In its latest attempt get the state's blessing for its housing plans, the City Council is preparing to approve next week a series of zoning changes that aim at turning commercial sites in south Palo Alto into magnets for new housing.

The changes, which the City Council informally endorsed last month, aim to convince the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to finally certify the city's Housing Element, a legally mandated document that the council formally adopted in May but that the state rejected in August. Failure to have a certified Housing Element, which lays out the city's plan to add 6,086 dwellings by 2031, puts Palo Alto at risk of having developers invoke "builder's remedy," a provision of state law that allows them to effectively override local zoning rules.

The changes represent both a continuation and an acceleration of an effort that Palo Alto launched about two years ago and that continues to evolve based on feedback from the state agency. The latest set of proposed revisions specifically targets commercial, mixed-use and high-density residential areas throughout Palo Alto, with a special focus on the city's southern half. Commercial and industrial zones around San Antonio Road that currently have height limits of 35 to 50 feet would now be able to build up to 45 to 60 feet, depending on the zone. Because the State Density Bonus law allows builders to get an additional 35 feet, the zone change would effectively enable 95 feet-tall buildings in the area near the Mountain View border.

Builders will also be able to pack more development into each square foot of land. Areas currently zoned for "general manufacturing" would see floor-area ratio for residential development go up from 0.5 to either 1.5 or 2.5, depending on the site.

Another part of the city that would see major zoning changes is the portion of El Camino Real between Page Mill Road and Matadero Avenue, an area that has seen ambitious housing applications on sites occupied by Creekside Inn and, formerly, the Fish Market. If approved, the two projects would bring a combined 560 apartments to the sites at 3400 El Camino Real and 3150 El Camino Real.

The owner of Palo Alto Square, the largest site in the area, has also expressed interest in adding housing to some of the parking pads in the business park though it has not filed any applications to date, according to a new report from Planning Director Jonathan Lait.

While state approval is the primary goal of the revisions, a secondary goal is to encourage residential builders to choose local zoning standards rather than ones established by recent state laws. Under the proposed revisions to Palo Alto's zoning code, builders in qualifying areas would be able to propose higher and denser developments with less stringent rules for parking and open space. Some can already qualify for these exemptions by invoking the State Density Bonus law. Council members hope that the new code changes would deter developers from relying on this state law.

"Taking a proactive approach to rezoning allows the city to set standards that are in line with market demands, but that establish the city's priorities (e.g., stepbacks, height transitions, on-site affordable housing, Architectural Review, etc.) rather than allow waivers and concessions under state law to drive architectural design," the report from Lait states.

The moves come with a sense of urgency. During a council discussion last month, Lait suggested that the city is having a hard time finding sites for the roughly 6,695 units it hopes to plan for — a number that includes the 6,086 that the city is required to plan for under the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process and a "buffer zone" to account for sites where housing development is envisioned but does not materialize.

"Based on staff's work to date, we do find ourselves in a bit of a deficit with respect to identifying enough sites that produce the RHNA numbers that we need to plan for in the Housing Element," Lait said. "We're presently off by a couple of hundred units and we're continuing our analysis to see what options are available to us."

His new report notes that some of the sites in the proposed El Camino focus area would not be able to take full advantage of the increased zoning standards. The Creekside Inn site at 3400 El Camino Real, is located next to both a creek and to single-family residences, factors that according to council members makes it less suitable for tall and dense buildings.

A nearby site at 3300 El Camino Real, which is owned by Stanford University, was projected to have a "realistic capacity" to accommodate about 200 housing units under the revised standards. A major portion of the site, however, cannot be developed because of an existing no-build PG&E easement, according to the new report. Because of these limitations, the city's next Housing Element will list a realistic capacity of 100 dwellings for this site.

The new report, which the council will consider at its Nov. 13 meeting, makes a case for establishing a "focus area" on El Camino by pointing to its access to transit, services, Stanford University and the California Avenue business district.

The report notes that if the city does not advance the "focus area" concept for El Camino Real, the city would need to remove these sites from its Housing Element and find alternate sites that could accommodate lower-income households.

Despite the city's renewed efforts to relax local zoning standards, at least one developer in the El Camino Real focus area has already indicated that it still plans to lean on state laws to get extra height and density. Last month, Acclaim Companies submitted a formal application declaring its intent to request various waivers under the State Density Bonus law for its development proposal: an 84-foot-tall, seven-story project with 380 apartments at 3150 El Camino Real, former site of Fish Market.

Both Acclaim and Creekside Inn, LLC, the company behind the development at 3400 El Camino Real, had also previously indicated that they're willing to invoke "builder's remedy" to get their projects approved.

Vice Mayor Greer Stone, who sits on the council's Housing Element subcommittee, was among the council members who supported moving ahead with the newly proposed zone changes for the El Camino Real area. To meet its housing target, the city will have to "make some very big and uncomfortable decisions between now and the near future," he said. The zone changes, he said, will help the city get housing "in one of the most desirable areas of the city."

"This proposal allows us to control our future and choose where the increased development is going to go," Stone said at the Oct. 4 hearing.