San José Rules Committee Meeting – January 21, 2026
San José Rules and Open Government Committee Meeting – January 21, 2026
The Rules and Open Government Committee met on January 21, 2026, at 2:00 PM to review upcoming City Council agendas, approve routine consent items, and discuss two memos: one proposing a development fee framework and another outlining the process for the budget forecast and priority study session. The committee voted unanimously on all items, including a modification to the January 27 council agenda regarding the timing of the mobile home rent ordinance discussion.
Agenda Review
- January 27, 2026 City Council Agenda: The committee discussed moving item 8.6 (proposed amendment to the mobile home rent ordinance) to a "not before 6:00 PM" time certain, with a revised order to hear it before item 8.5 (soft story seismic retrofit pilot program) but no earlier than 6:00 PM. The motion carried 5-0.
- February 3, 2026 City Council Agenda: The committee approved the agenda without changes (motion carried 5-0).
Consent Calendar
- Two items on consent were approved unanimously (5-0) with no public comment.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Blair Beekman spoke on several topics: (1) Suggested the city could learn from San Diego's implementation of Senate Bill 79 for housing development, noting lower construction costs there. (2) Expressed general support for the development fee memo (C-1), saying flexibility and consistency would be welcomed. (3) Urged the city to take a balanced approach to budget deficits, similar to Oakland, and emphasized maintaining social services. (4) In open forum, raised concerns about administration model changes at the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and urged transparency and public process. He also criticized the Trump administration and praised San Francisco Mayor Mahan's efforts on crime issues.
- Jean Dresden (park advocate) opposed deferring park impact fees to certificate of occupancy without a full report. She argued that park fees are already discounted, deferral lowers their value, and some projects have entered bankruptcy—making fee collection uncertain. She requested that the topic go to priority setting to weigh workload against other mandates like SB 79.
Discussion Items
- Memo C-1 – Development Fee Framework (Councilmembers Ortiz, Cohen, Mulcahy, Casey): Councilmember Ortiz introduced three proposals from the 2025 cost of development study: (1) a sliding-scale fee framework based on project size, affordability, public benefit, and location; (2) deferring development impact fees and public works off-site fees from entitlement/permit to certificate of occupancy (not waiving fees); and (3) aligning affordable housing funding cycles with the state’s business cycle. Councilmember Foley, a co-author, supported moving the item to workload analysis, noting that similar issues have been discussed for years without progress. The committee voted 5-0 to refer the memo to workload analysis for further consideration.
- Mayor’s Memo – Budget Forecast and Priority Study Session Process: The committee reviewed the memo outlining the process for the February 5, 2026 budget study session. No substantive discussion occurred; the memo was approved (motion carried 5-0).
Key Outcomes
- January 27 Council Agenda: Amended to set item 8.6 (mobile home rent ordinance) as "not to be heard before 6:00 PM" and to adjust the order so it is heard before item 8.5 (soft story seismic retrofit) but not earlier than 6:00 PM. Motion carried 5-0.
- February 3 Council Agenda: Approved as presented (5-0).
- Consent Calendar: Approved (5-0).
- Memo C-1 (Development Fees): Referred to workload analysis (5-0).
- Mayor’s Budget Memo: Approved (5-0).
- The meeting adjourned at 2:24 PM.
Meeting Transcript
All right, it's 2 o'clock, so we will call today's meeting of the Rules and Open Government Committee to order and start with roll call. Candelas. Here. Duan. Here. Foley. Kamei. She's here. And Cohen. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you. We will start with the review of next week's agenda for the January 27th City Council meeting. There is an ad sheet with one item on it. We have a 9.30 closed session and a 1.30 regular session. Consent starts on page 5, continues on pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and ends on 11. In section 3, we have our annual report on city services. In section 8, we have SB79 implementation, downtown residential incentive program expansion for commercial to residential conversion, multifamily housing incentive program update or extension. We have the inclusionary housing ordinance update, soft story seismic retrofit pilot program, and proposed amendment to the mobile home rent ordinance. No land use, and we will start with public comment. Blair? Hi, everyone. Blair Beekman. I've almost, after like five months now, I almost kept my storage locker all cleaned up, and I moved from a larger space to a smaller space. I'll travel back down to San Diego this February, and I'm going to do some whale watching in Hawaii and Maui, so I'll be looking forward to that. Hearing their sounds underwater is quite a thing to hear in one's life. I wanted to speak to the item, eight items. First around, slow, slow, slow, almost there. Senate Bill 79 issues. In being from San Diego these days, they are working diligently on new proposals of housing development in large neighborhood areas. One is in their state college area near, that's more inland, San Diego, and one is near, more near the coast. They're large neighborhoods. They're trying to find new ways to implement Senate Bill 79. They're going to be using different ways to understand it and how it can be applicable and what can work in one place may not fit in the other place and vice versa. They're going through quite an undertaking in this future housing that I think you can probably learn some good lessons from that I thought it would be nice to mention at this time for reference for yourselves in future buildings. They do have construction costs that are way lower than here. Thank you, Barry. Back to the committee. okay we'll start with council member duan
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