Los Altos Planning Commission at its most recent meeting Aug. 6 moved forward a project that will result in the building of a structure that will be unlike any other seen in the downtown area.
The six-story, 19-unit condominium project at 349 First St. – which includes four low-income units – is proposed under the builder’s remedy provision of the Housing Accountability Act, which the applicant of the project submitted over three years ago in May 2023 with the official application submitted in September that year.
The .16-acre site has a two-story commercial structure and surface lot that will be demolished to then construct the structure. Four studios will serve as the four below-market-rate (BMR) offerings, in addition to nine two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units, 23 parking stalls and 14 bike stalls. The building will incorporate light and dark gray fiber cement panels, wood-looking aluminum siding, a stucco finish, dark bronze-framed windows, clear glass balcony railings, metal awnings and trellis elements, balconies and window groupings. It will also have a communal rooftop terrace.
According to the staff planning report, the height limit of the zone where the project is located was 35 feet at the time of the application. Through the builder’s remedy provision, this structure will have a height scaling roughly 85 feet. Though not the tallest building in the city, it will stand as the tallest within the downtown area.
Because of the builder’s remedy provision, there are few limits on what the city can do in terms of disapproving the project, reducing its density or imposing conditions that render it infeasible based solely on general plan zoning or local development-standard inconsistencies. Essentially, it means this project can go through planning without the need to follow zoning requirements set by the city. However, conditions on the way the city distributes the housing remain intact, allowing teachers, city workers and fire personnel priority in purchasing the BMR units before they are available to the general public.
Ryan Gifford of Gifford Miller Group, the developer of the project, speaking on behalf of the ownership group Octane Capital, said that the project has been in the works since 2015.
“We’ve met with a lot of market experts, design experts. We’ve met with staff for a long, long time,” Gifford said at the meeting. “We feel like we’ve put together a project that will add a lot of value to the city.”
Planning Commissioner Eric Steinle questioned what the need was to use builder’s remedy, a provision he says is rarely used. Gifford said that there were a lot of obstacles that kept popping up throughout the process, which is what led them to pursue a builder’s remedy application. He said that the number of protections and abilities “was very appealing and we needed that.”
Throughout the meeting, there seemed to be some confusion as to what is allowed through the builder’s remedy provisions – notably a truck loading zone which the project is choosing not to add, which is within the builder’s rights through the provisions. City attorney Jolie Houston, attending the meeting virtually, attempted to set the record straight.
“If it’s in our zoning code, they don’t have to comply with it,” Houston said. “If it’s a requirement and they don’t want to comply with it, they don’t have to.”
Houston also cautioned that the planning commission should not get into the intent as to why the owners and developers got into the builder’s remedy provisions.
“It’s not a planning commission determination,” Houston said. “A motive to use builder’s remedy or density bonus law is really not relevant to this proceeding.”
The planning commission as a whole conveyed disappointment in the project, which was summed up by Commissioner Joe Beninato.
“This should be a cautionary tale to all of us in Los Altos around what might happen if we’re in builder’s remedy again,” Beninato said. “If someone can come in and do whatever they want, ignore all of the local zoning, use cheap materials and put up a quick building and sell it off, that could be coming to a neighbor near you if we aren’t careful at making sure our housing element stays in compliance.”
Beninato added, “I hope this is the first and last builder’s remedy project in Los Altos.”
When a motion was needed to move this forward, no one immediately stepped up. Chair Mehruss Jon Ahi did so to keep the meeting moving forward; it was seconded by Commissioner Daphne Ross. It moved unanimously, with all voicing their displeasure before saying yes.
BDE Architecture is the architecture firm for the project. The company, represented by Brenna Weaver at the meeting, has worked on other projects in Los Altos including another one also on First Street, as well as a current project at 5150 El Camino Real. The expected completion of the project is by 2030.
