After dropping its plans to build apartments next to the California Avenue Caltrain station, Smith Development is now proposing another residential development, one that would bring 73 apartments to a block of University Avenue near Middlefield Road.

The proposal calls for combining three parcels along the south side of University Avenue, between Byron Street and Middlefield, which currently include two two-story office buildings separated by a parking lot. The two office buildings at 511 Byron Ave. and 680 University Ave. would be demolished and give way to a four-story, mixed-use building stretching between Byron and Middlefield, with office space on the ground floor, housing on every floor and two levels of underground parking, according to the application filed by Lund Smith of Smith Development.

To move the project ahead, Smith Development is requesting "planned home" zoning, a version of "planned community" zoning that allows developers to exceed development standards and zoning regulations in exchange for public benefits. In the case of "planned home" zoning, a designation that the city introduced in February 2020, the benefit is housing.

In this case, the project would violate numerous zoning rules, chief among them the city's density limit on residential developments. The half-acre site in an R-20 zone would, by definition, normally allow 10 dwellings. In this case, Smith is proposing 73 units.

In addition, the 55,960-square-foot building (91,590-square-foot if you include the two garage levels) would have a height of 45 feet under the proposal, 15 feet more than would normally be allowed for the project next to single-family zones. Its front yard setback, at 10 feet, would be well shy of the 24 feet that is required on Middlefield Road under the existing zoning rules.

The proposal for 660 University is similar in many ways to the one that Smith Development had considered for the California Avenue business district. That plan called for a mixed-use development with 75 housing units and offices on the ground floor. It also sought to combine three properties — at 123 Sherman Ave., 150 Grant Ave. and 2501 Park Blvd. — for a new mixed-use development and, like the University Avenue proposal, it relied on the flexible "planned home" zoning process to exceed zoning regulations.

Ultimately, Smith opted to instead move ahead with a purely commercial project that is consistent with underlying zoning and that, as such, would not need to undergo the rigorous screening process that is reserved for planned-home projects. The process involves a "prescreening" session in front of the City Council, followed by formal hearings by the Planning and Transportation Commission and the council.

Meanwhile, the council is preparing to move ahead with a prescreening next week for another planned-home project, a proposal by Roger Fields to build a 49-condominium development at 280 and 300 Lambert Ave., a site that is currently zoned for commercial use. Located in the Ventura neighborhood, the housing development would replace two automobile service buildings. The project plan calls for 10 town house-style condominiums in a 35-foot-tall building at the front of the property and a five-story, 55-foot building with 39 condominium units in the back. Ten of these units would be designated as affordable housing, according to a report from the Department of Planning and Development Services.