REPORT TO HOUSING AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Consider a Below Market Rate Alternative Compliance Plan for Residential Development at 1124 W. El Camino Real: Applicant: DeAnza Properties, Planning File 2024-0780
Report
BACKGROUND
In August 2024, the Planning Commission approved Planning File No. 2024-0780, a new mixed-use commercial and residential development at 1124 W. El Camino Real proposed by DeAnza Properties (Applicant). The project includes ground floor retail along El Camino Real; 111 multi-family residential units above the retail and structured parking; and five two-story, single-family ownership homes located towards the rear of the property (for a total of 116 housing units). The multi-family units would occupy the third through seventh floors of the mixed-use building with 86 ownership units and (initially) 25 rental units. The Applicant is required to comply with the Below Market Rate (BMR) requirements, codified in Sunnyvale Municipal Code (SMC) Chapter 19.67 for ownership units and to comply with Chapter 19.75, Housing Impact Fees, for specified rental housing developments.
The original Planning application for this project was filed and determined to be a complete application prior to the reinstatement of BMR requirements for rental housing in November 2019, and therefore, the rental housing portion of the project is grandfathered in with a requirement to provide a Housing Impact Fee pursuant to SMC Chapter 19.75. As there were fewer than seven ownership units, the BMR requirement was not applicable to the five ownership units. After project approval in 2024, the developer decided to file a map to create ownership opportunities for the multi-family units in the main building with the intent to sell 86 of the units and retain ownership and rent the remaining 25 units.
SMC Chapter 19.75 requires new rental developments of four or more units (with a complete application or project approval before November 8, 2019) to pay a H...
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