Fairly straightforward night tonight. First, we adopted a recommendation that the City Council adopt an ordinance (and interim urgency ordinance) implementing by-right approvals on several parcels throughout the City that are currently zoned for high density. This is a requirement of the Housing Element, and it doesn’t really change much other than to streamline any residential development on those parcels that’s 20% affordable. (I have my doubts on how many such developments we’ll actually see, although I’d love to be wrong.) The zoning, objective standards, etc., all remain the same. City Council will consider these ordinances on January 30.
Next up was a recommendation that the City Council adopt an ordinance making minor clarifications to the Land Use and Transportation Element. This was also quite straightforward and easy to approve. City Council will consider this ordinance on February 27.
Finally we did our annual study issue ranking. This was actually a pretty hard choice —there are a number of very good study issues for consideration this year and rankings 3–8 were all clumped pretty close together. Ultimately the Planning Commission ranking was:
- CDD 23-02: Consider General Plan Land Use Designation Amendments and Rezoning for 26 Legal Non-Conforming Single- and Two-Family Dwellings
- ESD 24-02: Evaluate Adopting Transit-Supportive Policies for Sunnyvale
- ESD 24-01: Evaluate the Use of Artificial Turf versus Living Groundcover
- CDD 24-05: Review and Evaluate Appeals Fees and Process
- CDD 24-02: Explore the Creation of a Dark Sky Ordinance for all Private Property
- CDD 23-04: Explore Expanding Sunnyvale Municipal Code Chapter 19.52 (Art in Private Development) to Include a Public Art Requirement for High Density Residential Developments (Including Affordable Housing)
- CDD 24-04: Peery Park Specific Plan Amendment (area east of Mathilda Avenue)
- CDD 22-05: Consider Modifications to the Sunnyvale Municipal Code Related to Undergrounding Utilities
City Council is holding a public hearing on study issues tomorrow evening; they’ll rank them on Thursday, February 15.







