San Jose Planning Director Hearing - November 5, 2025
San Jose Planning Director Hearing - November 5, 2025
This planning director hearing was held via Zoom on the morning of November 5, 2025, presided over by hearing officer David Keon on behalf of the Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, Christopher Burton. The meeting addressed a consent calendar, a deferral, and a public hearing for a mixed-use development project. The hearing adjourned at 9:38 a.m.
Deferral
- Item 3C (File SP 24041 / ER 24274): A special use permit for a 28,235-square-foot addition to an existing aircraft hangar and office facility at 1210 Aviation Avenue. The item was deferred to the November 19, 2025 director's hearing at the request of the applicant.
Consent Calendar
- Item 3A (File PD 25009 / ER 25109): A planned development permit for a four-story, 65-unit multifamily residential building with ground-floor parking at 1325 Mick Avenue. No public comments were received, and the item remained on the consent calendar. The consent calendar, including Item 3A, was approved. (Item 3B was moved to public hearing; Item 3C was deferred.)
Public Comments & Testimony
- Julie Engelbert (neighbor): Expressed appreciation for the applicant’s cooperation but raised concerns about garage door noise, privacy, and the adequacy of planting materials on balconies to provide visual screening. She requested that details be noted for ongoing collaboration.
- Liz (neighbor): Emphasized concerns about construction vibration impacting her 120-year-old house located 50 feet from the site, and asked for a detailed construction impact plan, including crane usage, before project approval.
- Brian (resident of Dagley Park, three blocks away): Voiced concerns about noise from future rooftop decks, referencing disruptive fraternity parties in the area. He urged the management company to be responsible for noise, alcohol, garbage, and parking, and noted that code enforcement does not currently enforce noise ordinances.
Discussion Items
- Item 3B (File SP 24015 / T22024 / ER 22033): A special use permit and vesting tentative map for a six-story mixed-use building at 610–650 East Santa Clara Street. The project includes approximately 7,708 square feet of ground-floor retail, 6,982 square feet of office space, and 50 residential units (22 one-bedroom, 8 studios, 22 two-bedroom) with one level of underground parking (62 auto, 21 motorcycle, and 24 bike spaces). The site is in the East Santa Clara Street Urban Village.
- Staff Report: Planning project manager Angela Wang presented the project, noting consistency with the urban village plan, density (122 units per acre), and commercial floor area ratio (0.282). Environmental project manager Newman reported on the mitigated negative declaration (MND), which was circulated April 25–May 15, 2025. Mitigation measures address nesting birds, undiscovered cultural resources, and construction vibration. Five public comments were received during the review period; staff prepared a formal response.
- Applicant (Alfonso, representative): Described collaboration with staff to meet setback and design requirements, including height transition to the south. Added landscaping and planters to block direct views into a neighbor’s yard. Agreed to preserve the neighbor’s CMU wall.
- Hearing Officer’s Ruling: Noted that as a housing project, the city’s discretion is limited to objective standards. The project is consistent with the urban village plan and city goals. The MND, mitigation monitoring program, special use permit, and vesting tentative map were approved.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: Item 3A (1325 Mick Avenue) was approved.
- Item 3B (610–650 East Santa Clara Street): Approved. The mitigated negative declaration under CEQA was adopted; the special use permit and vesting tentative map were granted. A construction vibration reduction and monitoring plan must be submitted prior to grading permits.
- Item 3C (1210 Aviation Avenue): Deferred to the November 19, 2025 director’s hearing.
- Meeting adjourned at 9:38 a.m.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. We are calling to order the planning director hearing of November 5th, 2025. My name is David Keon 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 can participate by following 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 raise hand feature in Zoom during the agenda item they would like to speak or click star 9 on their phone. Remember to keep your raise hand feature on until planning support staff identifies your turn to speak. During the meeting, you can also call 408 535-8517 or email planning support staff, all one word at San Jose CAA.gov and identify your name that is listed on Zoom, phone number that you'll be calling into the 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 you can provide comment for the allocated time allocated time. If you exceed your allocated time, you will 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. Then, 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 brief report. The applicant or the 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 an 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 environmental clearance determination is appealed. The planning director's actions on 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 Quality Act are separately appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 21 of the municipal code under environmental clearance. 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 that you will disturb, disrupt, or impede the orderly conduct of this meeting may result in removal from the meeting. This meeting of the director hearing will now come to order. Thank you. So for the first order is the item of deferrals. 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 or any other items, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom or click star nine to raise a hand and speak. I will now open the public hearing. Currently, no items are scheduled for deferral. However, I do think there is potentially one item that's being requested for deferral. Hi, good morning, hearing officer. We are requesting the deferral item 3C. This is file number SP 24041 for the project at um 1210 Aviation Avenue. We request a deferral of this item to the November 19th director's hearing. Okay. Thank you, new.
openpublica.com