Council reserves housing units for proposed Ardmore Townhouses

By Camille DeVaul · Thu Nov 06 2025

Reservation of surplus density units approved, allowing project to continue through permitting process

PASO ROBLES — During the Tuesday, Nov. 4, Paso Robles City Council meeting, councilmembers approved a resolution that will reserve 154 units from the Cycle 2 Surplus Density Units established by General Plan Amendment for the Ardmore Townhouse project.

Community Development Director Warren Frace noted that the Tuesday night decision was not an approval of the Ardmore project. "We are just looking for concurrence from the council that we can reserve those units and then allow the applicant to move forward knowing that when they come back to council in the future those units that they would need from the general plan have been set aside for that project," he said.

Following Tuesday's decision, the Ardmore project will continue through the permitting process, followed by discussion and pending approval from the Planning Commission before receiving a final decision from City Council.

When the 2003 General Plan was approved, council set a population threshold of 44,000 for the city, implementing a policy that would maintain that threshold.

During the Tuesday night meeting, City Council reviewed an application from Covelop, Inc. and MD3 Investments for the proposed Ardmore Townhouses, a 154-unit residential development at 2930 Union Road. Currently, the site is zoned C3, PD (Commercial-Light Industrial with Planned Development Overlay), which does not allow residential development by right. The applicants are requesting a rezoning to add a Mixed-Use (MU) Overlay, which would permit residential construction on the property.

The project also requires an allocation of 154 General Plan surplus density units. These units come from the city’s Cycle 2 Surplus Density, a pool of units created in 2020 as part of the city’s Housing Element update and Zoning Code amendments, which increased allowable dwelling units within the city’s 44,000-population planning threshold. To date, the City Council has allocated some of these units to other projects, leaving 246 surplus units still available.

Frace explained to council that the city's current population per unit is dropping from its 2003 average of 2.7 persons per household.

"We are seeing fewer families and kids in town so that population per unit is dropping and its dropping fairly significantly," says Frace.

According to Frace, the city's current population is roughly 31,000 and the city grew in population by less than 100 people, yet over 300 houses were built.

"Even though we are building houses, [for] the people in the existing houses, there's fewer and fewer of them [in each house]," Frace explains that this means there is a larger capacity now for housing to fit in that 44,000 capacity.

Councilmember Kris Beal noted that she was able to afford a home after moving back to North County following her college years. While the per-head and per-household numbers are decreasing, which allows for more surplus density units, she worries that people are unable to buy homes in the same way she did.

"The flip side of that [decreasing per-head and per-household numbers] is a real change in the makeup of the community, a makeup of the workforce, a makeup of who we are. I hope we think in these broader strokes as we move forward about the kind of town that we are handing off," said Beal.

Council unanimously approved the resolution to reserve 154 units from the Cycle 2 Surplus Density Units established by General Plan Amendment for the Ardmore Townhouse project.

The next Paso Robles City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, in the Norris Room at Centennial Park at 6 p.m.