In September 2022, the City Council directed staff to prepare a significantly modified Specific Plan that:

• Achieves a capacity of 4,400 residential units
• Retains a range of densities that support mixed-use
• Preserves activity centers with building heights of up to six stories, as proposed in the 2021 draft.

In March 2023, the City Council approved an agreement with the consultants, Raimi & Associates, Inc. based on those directives. Staff has worked with the consultant to develop an updated land use plan that addresses objectives expressed by the City Council, including:

• Minimize potential impacts on adjacent single-family residences, especially with shading of properties immediately to the north of the Specific Plan area.
• Align with a reduced residential of 4,400 units.
• Retain proposed activity centers

Following the draft update to the land use plan, the City did additional community outreach, including meeting with the El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC), updating policies and development standards consistent with the new land use plan, and updating the environmental analysis and circulating it for public review. The final steps in the process are to bring the Plan to the Planning Commission for a reccomendation and then to the City Council for adoption. 

The Specific Plan planning process kicked off with the formation of the El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC) in January 2018.

Following a multi-year community engagement process, the City completed a Specific Plan to implement the City’s General Plan goals and policies for the El Camino Real corridor, which was presented to the City Council for adoption at their June 15, 2021 meeting.

The Council reviewed the adoption draft El Camino Real Specific Plan and directed staff to significantly modify the three proposed Specific Plan General Plan Land Use Designations so that the maximum heights for the three designations would be two, three, and four stories, respectively, and to modify the allowed densities to correspond to these heights.

Subsequently, on October 19, 2021, the City Council took two actions on the El Camino Real Specific Plan: one action passed regarding direction on the revision of land use options, and the second action for a budget amendment request for the directed revisions did not pass.

Then, as part of the FY 2022/2023 budget process, the City Council approved funding for $1,000,000 to be included in the FY2022/2023 budget for the work directed by the City Council on the El Camino Real Specific Plan.

You can view the Original Land Use Plan Diagram on the June 15, 2021 City Council meeting (Agenda Item #2 - 21-595) in the attachments for the item.

Community Meetings

April 2, 2025: A community meeting was held to provide a second opportunity for the community to hear about the revisions to the El Camino Real Specific Plan.

• Community Meeting Flyer
• Community Meeting - Staff Presentation 

February 24, 2025: An open house was held to provide the community an opportunity to review and hear about the revisions to the Draft Specific Plan.

• Open House Flyer 
• El Camino Real Draft Specific Plan Redline Update - Dec. 5, 2024 
• Open House Boards 
• Open House - Staff Presentation 

January 30, 2025: A Scoping Meeting was held for the El Camino Real Specific Plan Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to receive comments on the project EIR scope and content.

• Scoping Meeting Flyer 
• Scoping Meeting - Staff Presentation 

December 16, 2024: An El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC) meeting was held where members reviewed the redlined plan and the added land use designation that allows for townhome units on specific sites. They also provided their input to staff and the City's consultant.

• Committee Meeting - Staff Presentation 
• Committee Meeting (Recording)

Public Hearings

August 29, 2023: The City Council provided direction on the updated draft Land Use Plan.

• Agenda
• Staff Report and Attachments