Position on Development

By Tom Dubois

Of all the issues related to development, which concern you the most and why?

Or we can elect people who truly put residents first.

When the topic of development comes up, we hear about lots of different issues + parking, traffic, noise, impacts on our infrastructure. These are only symptoms of the root cause + over development.

You will likely hear a lot of discussion about Planned Community (PC) zoning. There were only a couple of PCs in the last few years. So while PC Zoning is important, and we should reform or eliminate it, PC Zoning is a red herring that has been used to divert attention from the real issue. The REAL issue is that our base zoning is being abused to yield buildings much larger than intended. City Council has done little to prevent it.

No amount of tweaking ordinances will matter if the people in office aren't actually trying to get sensible, higher quality developments that serve the public, not just developers.

If I am in office, I will focus most of my effort on the base drivers of oversized development:

1. Change zoning definitions to increase setbacks, light planes, and decrease floor area ratios (FAR) in order to produce less massive buildings. Projects must be subject to all of these constraints and do not have a right to the maximum possible building size.

2. Provide planning consistency. We have too many exceptions and not enough enforcement, which contributes to an atmosphere of uncertainty and encourages horse-trading between the city and developers. We would be better served with many fewer exceptions that streamline the process and provide certainty for developers and residents alike. We also need to reform our boards and commissions to minimize exceptions and enforce our ordinances.

3. We need to make decisions based on verifiable data that includes cumulative impacts. Replace faulty assumptions such as one parking space for every 250 square feet of office space and instead require parking based on how many people use the building.

4. Re-affirm our fifty foot height limit so that trees are the icons of our city, not buildings.

Our jobs-to-housing ratio is way out of whack because of too many large office developments. We need to stop granting exceptions for large, commercial office buildings and we need protect our ground floor retail.

When we do build, I favor housing over office. I support senior and affordable housing done properly. We need to find ways that people aren't forced out of their town. If elected, I will work hard to find a positive resolution to Buena Vista. Good hardworking people, who lived here for years and send their children to our schools, should not be pushed out of town. We need to find some alternatives.

On ABAG and State housing mandates, I will work with other cities to let Sacramento know we want local control over our quality of life. And at the County level, I will find ways to help other cities that are not built out or are ripe for redevelopment.

Density is a choice + a choice of planners, of council, of developers. But maybe not of residents + we already have started to change direction. Will you join me to protect the Palo Alto we value so much?