San Ramon Council To Vote On Downtown Building Density

SAN RAMON, CA — The San Ramon City Council will vote Tuesday whether to adopt a resolution and ordinance to approve a General Plan Amendment and Zoning Ordinance Amendment that would lower the minimum Floor Area Ratio for the 205-acre area that includes Bishop Ranch and surrounding areas, also known as the Downtown Mixed Use-North District. The change would lower the FAR from 1.25 to 0.5, which would allow for smaller scale building projects, especially residential ones.

Sunset Development Company, which owns Bishop Ranch and 96.4 acres within the DMU-N, requested the change after two proposed housing developments did not meet the 1.25 FAR requirement, according to a city staff report. In October, they put forth an application to remove the FAR requirement only for 100% residential projects. The city later expanded the amendment to apply to all buildings within the DMU-N zone.

The city held three hearings with the Planning Commission and City Council, and conducted an Environmental Review that found the project would not result in negative environmental impacts beyond those already covered by the General Plan 2040 Environmental Impact Report. The city also consulted with three local Native American tribes.

See page 105 for more information, and here for Tuesday's full agenda.