BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A developer wants to build apartments in a single-family neighborhood north of downtown Palo Alto, taking advantage of a two-week window in state law that allows taller buildings near Caltrain stations.
Darel Robert Chapman, 61, and Elu Chapman, 65, both of San Mateo, applied on Monday to build six apartments in a four-story building, replacing a house at 340 Palo Alto Ave.
The apartments would be for sale at a market rate, with parking on the ground floor, and the building would reach 52 feet in height, plans show.
The property is next door to a three-story condo building at 320 Palo Alto Ave., across the street from San Francisquito Creek.
Palo Alto has received seven applications for a total of 253 apartments using Senate Bill 79 since the law took effect on July 1.
SB79 requires cities to approve seven stories with a quarter-mile of a Caltrain station, and six stories within a half-mile.
Cities can limit SB79 projects by half that size until January 2032, but Palo Alto’s limits don’t take effect until today.
Housing advocates and author of the law — state Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco — have celebrated Palo Alto’s SB79 projects.
“These projects should be able to receive their permits quickly,” Weiner said in a July 9 social media post.
The Minority Television Project, a nonprofit that runs the Wade Institute of Technology in downtown Palo Alto, has proposed three projects: 17 apartments in seven stories at 135 University Ave., 24 apartments in seven stories at 127 Lytton Ave. and 70 apartments in six stories at 555 College Ave.
Kevin Chow of Bayhill Ventures wants to build 76 apartments in six stories at 2455 El Camino Real, replacing the Coronet Motel.
Erica Stauffer of Altitude Development applied for 39 apartments in six stories at 414 California Ave., where Bank of the West used to be.
Developer Marton Jojarth wants to replace a two-story, six-unit apartment building with a six-story, 21-unit building at 525 Hamilton Ave.
Councilman Pat Burt wanted to pass an emergency ordinance on June 15 to limit SB79 before the law took effect on July 1.
But the rest of council couldn’t legally justify an emergency and voted on an ordinance that has a 30-day waiting period.
“There’s pretty low risk that we’re going to get a slew of applications in that short time,” Mayor Vicki Veenker said at the June 15 meeting.
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