Planning Director Hearing Approves Industrial Projects and 33-Unit Townhome Development in San Jose - April 2, 2025
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Planning Director Hearing Approves Industrial Projects and 33-Unit Townhome Development in San Jose - April 2, 2025
The Planning Director Hearing of April 2, 2025, held via Zoom and presided over by Hearing Officer Jared Ferguson (delegated by Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Director Christopher Burton), considered three items: two industrial projects on the consent calendar and one mixed-use residential project moved to public hearing. No items were deferred. The hearing approved a site development permit for an industrial building at 2256 Junction Avenue, approved a planned development permit amendment for the Second Harvest Distribution Center at 4553 and 4653 North First Street, and approved a site development permit and vesting tentative map for a 33-unit townhome project at 966 Pacific Avenue and surrounding addresses.
Consent Calendar
- H24-023 and ER24-104: Site development permit approved to allow demolition of an approximately 141,510 square foot industrial building and construction of an approximately 276,030 square foot industrial building on an approximately 13.68 gross acre site at 2256 Junction Avenue (Council District 4). The CEQA addendum to the 2256 Junction Avenue 2021 project mitigated negative declaration was considered and the permit approved. No public comments were received.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 3B (Second Harvest Distribution Center): Kara Hawkins, environmental project manager, requested the item be moved to public hearing to read three conditions of approval into the record that were missing from the permit. The conditions included: coordination with the local enforcement agency (LEA) for CalRecycle due to proximity to the disposal site, a detailed acoustical study to meet 55 dBA DNL at residential property lines and 60 dBA DNL at commercial property lines for mechanical equipment noise, and maintenance of landscaping along North First Street to ensure a minimum clear sight distance of 250 feet from project driveways. No public comments were made on this item.
- Item 4A (Townhome Development): Diana Silva, a neighbor, expressed concerns about traffic congestion on narrow Pacific Avenue and parking demand, strongly urging a residential parking permit program. A second neighbor (Nikki or Hornstein) also raised concerns about parking, traffic, and construction noise impacts on existing residents. The applicant, Emily, responded by emphasizing the project's safety enhancements (new and widened sidewalks), $500,000 investment in bike and transit improvements, and provision of two parking spaces per unit (above the TDM recommendation).
Discussion Items
- H24-010, T24-002, ER24-038: Site development permit for demolition of three single-family residences and two commercial buildings (8,390 square feet), removal of 10 ordinance-sized and 17 non-ordinance-sized trees, and construction of seven three-story townhome buildings with 33 residential units (including 5 affordable units: 2 very low-income and 3 moderate-income), plus a vesting tentative map to merge lots into one 1.29 gross acre site at 966 Pacific Avenue, 275 and 285 Lincoln Avenue, and 1141, 1177, 1189 West San Carlos Street (Council District 6). The CEQA exemption was filed under CEQA Guidelines Section 15332 (infill). Staff (Angela Wang, project manager; Bethlehem, environmental planner) presented the project details, confirming compliance with the West San Carlos Urban Village Plan and density bonus law (one concession to waive commercial component, 11 waiver requests). The environmental review addressed a neighbor's appeal letter, finding no new CEQA impacts: solar panel impacts not a CEQA issue, noise and traffic analyzed (VMT generated 9.15 per residence vs. city threshold 11.39), no cumulative significant impacts, and the project improved pedestrian safety with new sidewalks.
- The hearing officer asked staff about construction noise rules and local transportation analysis. Staff confirmed construction hours limited to 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Monday–Friday for projects within 500 feet of residential uses, with standard conditions (exhaust mufflers, noise control for equipment, restrictions on radios). Public Works (Renzel) reported that the local transportation analysis showed no significant congestion at Race/San Carlos and Lincoln/San Carlos intersections, and no new signal warranted at Lincoln/Pacific.
Key Outcomes
- Approved Consent Calendar Item 3A: Site development permit for 2256 Junction Avenue (H24-023, ER24-104).
- Approved Item 3B from public hearing: Planned development permit amendment for 4553/4653 North First Street (PDA 21-061-01, ER24-163), with three conditions read into the record.
- Approved Item 4A from public hearing: Site development permit and vesting tentative map for the 33-unit townhome project (H24-010, T24-002, ER24-038), including the CEQA exemption. The hearing officer noted the city's housing goals and limitations under the Housing Accountability Act, but approved based on project consistency with land use and density bonus law. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, good morning. We are calling to order the planning director hearing of April 2nd, 2025. My name is Jared Ferguson, 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. One, for participants who joined electronically and have audio input available on their computer or smartphone, they can use the raise hand feature in Zoom during the agenda they would like to speak during the agenda item they would like to speak to, or click star nine on their phone. Remember to keep your raise hand feature on until planning support staff identify your turn to speak. Two, during the meeting, you can call 408-535-3505 or email planning support staff at San Jose CA.gov and identify your name that is listed on Zoom, phone number that you'll call in to 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 mute 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. 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. Three, for those items listed under public hearing, I will ask staff to provide a brief report for 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. Five, 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. Six, following comments from the public, the applicant may make additional remarks for up to five minutes. Seven, I will then close the public hearing and I may ask staff to answer questions, respond to comments, make that 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 zoning ordinance. The planning director's actions on the environmental review for the permits under the California Environmental Environmental Quality Act CEQA are separately appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 21 of the municipal code, the environmental clearance ordinance. 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 a 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 disrupt, disturb, or impede the orderly conduct of this meeting, may result in removal from the meeting. This meeting of the planning, the meeting of the director, sorry, the meeting of the director hearing will now come to order. All right. So first up is uh item two, uh deferrals. Uh any items scheduled 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 any 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 items or any other items, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom or click star nine to raise a hand to speak. Um there are no items for deferral. So unless there's uh anything from staff or anyone who wishes to speak. Okay. Um so the matter of deferrals is now closed. Um we'll move to number three on the agenda, which is our consent calendar. There will be no separate discussion of individual uh consent calendar items as they're 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 comment on the entire consent calendar item 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 raised hand feature in Zoom or click star nine. So I'll go through and read each item and description. And if you would like to speak or request it be removed from public hearing, please raise your hand. So first uh up is item A3A on the consent calendar. H24-023 and ER24-104. Site development permit to allow the demolition of an approximately 141,510 square feet industrial building for the construction of an approximately 276,030 square feet industrial building on an approximately 13.68 gross acre site located at 2256 Junction Avenue in Council District 4.
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