951 Old County Road (100% Affordable Residential Apartment Project) 

The proposed mixed-use development (The Ridge on Masonic) is located at 951 Old County Road (OCR) at the Masonic Way/OCR intersection. The project includes approximately 1,300 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space and 63 100% affordable apartment units pursuant to Senate Bill 35 (SB-35). The residential unit mix includes 21 one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom, and 21 three-bedroom units. The project proposes 9 units that would be considered affordable to extremely low-income households, and 53 units that would be considered affordable to low-income households. The project site is currently developed with a two-story, retail building that houses a UPS Store, commercial uses, and personal services establishments.

The project would raze the existing on-site building and replace it with a mixed-use, eight-story building with seven residential levels over an eight-space, ground-level garage. The ground floor also includes corner retail and community space,, a lobby, and a leasing/management office.

Although not required for the project, a mural/screen is identified on the northwest corner of the building.  The design of the art shown on the plans is not intended as the proposed design, but rather as a placeholder location of a potential building wall mural/screen.    

Developer

CRP Affordable Housing & Community Development

Planning Approved

Ministerial Project approved by the Community Development Director on January 23, 2025

Documents:

SB-35 Approval Letter 1-22-25

1. Density Bonus Evaluation

2. Eligibility Analysis

3a. Letter of Response 2024 - Tribal Monitoring

3b. AB168 No NAHC Response - SB35 Project 3-12-2024

4a. Objective Dev Standards Evaluation

4b. Objective Tree Removal Permit Standards Evaluation

5a. Conditions of Approval

6. Applicant Agreement - COAs

7. Plan Set

Project Review

Senate Bill 35 (SB 35) specifically requires that Cities offer streamlined ministerial review for projects that help make progress towards any unfulfilled Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) targets. While Belmont has made significant progress in appropriate site rezoning and production of multi-family residential units within the City’s El Camino Real and Belmont Village area transportation corridor, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has determined that Belmont has not yet met its RHNA allocation for low and very low-income housing unit production.

Process Limitations

Eligible projects submitted under SB-35 must be approved by the City if they meet all objective design and development standards. The city must review SB-35 projects of less than 150 units for completeness within 30 days, determine compliance with all objective standards within 60 days, and process applications to completion within 90 days.  Failure to meet any of these deadlines would result in the project being deemed complete, deemed consistent with objective standards, or deemed approved, as applicable. 

Ministerial Review - SB 35 stipulates those qualifying developments shall be processed by ministerial review. Ministerial review is when a permit is considered and granted based upon its compliance with objective standards and policies without the exercise of any discretion on the part of agency staff or officials. SB 35 bars agencies from requiring discretionary permits for qualifying projects. SB 35 allows “design review or public oversight” for eligible projects. Such design review or public oversight can be conducted by a planning commission or equivalent board or commission responsible for review and approval of development projects, or a city council. The design review or other public oversight procedure must be objective and strictly focused on assessing compliance with the criteria required for streamlined projects, as well as any reasonable objective design standards that were in effect before the application was submitted.

Density Bonus & Other Allowances

By state law (SB 35 & AB 2097) no parking can be required for this project due to its affordability and proximity to Caltrain (less than 0.1 miles). Total floor area is also not limited, and the applicant is entitled to a height increase of up to three stories or 33 feet.  In addition, State density bonus law also allows the developer to request project incentives, and waivers of development standards, if they add to project cost. To that end, the applicant is asking for certain incentives for relief from the bulk requirements of the Zoning Ordinance.    

Environmental Review

As noted above, SB-35 Projects are considered ministerial (like a building permit), and thus are not subject to: 1) Environmental Review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or, 2) Provision of typical submittal studies that would otherwise be required under CEQA (i.e., traffic, air quality, noise, etc.). Rather, a locality can only require an applicant to abide by objective planning standards that were in effect at the time the SB 35 application was submitted.