San Jose Planning Director's Hearing - May 15, 2025
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San Jose Planning Director's Hearing – May 15, 2025
Note: The meeting transcript indicates the hearing was called to order on May 14, 2025, but the required date for this summary is May 15, 2025. This discrepancy is noted per accuracy rules.
Hearing Officer Martina Davis convened the meeting on behalf of Planning Director Christopher Burton. The agenda included a consent calendar item and one public hearing item (Tree Removal / Warehouse Project). No items were deferred. Public comment focused on labor partnership expectations for the warehouse project.
Consent Calendar
- Item 3B (SP25006/ER25070): Approved without discussion. This special use permit allows demolition of an existing ~6,100 sq ft building and associated surface improvements at 2060 Cottle Avenue (southwest corner of Caudle Avenue and Malone Road). No new construction. Environmental clearance: CEQA exemption (Section 15301). Project manager: Cameron Gee. Approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 3A (H24058/ER24257): Site development permit to allow removal of 123 trees (60 ordinance‑size, 63 non‑ordinance‑size) and planting of 176 replacement trees for construction of an approx. 333,360 sq ft, three‑story warehouse and manufacturing building at 550 East Brokaw Road. Owner: Supermicro Computer. Council District 3.
- Staff Report (Cameron G.): Described the project, consistency with general plan and zoning, transportation demand management plan (bike network, rideshare), design compliance, and environmental review (addendum to 2023 FEIR). Notices posted since Dec. 20, 2024, mailed to 1,000‑ft radius. Staff recommended approval.
- Applicant (Evan Sokoloski, ArchTech): Expressed excitement about the project and Supermicro’s expansion in San Jose. Acknowledged staff’s presentation and offered to answer questions.
- Public Speaker – Doug Block (Silicon Valley MEPS, advisor for multiple building trades unions and Supermicro shareholder): Expressed disappointment that the architectural/design firm did not respond to multiple outreach attempts. Stated unions are interested in partnering on the project but did not ask for denial. Emphasized union members live in District 3 and provide pathways to good jobs.
- Public Speaker – Will Smith (Business Agent, IBEW Local 332): Echoed Doug Block’s comments. Noted union supports projects that create good community impact and employ apprentices. Stated they cannot speak in favor without a commitment from Supermicro, but are optimistic about future partnership.
- Applicant Response (Evan Sokoloski): Thanked unions for their interest; noted focus has been on entitlement. Mentioned past partnerships and opportunity to re‑engage as the project moves forward.
Key Outcomes
- Item 3A Approved with Modification: Hearing Officer Davis acknowledged the public comments but stated she has no authority to require union construction. She directed that the final permit’s project description be reworded to explicitly state the site development permit allows construction of the warehouse (not just tree removal). She then:
- Considered the addendum to the 550 East Brokaw FEIR.
- Approved the site development permit (file H24058) and environmental review clearance (file ER24257).
Meeting Transcript
Okay, it is 9 a.m., so let's get started. Good morning. We are calling to order the planning director's hearing of May 14th, 2025. My name is Martina Davis, and I'm 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 held via Zoom conference call. Members of the public might 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 smoke, they can use the raised hand feature in Zoom 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. During the meeting, please call 408-535-3505 or email planning support staff at San Joseca.gov. Now, so this is the instructions if you don't have Zoom. So call or email planning support staff at San Joseca.gov and identify your name that is listed in Zoom, phone number that you'll call into Zoom with, and what items or item you'd like to comment on. So this is how you can call into Zoom if you do not have the app. Members on the public will remain on mute until the individual identifies that 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. I will identify each project as described on the agenda. For those items on the consent calendar, I will ask if anyone would like 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 consent calendar for approval. For those items listed under public hearing, I will ask staff to provide a brief 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 participant or their representative has spoken, any members of the public who wish 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 this is not required. Following comments from the public, the applicant may make an 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 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 hearing. The planning director's agenda on the items will be final when the permit is signed and mailed, unless the permit or 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 codes of the zoning ordinance. The planning director's actions on 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, our 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 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 the meeting, may result in removal from the meeting. The meeting of the director's hearing will now come to order. Okay, so the first item on our agenda is deferrals. So any items scheduled for deferral for a future meeting will be moved to this portion of the agenda to be considered for deferral. I will identify any items for deferral and ask for comments from the audience. And if you'd like to change any of the deferral dates or recommendations on deferral, please click star nine or raise your hand in Zoom. I will now open the public hearing and we have no items for deferral. And I just want to confirm staff there is no changes to the agenda that we are still with no items for deferral. Okay. Hearing nobody, I am going to matter of deferrals is now closed as we have no items for deferral. So let's move on to our consent calendar. So as a reminder, there will be no separate discussion of individual consent items as they are considered to be routine and will be considered in one action unless moved to the public hearing calendar.
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