This is a key piece within an important thread. I worry about suburban Bay Area cities that regulate development via unit density limits and floor area ratio (FAR) limits, like Palo Alto. In Palo Alto, FAR is often the most constraining; developers generally max it out.
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The zoning changes currently before city council change one of the multifamily residential zones (RM-15) by increasing unit density from 15 to 20 units per acre (and rename it to RM-20), without changing FAR at all. This means none of the RM zones would encourage large units.
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Before the changes, a maxed-out (on unit density and FAR) development in RM-40 would have 1089 ft² of floor area per unit, in RM-30 871 ft², and in RM-15 1307 ft². With the change, RM-20 has 1089 ft². Note that this floor area includes circulation and common areas.
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So this is basically telling developers building in Palo Alto (if there are any... given how hard it is to build) that they should build buildings focusing (on average) on 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments.
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I think it's the result of concern about how big buildings "look" pushing councils to limit floor area and thus push developers to build smaller and less family-friendly units.

Jan 7, 2019 · 8:27 AM UTC

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So communities that see themselves as family-friendly might be unintentionally pushing their future development path to be less so because of concern about how buildings look, rather than thinking about the implications for what kind of units lead to what uses.