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P25-0192, Industrial Zoning Text Amendments Planning Commission 9 of 14 Commission questioned whether height thresholds should be determined by distance from the City’s two BART stations or whether height thresholds should be established using specific geographic boundaries. Based on the concerns and questions raised by the Planning Commission, staff re- evaluated the proposed modifications to the development standards within the PMC for IBBs. These changes aim to strike a balance between flexibility and accountability, with an emphasis on protecting existing residential zones, existing residential development, and/or other existing sensitive receptors from undue impacts related to IBBs. Some standards have been made more permissive to allow for practical implementation, while o thers have been refined to provide greater specificity and assurance that any potential project impacts will be effectively mitigated. Staff notes the existing PMC standards, along with the proposed modifications to development standards described herein and explicitly shown in Exhibits A and B, provide adequate safeguards for existing residential zones, residential development, and/or other sensitive receptors from undue impacts related to IBBs when combined with current CUP and Design Review procedures and Hacienda’s own vetting and review process. Staff believes these layers of regulatory oversight are sufficient to ensure the protection of existing residential zones, residential development, and/or other sensitive receptors. Additionally, based on the examples provided in Exhibit C, staff finds the PMC and the Hacienda PUD already prescribe adequate setback requirements and/or transitional buffers in the districts where IBBs could potentially be located. These existing standards are sufficient to protect adjacent existing residential zones, existing residential developments, and other sensitive receptors from potential adverse impacts associated with IBBs. As such, staff does not recommend the adoption of more restrictive setbacks or buffer requirements at this time. To further preserve neighborhood character, staff has amended the proposed Industrial Zoning updates to preclude IBBs from locating on any parcel within the Downtown Specific Plan Area. Moreover, staff believes some of the smaller parcels within the O and I Districts would be inherently unsuitable for IBBs, due to size constraints and other limiting factors. When required development standards—such as setbacks, floor area ratio (FAR), parking, and landscaping—are applied, these parcels would likely not be able to accommodate IBBs. Therefore, staff believes explicitly specifying or precluding these parcels from IBB eligibility is unnecessary at this time. • Building Height Limits and Design Standards: IBBs often require greater floor-to- floor heights to accommodate specialized infrastructure, including advanced HVAC systems, chemical lines, and other operational components. In certain advanced manufacturing applications, these requirements may result in floor-to-floor heights exceeding 25 feet. Additionally, many IBBs, particularly in the biotechnology sector, benefit from multi-story buildings to support collaborative work among technical and scientific personnel. Examples of typical multi-story biotechnology facilities in the Bay Area include Genentech (five stories), Merck (nine stories), Chiron (six stories), and Verily Life Sciences (five to seven stories). Page 74 of 674