On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council is set to discuss potential amendments to the Priority Area 1 Specific Plan. They will also discuss tobacco, the police 5th beat, red light cameras and potential expansion of the farmers market.
According to the staff report, staff is recommending potential changes to PA-1 that would adapt to the current market conditions—in an effort to spur economic development.
Although development has been occurring in the area since the plan’s adoption seven years ago (e.g., Blossoms at Brentwood Multi-Family Development, Costco, etc.), the regional market conditions have changed significantly over this period. Furthermore, staff from both the City Manager’s Office and the Community Development Department are reaching a conclusion that the current zoning is not in line with both local and regional market conditions and is impacting future development opportunities in the area, especially as it relates to new construction versus reuse of existing commercial and industrial buildings across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Two particularly telling factors highlighting the changing conditions involve recent challenges experienced by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and market insight from California mixed-use developers. BART and other regional transit agencies have been experiencing significant financial challenges since COVID and with many workers now employed on a hybrid or remote basis, transit ridership is down significantly. Therefore, the opportunity to extend BART to Brentwood is not foreseeable over the next several decades. In addition, developers have indicated to staff that the vertical mixed-use concept envisioned for the Transit Village / Mixed Use (TV/MU) area in the Specific Plan has posed many challenges in surrounding areas and is not financially viable in the current market. In most areas of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Walnut Creek, which has two BART stations (including the Pleasant Hill Station), developments with vertical mixed-use buildings have continued to see high vacancies of commercial ground floor space. Throughout the state, the only way these projects have remained economically feasible in certain areas is through higher residential rents in the downtown core near BART or major urban centers, which unfortunately, Brentwood does not have. Staff have met with several mixed-use developers from both Northern and Southern California with the same feedback; vertical mixed-use is not viable, especially in suburban markets like Brentwood.
The areas to which staff proposes to explore changes are summarized below:
- Vertical vs Horizontal Mixed-Use. Consider allowing both vertical and horizontal mixed-use development.
- Horizontal mixed-use development could combine different types of land uses, such as residential, commercial, and retail, within a single complex or area. In this type of development, the various land uses are horizontally integrated, meaning that they are located on the same level, rather than being stacked in a vertical mixed-use development.
- Permitted and Conditionally Permitted Uses. Consider exploring the expanded descriptions of permitted uses across all zones in order to further attract new business to the City that may include but are not limited to the following:
- wider variety of hotels, larger format retailers, technology, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and light industrial uses within the Employment Center/Light Industrial (ECLI) designation.
- Expanded descriptions of uses within the Regional Commercial (RC) and Transit Village/Mixed Use (TV/MU) designations including, but not limited to, veterinary clinics, medical and professional office uses, restaurants, and retail shops that are less than 5,000 square feet in size.
- Circulation Plan and Conceptual Road Alignments and Configurations. Consider providing clarifying language and/or additional policies reaffirming that the street alignments and park locations are conceptual and are subject to change based on individual project applications.
- The Specific Plan acknowledges that the “final alignments, footprints, and exact locations of the conceptual streets are subject to change and refinement as development inside and outside of the PA-1 Plan area proceeds.” With this in mind, the locations and configurations of the proposed parks within the Specific Plan area should also be considered “conceptual” and subject to refinement. Provided that the total park acreage remains the same, consider clarifying language that notes that the layout and ultimate location of the parks could change.
- Transit Station Overlay and Underlying Zoning. Consider updating the language within the Transit Station Overlay to accommodate the underlying zoning.
- Given the recent economic trends with BART, the construction of a future transit station in the near future does not appear likely. Per the Specific Plan, “in the event that ultimate development of the Transit Station and associated facilities moves or shifts (or in this case does not occur at all), the underlying land use designation shall be ECLI.” Consider clarifying language that allows for the development of this area with ECLI uses.
- Specific Plan Name and Branding. Consider officially rebranding the Specific Plan as the Innovation Center Specific Plan.
- Consider characterizing the area as a Town Center and Smart City concept where residents can live, work, and play. Since the area is still intended to serve a mix of high-intensity commercial and residential development in the core of the Specific Plan, consider renaming the Transit Village/Mixed Use zone to the Town Center/Mixed Use zone to better reflect the nature of what will be built in the area.
- Miscellaneous Development Standards. Consider exploring amendments to development standards that may include but are not limited to the following:
- Considering that a new public school may be constructed on an ECLI designated parcel in the southwest portion of the Specific Plan area that was not originally anticipated, explore new standards related to placing a sensitive use like a school in an area intended for light industrial and other similar uses. New standards that may be considered include required setbacks and buffers adjacent to a new school to mitigate any impacts.
- Based on construction types and Building Code requirements, in addition to preferred residential ceiling heights, consider increasing the maximum overall height (not stories) for residential and mixed-use development.
Other Items of Interest:
- Tobacco Retail License Fee: Location restrictions are anticipated to reduce the number of existing tobacco retailers able to continue to operate beyond the first year to approximately 30 tobacco retailers; however, new businesses may replace those unable to remain in their current location. This will result in an estimated annual ongoing license revenue of $40,000 – $50,000. A Tobacco Retailer that is legally operating at the time of adoption of this Ordinance, may also be issued a no-fee ($0) non-renewable twelve (12) month Tobacco Retailer’s Wind-Down Permit, for the specific purpose of selling off tobacco products stock that is not in compliance with the regulations of this Code. Existing tobacco retailers that do not meet the 250’ separation requirements from a “Youth Oriented Establishment” will be issued a one time, 12 month “Wind-Down Permit” that would allow the non-compliant retailers the opportunity to sell the rest of their tobacco stock and/or wind down tobacco retailing operations. Based on Council direction, the attached ordinance contains a numeric cap on the number of tobacco retailer licenses that can be issued. The proposed cap is 41 licenses, which is based on the current number of State-licensed tobacco retailers in the City (as of February 2025).
- Brentwood Police 5th Beat: Rather than implementing a 5th Beat at this time, the Department will use the allocated positions to enhance operational flexibility and provide greater community impact through initiatives such as expanding the Traffic Safety Unit, establishing a Community Oriented Policing (C.O.P.) Team, and dedicating officers to address homelessness, mental health crises, and Organized Retail Theft.
- Red Light Cameras: implementing a red-light traffic camera system at 9 intersections throughout the city – see prior article.
- Farmers Market Expansion: 46 businesses emailed a survey which resulted in 22 responses (48%) where 16 in favor of expansion, 3 not in favor and 3 neutral. In a April 8, 2025 letter, the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association said they are not interested in expansion. Potential opportunity to partner with The Makers Boulevard.
If You Go
