Engineer on @googlechrome. Involved in CSS and W3C standards. Previously @mozilla, @w3ctag. Mastodon: @dbaron@w3c.social
Rockville, Maryland, USA
Joined March 2008
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I think the most constraining factor in Palo Alto's multifamily and mixed-use zones is generally FAR. The building envelope limits don't matter much, and the FAR increases in this package could be important. [1/N]
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... yields a relatively standard average unit size (depending on which multifamily zone it is, something in the range from normal-ish 1BR or small 2BR, to 3BR/4BR, although the largest is about to shift smaller in zoning changes (RM-15 → RM-20) currently under discussion).
By that, I mean that when you have caps on units/acre and caps on floor-area-ratio (and also height and setbacks, but those are less important in Palo Alto), then a developer who wants to maximize use of the parcel tries to max out both units/acre and floor area, which...
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But the biggest difference in unit type here is really that they're a lot smaller than typical market-rate for Palo Alto... which perhaps Palo Alto needs a lot more of, but which the zoning code discourages by having limits on so many numbers that there's an obvious result.
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There are also special cases, like housing for developmentally disabled adults (as included in part of this project) that may call for different sorts of housing than market-rate.
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Or would requiring affordable housing go through the market-rate construction rules just mean the city spends the same affordable housing money on fewer units?
Unfortunately, I'd guess the latter is going to be the much more substantial effect.
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Without that extra density and FAR, I think this project would have been a lot more expensive per unit.
In my ideal world, that extra density and FAR would be allowed everywhere. Would requiring that affordable housing go through the standard rules help get us there?
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So Palo Alto just approved (maybe not final approvals, but I think the difficult ones) its first affordable housing for seven years. paloaltoonline.com/news/2019…
The project proposed is a *lot* denser and bulkier than what would be allowed for a market-rate project.
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There's a decent line outside, but once you're inside, you're at the voting desks and should be done in 5 minutes.
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L. David Baron @dbaron@w3c.social retweeted
MORE ADEM ELECTIONS TODAY!
In the South Bay / Peninsula in AD 24, follow this helpful thread to vote pro-housing!
Before avocado toast brunch, take your people to go vote in ADEM elections.
AD-24 ADEMs (San Mateo and Santa Clara counties) is happening January 26!
Doors open at 10. Registration and voting starts at 10:45 and goes until 12:45.
Hillview Community Center in Los Altos
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Now available: Webauthn.Guide, a resource for the tech world to learn about the Web Authentication API to enable passwordless authentication.
I've been working on this during the last few months with designer Emily Rosen; excited to share it! webauthn.guide/
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An unappreciated point about a regular WH briefing: Knowing reporters will ask pointed questions about policy forces WH staffers to resolve disagreements and settle on a course of action that can be communicated publicly ....
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German vintners might have been the only people to benefit from this year's shockingly dry and hot summer in Europe. It was a tough story to report.. nyti.ms/2RXRULl
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Awful. Thanks to the shutdown, 2,500 retailers around the country are unable to take any form of food stamps because they need to renew their EBT debit card licenses and can’t.
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I didn't exactly feel it, but I definitely heard it and immediately thought it was an earthquake. (I happened to be awake already thanks to jetlag.) And I'm further away...
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