Sunnyvale & Mountain View Targeted for Thousands of High Density Housing Units

What Exactly is a Priority Development Area or PDA?

A Priority Development Area (PDA) is a funding designation. It does not zone or plan. It means that the city receives transportation funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments to help accommodate the build out of transportation to accommodate the 10,000+ new residents and their cars.

Often people concerned by "PDA" are dismissed as opponents tell them this doesn't plan anything, they will be able to object later. But this is simply untrue. In San Rafael the city's mayor clearly articulated in council meetings that by accepting money for being a PDA there is a clear obligation being set to build that a land developer can hold the city to. You can't simply accept this funding with no strings attached.

A Tiny Incentive for a Project with Massive Costs

Typically though PDA grants may cover only a tiny fraction of the actual infrastructure costs of the new development. In one PDA in Marin County PDA grants covered $600,000 every 4 years yet the costs of building out the necessary highway infrastructure alone were easily in excess of $25m. The shortfall has to be made up by developer impact fees (which again typically only cover a fraction) and residents. 

$600,000 will barely pay for a planner or engineer to draw up plans. To widen lanes or add roads costs tens of millions of dollars.

The Schools Burden

One might expect each of the 4,412 housing units to add between 1 and 3 additional students to local schools. When units are affordable housing built by a non-profit while they still pay parcel taxes the contribution can be miniscule. For instance in Corte Madera in Marin a modest 3 bedroom home bought in 1979 pays annual parcel taxes of $548 contribution to the local high school district. Meanwhile an entire 61 unit apartment complex pays $286 annually towards the high school district - not per unit, but for the entire block. This means that the homeowner contributes over 100 times more than each apartment unit owner.

Note: It must be pointed out that school funding and parcel taxes vary between districts. These tax breaks only apply for non-profit developers. While these developers don't make profits directors still typically make six figure salaries.

Parking

Overflow parking can also become an immense issue for areas designated for such growth. Typically new units are built on assumptions that new residents will take transit more and not use cars as often. So there may only be one or 1.5 car parking stalls per unit.  This can create significant problems for the adjacent neighborhood since as in reality many apartment residents will have not just 2 cars but also guests. 

Initial Apartment Plans are Just the Beginning

While a 180 unit apartment complex in Sunnyvale is already in the final stages of planning scrutiny of the documents demonstrate that the city has volunteered itself to be a target for extensive high density development by making itself a "Priority Development Area". The unit projections are covered in detail on page 112 of Draft Plan Bay Area PDA Feasibility and Readiness assessment.

Sunnyvale's El Camino Real corridor has been designated a "mixed use corridor". This classification is explained on page 25 of the MTC Station Area Planning Guide. This designation guides planners to make Sunnyvale into a mid rise neighborhood with up to 5,000 housing units and densities of up to 60 du (units) per acre.

This guide by residents of Lake Oswego provides an excellent way to see what densities look like.

More Information:

To understand the flawed "master plan" for the Bay Area watch this video:
The Social Engineers

In Sunnyvale and Mountain View many opposition groups are forming, here is one such opposition group:
http://keepsunnyvalebeautiful.org/