by Chair Crnogorac and adjourned at 7:23 PM. All six commissioners were present. The main agenda items included a public hearing for a proposed 95-unit residential development at 590 Veterans Boulevard and 91 Winslow Street, and adoption of the 2025 regular meeting schedule.
Consent Calendar
- No items were on the consent calendar.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No in-person public comments were offered. Two written comments were submitted via email:
- Kevin Guibara expressed support for the project, noting the need for housing and suggesting the site could accommodate a larger building.
- James M. Lloyd of the California Housing Defense Fund (Cal HDF) submitted a letter reminding the commission of its legal obligations under the Housing Accountability Act, Density Bonus Law, and CEQA, urging approval of the project.
Discussion Items
- 5A. 590 Veterans Boulevard and 91 Winslow Street – Associate Planner Garcia presented staff's recommendation to approve the project. The applicant, Regan Cantanzaro of Wall Street Properties, presented the project details. The proposal is for a 6-story, 95-unit residential building (including 10 very low-income affordable units) with 150 parking spaces, a density bonus, and associated concessions. The project includes a class 4 protected cycle track on Winslow Street as a community benefit. The commission discussed affordable unit ownership/rental mechanisms, local preference requirements, bike lane design, loading zones, and architectural review by the Architectural Advisory Committee. No public hearing testimony was received in person. The commission voted unanimously (6-0) to approve the resolution, finding the project CEQA-exempt and approving all permits and the affordable housing plan subject to conditions.
- 6A. Adoption of 2025 Regular Meeting Schedule – Principal Planner Francis presented the proposed 2025 meeting calendar, which mirrors the 2024 schedule with one meeting per month in July and August. No public comments were received. The commission voted unanimously (6-0) to adopt the resolution adopting the schedule.
- Matters of Commission Interest – Staff provided updates on the Downtown Central Redwood City Plan (data gathering phase, outreach strategy to be presented to City Council on December 16), the Housing Element parking study (reviewing consultant report, expected to come to commission in early 2025), and two MTC grants the city is applying for related to parking reductions and housing policies. Commissioner Koch inquired about filling the vacant commission seat; staff indicated recruitments typically occur in late spring.
Key Outcomes
- Approved (6-0): Resolution for the 590 Veterans/91 Winslow project, including architectural permit, vesting tentative map, condominium permit, density bonus with concessions, and affordable housing plan, all subject to conditions.
- Approved (6-0): Resolution adopting the Planning Commission 2025 Regular Meeting Schedule.
- The meeting adjourned at 7:23 PM, with the next regular meeting scheduled for January 21, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
Everyone ready? Yes. All right. Good evening. Um and thank you for joining our November 19th, 2024 planning commission meeting. As a reminder, items will be taken in the order they're listed on the agenda. Before we get started, I want to briefly go over public comment procedures for the meeting and for those who are joining us for the first time. Um public comments on the approval of minutes, consent items, matters of commission interest and items not on the agenda will be taken during item number two on this evening's uh agenda. Comments on the other agenda items will be taken only when it item is called. We are continuing to offer in-person and remote remote options for a planning commission meetings, however, due to continued recent disruptions during public comment at open meetings throughout our city uh region and state. We've modified our public comment procedures. The city welcomes public comments on topics within the city's subject matter jurisdiction. And this can be provided in person during the meeting or by email ahead of the meeting. At this time, we're temporarily suspending public comment provided by Zoom. We want to ensure that the city can continue to conduct city's business in a manner that allows all residents to participate and will continue to evaluate our public comment procedures. Our public comment procedures are as follows. A public comment will be taken in person during the meeting or in advance via email to PC at reward city.org. In-person speakers must turn in their speaker cards to our admin or staff liaison at this before uh before being recognized to speak. Please be sure to indicate the agenda item number you wish to speak on, and in-person speakers will be called in the order in which the speaker cards were turned in. Comments that were emailed to PC at Revocity.org by 5 p.m. today may be read into the re record by the staff liaison and will be made part of the final meeting record. Both in-person and email comments are subject to the three-minute time limit. I will now turn it over to staff to call the role. Commissioner Canejo. Here Commissioner Finch. Here. Commissioner Hunter. Here. Commissioner Koch. Here. Vice Chair Chu. Here. And Chair Senegoraz. Here all are present. Uh for the purposes of this meeting. I will also state that I am John Francis, principal planner. Uh filling in a staff liaison to the commission tonight and other city staff that are attending the meeting tonight are Jen Byers, assistant a city attorney. Uh Evelyn Garcia, associate planner, and Christina Mateo, um admin secretary and meeting host. Thank you, John. Um at this time uh we are going on to item number two, public comments and the approval of minutes, consent items, matters of the commission interest and items not on the agenda. Um we will take public comment from those joining us in person only. We're temporarily suspending public comment provided by Zoom. If you could join us in person, please fill up speakers card. I'm not sure how many speakers we may have today. Um there any speakers in-person speakers that we have today for matters not on the agenda. No. All right, thank you. Um if there are no objections, I will close the public comment and move on to item number three, approval of minutes. Um we have uh October fifteenth, 2024 uh meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve the revised draft meetings?
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