San Jose Planning Director Hearing - April 1, 2025
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San Jose Planning Director Hearing - April 1, 2025
The San Jose Planning Director Hearing, held on April 1, 2025, via Zoom, addressed several land use items including a consent calendar and two public hearings: a tentative map for a four-lot subdivision and a builder's remedy site development permit for a mixed-use project. The hearing officer approved all items.
Consent Calendar
- Items 3A, 3B, 3C (site development permit H24-001 at 2350 Lindy Place, special use permit SP24-024 at 545 Hillsdale Avenue, special use permit SP2501 at 1001 New Hall Street) were approved without discussion.
- Item 3D (tentative map T24-020 at 4895 Pearl Avenue) was moved to the public hearing due to a speaker request.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On the tentative map (3D): David Noel, president of the Erickson Neighborhood Association, spoke in favor, noting the developer kept the neighborhood informed and the project is compatible with density and parking. He raised a concern about minimizing road impacts during construction.
- On the builder's remedy project (4A): Multiple residents opposed the project:
- Nancy Keo, president of West Everything Neighbor Association, criticized insufficient notice, lack of community meeting, and inadequate parking (138 units with only 143 parking spaces in a congested area).
- Sergio, a resident since 2002, cited existing traffic congestion and school safety concerns.
- Francis, a 25-year resident, described traffic taking 30 minutes for 2 miles and lack of parking.
- Patty urged the city to choose a different area and highlighted safety for children walking to school.
- Mina Gutierrez, a 50-year resident, expressed frustration with overdevelopment and congestion.
Discussion Items
- Tentative Map T24-020 (4895 Pearl Avenue): Staff (Jason Lee) presented a proposal to subdivide a 0.43-acre lot into four residential lots, requiring waivers for minimum lot area due to state density requirements. The project is exempt from CEQA under infill development guidelines. The applicant (Raymond Shahabi) confirmed minimal construction impacts. The hearing officer approved the tentative map.
- Builder's Remedy Project H23-031 (2470 Alvin Avenue): Staff (Alec Atienza) explained the project is a site development permit under the builder's remedy (SB 330) because the city's housing element was not certified at the time of application. The project proposes an eight-story, 138-unit mixed-use building with 4,992 sq ft of commercial space, plus density bonus concessions. An initial study/mitigated negative declaration was prepared, finding no significant unavoidable impacts. Public works staff (Renzal, Jason Yan, John Do) addressed traffic and parking: a traffic analysis showed acceptable levels of service; the project provides 143 parking spaces (no city minimum); and it will widen sidewalks, add a bulb-out, and contribute to bike lanes. The hearing officer acknowledged community concerns but stated state law limits denial to specific adverse public health or safety impacts, which were not found. The project was approved.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of Consent Calendar items 3A, 3B, 3C (unanimous, no objections).
- Approval of Tentative Map T24-020 (File number T24-020) at 4895 Pearl Avenue, with a CEQA exemption.
- Approval of Site Development Permit H23-031 (File number H23-031) at 2470 Alvin Avenue, adopting the mitigated negative declaration and adding permit condition 32 for conformance to the MMRP.
- The hearing officer reminded the public of appeal rights and adjourned the meeting at 9:58 a.m. (actual transcript time, but note the user's specified date is April 1, 2025, 18:00 UTC).
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. It is 9 a.m., so we are calling to order the planning director hearing of March 26, 2025. My name is Sylvia Doe and I am the hearing officer for today's agenda on behalf of and delegated by the Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, Christopher Burton. This meeting is being held via Zoom conference call. Members of the public may participate by following the instructions listed on page two of the agenda. If you would like to provide public comment, you have two methods to do so. For participants who joined electronically and have audio input available on their computer or smartphone, they can use the raised hand feature in Zoom during the agenda item they would like to speak to, or click star 9 on their phone. Remember to keep your raised hand feature on until planning support staff identifies your turn to speak. During the meeting, you can also call 408 535 3505 or email planning support staff at San Jose CA.gov and identify your name that is listed on Zoom, the phone number that you'll call into Zoom with, and what item or items you would like to comment on. All members of the public will remain on mute until the individual identifies they would like to speak and they are unmuted. Planning support staff will identify you by name when it is your turn to speak. At that time, you will be unmuted and can provide comment for the allotted time. If you exceed your allotted time, you may be muted so we can move on to the next speaker. Please note the following. The hearing procedure and order of input will be as follows. First, I will identify each project as described on the agenda. For those items on the consent calendar, I will ask if anyone wishes to speak on the item. If a separate discussion is warranted, I will move the item to the public hearing portion of the agenda. If a separate discussion is not needed, the item will remain on the consent calendar for approval. For those items listed under public hearing, I will ask staff to provide a staff report. The applicant or their representative who wishes to speak on the item will have up to five minutes to speak and should identify themselves by stating their name for the record. After the applicant or the representative has spoken, any member of the public who wishes to speak on the item may provide testimony up to two minutes per speaker, either for or against the project. All members of the public should identify their name for the record, although it is not required. Following comments from the public, the applicant may make additional remarks for up to five minutes. I will then close the public hearing and I may ask staff to answer questions, respond to comments made by the applicant or the public, or further discuss the item. I will then take action on the item. If you challenge these land use decisions in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at this public hearing or in written correspondence delivered to the city at or prior to the public hearing. The planning director's actions on agenda items will be final when the permit is signed and mailed, unless the permit or the environmental clearance determination is appealed. The planning director's actions on the permits are appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 20 of the Municipal Code. The planning director's actions on the environmental review for the permits under the California Environmental Quality Act are separately appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 21 of the Municipal Code. Before we begin, I want to remind members of the public to follow our code of conduct at meetings. This includes commenting on the specific agenda item only. Public speakers will not engage in conversation with the hearing officer or staff. The hearing officer, staff, and the public are expected to refrain from abusive language. Repeated failure to comply with the code of conduct, which will disturb, disrupt, or impede the orderly conduct of this meeting may result in the removal from the meeting. This meeting of the director hearing will now come to order. We're on to the second portion of the agenda, which is deferrals. Any item for hearing this morning for which deferral to a future meeting date is being requested will be moved to this portion of the agenda and considered on the matter of deferral. I will identify items to be deferred and ask for comments from the audience. If you want to change any of the deferral dates or speak to the question of deferring these or any other items, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom or click star 9 on your phone to raise your hand to speak. I will now open the public hearing. There are no items proposed for deferrals this morning. Are there any members of staff or the public who wish to speak on the matter of deferrals? And again, what this portion of the agenda means is that if there are any items that are agendized for today's hearing that you would like to defer to a future hearing date, now's the time to do so. Just pausing for a moment to see if anyone is about to raise their hand in Zoom. Okay, seeing none, the matter of deferrals is now closed. We'll go ahead and move on to the next portion of the agenda, which is the consent calendar. There will be no discussion of individual consent calendar items that are considered to be routine and will be considered in one action unless an item is moved to the public hearing calendar for separate discussion by the hearing officer. The public may comments on the entire consent calendar and any items removed from the consent calendar by the hearing officer. If you wish to speak on one of these items, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom or click star nine on your phone to raise your hand to speak.
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