General Plan Four-Year Review Task Force Meeting – April 1, 2026

This was the fifth meeting of the 2025-2026 General Plan four-year review, with the Planning Commission serving as the task force. Staff presented updates on public outreach, residential capacity strategies, and the jobs-to-employed-resident ratio. The discussion focused on modifying residential land use designations, evaluating growth areas, and reviewing targeted general plan amendments. Public comment addressed VTA transit-oriented development sites, adaptive reuse of faith and school sites, downtown West boundaries, and missing middle housing.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Rob Swork (BTA, principal planner) expressed general support for increasing residential capacity but urged the city to consider further intensification near frequent bus corridors. He also noted that VTA's request to change designations on the Cerone and Santa Teresa TOD sites was not addressed in the staff report and called it a missed opportunity.
• Brent Van Brocklin (VTA, TOD team) focused on the Cerone and Santa Teresa sites (over 60 acres combined), emphasizing they are the two largest developable properties in VTA's TOD portfolio. He urged the task force to recommend that city staff and VTA jointly develop a mixed-use zoning concept for these sites and bring forward options by the June 3rd meeting.
• Alison Cingalani (Silicon Valley at Home, Director of Policy) spoke on behalf of a community partnership evaluating adaptive reuse of faith and school sites for affordable and mixed-income housing. She noted that many such sites lie outside designated growth areas and should be part of the citywide housing conversation. Her team is assembling a site-specific database to share in May.
• Kathy Sutherland (S+NI, Strong Stakeholders Plus Neighborhoods Initiative) requested that five bifurcated blocks in the downtown West area be removed from the downtown designation, citing concerns about incompatible development adjacent to single-family homes. She provided photographic evidence of the boundary issues.
• Greg Carlson (Concerned Corey Neighbors) expressed support for development but urged reasonable density and integrity in planning, specifically referencing the potential impact of a four- to eight-story building on Winchester Boulevard during commute traffic.
• Solomon Oh (local builder focusing on missing middle housing) encouraged the task force to continue adjusting constraints to unlock underutilized sites, noting that more viable projects can increase housing supply without fundamentally changing neighborhood character.

Discussion Items

• Residential Capacity Strategies: Staff reviewed four strategies from the January task force meeting. Key updates included: (1) for growth areas near high-frequency bus corridors, staff analyzed half-mile, third-mile, and quarter-mile walksheds and created tier two growth areas south of downtown; (2) for missing middle housing, staff recommended increasing the residential neighborhood (RN) density to 32 dwelling units per acre (du/ac) and adjusting mixed-use neighborhood (MUN) to 20–50 du/ac and urban residential (UR) to 50–95 du/ac to maintain a clear density hierarchy; (3) for residential neighborhood flexibility, the proposed density increase to 32 du/ac was supported; (4) for targeted general plan amendments, staff evaluated mixed-use commercial (MUC) and public/quasi-public (PQP) sites.
• Growth Areas: Staff recommended not proceeding with tier one or tier two growth areas because the proposed citywide RN density increase to 32 du/ac would achieve similar densities without the need for new growth areas. Task force members raised equity concerns, noting that tier two areas are in lower-resource communities, while tier one areas are in higher-income areas.
• SB 79 Impact: Discussion centered on whether SB 79 (allowing higher density near transit) would generate realistic capacity. Staff noted that theoretical capacity is high but may not translate to redevelopment due to small lot sizes, existing uses, and HCD's strict methodology. Staff cautioned against over-reliance on SB 79, while some commissioners argued the city should maximize its potential. Staff will return with additional analysis on SB 79 capacity.
• Jobs-to-Employed Resident Ratio (J2ER): Staff recommended maintaining the current target of 1.1 jobs per employed resident, noting that the observed ratio has averaged 0.82 since 2011. Increasing residential capacity alone does not guarantee proportional employed resident growth. Commissioners debated the aspirational nature of the target, with some supporting its retention for fiscal and land preservation reasons, while others questioned its feasibility given the trend of converting commercial land to residential.
• VTA TOD Sites: Staff acknowledged VTA's request for mixed-use designations on the Cerone and Santa Teresa sites, explaining that the request came only a few weeks before the meeting and could not be included in the current agenda. Staff will meet with VTA and report back at a future meeting.
• Downtown West Bifurcated Blocks: Commissioner Young requested that staff evaluate the request to remove five bifurcated blocks from the downtown West designation. Staff agreed to research the history and return with analysis.

Key Outcomes

• Residential Designation Changes: The task force will continue to consider modifying RN to 32 du/ac, MUN to 20–50 du/ac, and UR to 50–95 du/ac, with proportionate height changes. Further discussion on missing middle housing will occur at the May task force meeting.
• Growth Areas: Staff's recommendation not to proceed with tier one or tier two growth areas will be revisited based on task force feedback. No formal vote was taken.
• Targeted GP Amendments: Staff will evaluate MUC sites on a case-by-case basis and present findings on June 3, 2026. No change to PQP sites is recommended for now, but staff will consider streamlining processes for faith institutions at a future meeting.
• J2ER Ratio: The task force did not recommend changing the 1.1 target; staff will maintain it for now.
• Next Steps: The next task force meeting is scheduled for May 20, 2026, with additional meetings on June 3 and June 17 as needed. The final recommendation will go to the planning commission on June 24, then to city council for preliminary approval in August 2026, with a final vote on general plan amendments in December 2027.