San Bruno Voted to Drop Its 1977 Height Rule. The Biggest Changes Won't Be on Residential Streets.

Since 1977, San Bruno has required a citywide vote before the City could approve a building taller than three stories or 50 feet. Voters have now chosen to repeal that rule. In San Mateo County's semi-official count from its November 6 report, Measure S led with 5,386 yes votes (63.55%) to 3,089 no votes (36.45%). San Mateo County Elections is scheduled to certify the results on December 3.

San Bruno's own staff report shows that state law, not the 1977 ordinance, already sets most of the density rules for single-family streets. Measure S matters more for a different set of places: El Camino Real, the business parks and the 44 acres at Tanforan. Those are where new homes are likely to be built, and nearly all of them would be attached homes, which is the part of San Bruno's market that is already selling slowest.

What Ordinance 1284 actually controlled

Voters adopted Ordinance No. 1284 in 1977. According to a July 28, 2026 City Council staff report, it required a public vote before the City could approve any of the following:

• Buildings or structures over three stories or 50 feet tall
• Unit counts or density on residentially zoned land above what existing zoning allowed
• Free-standing multistory parking structures
• Widening of designated segments of Crystal Springs Road and Sneath Lane

These requirements applied citywide, and the City Council could not waive them on its own. The ordinance was written to protect residential neighborhoods from rapid growth. Over five decades, state law took most of that job away from it.

State law had already taken over residential density

The staff report lists the state laws that override local height and density limits, including voter-approved ones:

1. Accessory dwelling units. State law requires that every residential parcel be allowed two ADUs with no parking requirement, no discretionary review and no public vote.
2. SB 9 (2021). Cities must ministerially approve two units on a single-family parcel and, in many cases, a lot split.
3. State Density Bonus Law. Qualifying affordable projects can exceed local height and density limits. San Bruno approved 732 El Camino Real at six stories and 850 San Bruno Avenue at ten stories this way, without a citywide vote.
4. SB 79 (2025). This law sets minimum height and density standards for parcels within half a mile of Caltrain and BART stations.

SB 79 creates an odd conflict with the ordinance. The staff report notes that if San Bruno adopted its own alternative plan to protect residential neighborhoods from transit-area upzoning, that plan would itself have triggered a vote under Ordinance 1284. The rule had started working against its own purpose. City staff concluded that the ordinance "now provides limited protection for residential neighborhoods from density increases," while it still created "a meaningful barrier to the commercial and economic development projects."

For someone buying a detached house on a residential block, that changes how to read Measure S. The rules that allow more units on single-family lots now come mostly from state law, and they applied before November 3 as well as after.

Where the vote requirement still had force

The ordinance kept its force on large commercial projects, and the staff report gives examples.

In 1999, a ballot measure for a 10-story hotel at The Crossings got 46% of the vote. Voters later approved a revised seven-story version, but the delay and lower project value contributed to the hotel deal falling through. The City estimates the lost hotel would bring in $3 million to $4 million a year today.

The larger example is Bayhill. The staff report says Google told the City it has no current intention of completing or implementing its Bayhill campus master plan around YouTube's offices. Google cited, in part, the ordinance's limits on height and parking structures and has redirected its expansion planning to other cities.

The report also describes what the City calls the main cost. Because nearby cities allow taller buildings without a ballot measure, developers of market-rate housing, offices or hotels tend to build there. In San Bruno, property owners "often find that 100% affordable housing projects are their only viable development option." State density bonus law let those projects exceed local limits without a vote, while a market-rate or commercial building over three stories or 50 feet needed one.

The Council's Elevate San Bruno initiative, launched in January 2026, plans updates to the General Plan, Specific Plans and Municipal Code, plus new Objective Design Standards. Under Ordinance 1284, staff said, those zoning changes would have required a ballot measure in 2028 or later. With the repeal, the Council can approve them directly.

The margin also grew well past what the City had polled. In November 2025, the City's polling showed 53.2% support for full repeal and 51.4% for a narrower version that would have kept the vote requirement for single-family neighborhoods. The Council chose full repeal, and the semi-official count is about ten points above that poll.

Tanforan is the first big test

The repeal passed while the City was reviewing its largest redevelopment in decades. San Bruno posted the Final Environmental Impact Report for Tanforan on October 5, 2026, noting that the project still needed public hearings and approvals.

The San Mateo Daily Journal reported the outline of the proposal:

Alexandria senior vice president Christian Gunther told the Daily Journal the project will be built in phases. He said some later elements are intentionally flexible, including whether housing reaches about 1,500 units and whether a hotel is built. The paper also reported projected city revenue of $6.4 million to $8.5 million a year, $76.6 million in one-time revenue and $47 million in community benefit payments.

At the October 20 Planning Commission meeting, Chair Auros Harman said he was concerned that San Bruno has too many jobs compared with housing units. He also asked whether Alexandria could allow part of the site to be used as a soccer field during the interim phase. The Commission continued its October 26 hearing to November 5 after staff received a letter from a state agency, and the City Council hearing was tentatively moved to November 17.

Tanforan puts large new buildings next to BART and along El Camino Real. That is the same corridor-and-station pattern behind the six-story and ten-story density bonus projects, and it is the kind of growth the Council can now plan without a citywide vote.

Those homes would add to the slower half of the market

San Bruno's detached and attached homes are performing very differently right now, and the expected new supply is almost all attached.

These samples are small. With four condo sales in October, one transaction can move the median a lot. September figures from SAMCAR's monthly report show the same split. In September 2026, single-family homes had a $1,480,000 median, up from $1,332,000 in September 2025, and sold at 105% of list price. Condos had a $440,000 median, down from $500,000 a year earlier, and sold at 99% of list.

Over both months, detached homes sold above asking with little more than a month of supply, while attached homes sold at or slightly below list. The sources Measure S opens up are corridor buildings, transit-area density and a Tanforan plan with up to 1,514 units. Each adds attached housing, the segment with more inventory and less bidding.

For a buyer comparing San Bruno with other Peninsula towns, the takeaway is that the two segments may keep diverging. A detached house on a residential street depends mostly on state rules that were already in effect. A condo near the corridor will eventually compete with new buildings planned nearby, many of them still at the hearing stage, with a 2033 completion target for the largest.

Quick answers

Is Measure S final? As of the county's November 6 semi-official report, it led with 63.55% of the vote. Certification is scheduled for December 3.

Does the repeal change what can be built on my single-family lot? The City's staff report says ADUs, SB 9 lot splits and density bonus projects already moved forward under state law without a citywide vote. The repeal changes who approves future zoning changes, and those changes still go through the Council's planning process.

What else did the ordinance cover? It also required a vote for free-standing parking structures and for widening parts of Crystal Springs Road and Sneath Lane. Full repeal removes those requirements too.

When could Tanforan construction start? Alexandria projects demolition at the end of 2027 and completion by 2033, subject to the approvals still moving through the Planning Commission and City Council.

This post is general information about public measures and market data, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm how any rule applies to your property with the appropriate professional.

If you own a San Bruno home or are deciding between a detached house and a condo near the corridor, NEXTGEN Properties can walk you through how Measure S, Tanforan's timeline and this fall's price split relate to your plans, in English, Mandarin or Cantonese. Book a complimentary home strategy session.