Planning Director Hearing: Harker School Expansion Approved – May 11, 2026
Planning Director Hearing: Harker School Expansion Approved – May 11, 2026
Note on Date: The transcript records the hearing as May 6, 2026, but the user-provided date is May 11, 2026. This summary uses the provided date.
This hearing, conducted via Zoom and presided over by Hearing Officer Ruth Cueto (on behalf of the Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement), considered one public hearing item: a special use permit for the Harker School's expansion at 4300 Bucknell Road (Council District 1). The meeting began with a deferral, then moved to the public hearing. No consent calendar items were on the agenda.
Deferral
- Item 2A (PD 25‑019 / ER 25‑194): A planned development permit for EV truck charging stalls, storage, and a maintenance building at 4553–4653 North First Street was deferred by staff request to the May 20, 2026 director hearing for re-noticing. No public comment was offered.
Public Comments & Testimony
Four residents spoke in opposition to the Harker School expansion. Their concerns centered on traffic, safety, and neighborhood quality of life:
- Gail Wilson (resident since 1969): Strongly objected, citing daily traffic congestion that makes exiting Bucknall and Weston Drive impossible. She noted parents park on neighborhood streets and pedestrians behave unsafely. She argued the original school was intended for 300 students and adding more than 10% will worsen unsafe conditions.
- Debbie (resident since 1964/65): Opposed, highlighting parking in driveways, blocking leaf piles, and lack of traffic control on Rincon Avenue. She appreciated tree replacement but questioned the species. She expressed concern about activities permitted until 8 p.m. affecting elderly neighbors.
- Nandini Acharya (resident of Della Court since 2016): Objected due to traffic. She described parents' sense of entitlement ("one child per Tesla"), failure to obey four‑way stop signs, and prioritization of Harker parents by school personnel directing traffic. She noted a crossing guard used to be at the intersection but is gone.
- Raji (resident since 1989): Opposed, citing noise from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., inability to park in front of her home without tickets, and deteriorating street conditions. She asked that the neighborhood be offered a way out if expansion proceeds.
- Shamit (resident of Dorval, south of school): Opposed, describing 15+ minute delays during drop‑off/pickup, dangerous driving on Weston and Bucknell, and inequity: Harker costs $51,000/year, so the neighborhood sacrifices quality of life for families who can afford the school.
Discussion Items
Staff Presentation (Rena and Court Hitchens):
- The project is a two‑phase expansion of Harker Elementary School (K‑5) from 580 to 650 students, with up to 190 staff. Phase 1: demolish a 4,800 sf library, build a 34,156 sf multi‑purpose building with basement parking (6,398 sf), reconfigure access and parking, and relocate basketball courts. Phase 2: demolish a 1,020 sf portable and add 4,300 sf to building 500.
- 43 trees (21 ordinance, 22 non‑ordinance) will be removed; 91 new 24‑inch box trees will be planted (London plane, Chinese pistache, red maple). Perimeter redwoods along Rincon Avenue will remain.
- School hours remain Monday–Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (construction allowed until 7 p.m. within 500 ft of residences).
- A Transportation Analysis (January 27, 2026) found 38 net AM trips and 17 net PM trips; vehicle‑miles‑traveled (VMT) impacts are less than significant due to carpool and private shuttle programs.
- Monetary contribution of ~$100,000 for hardscape traffic calming (speed humps, street edge lines, intersection improvements) to be implemented post‑occupancy with input from Council District 1 and residents.
- CEQA review: a Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared (public review Feb 2026). Mitigation measures address air quality, nesting birds, cultural resources, and hazardous materials (soil sampling). Noise and vibration assessment concluded operational noise increase ≤3 dBA DNL at nearby homes.
- Staff recommended approval of the special use permit and the Mitigated Negative Declaration.
Applicant (Brian Yeager, Harker School):
- Expressed gratitude to city staff and enthusiasm for the project. Highlighted benefits: 20 additional parking spaces (≈50% increase in queuing space), reduced road backup by moving library interior, and $100,000 for calming measures.
- Addressed public comments: emphasized parent education (right‑turn‑only rule out of campus, reminders at coffee events), acknowledged occasional violations but stated the school corrects them. Noted after‑school programs end at 6 p.m., not 8 p.m. (construction window allows work until 7 p.m.). Confirmed perimeter trees mostly remain; removed trees are interior or arborist‑designated as unsafe.
Staff Response (Rena, Florence, Manjut):
- Tree species to be planted are similar to existing (London plane, Chinese pistache, red maple).
- Transportation analysis (per City Council Policy 5‑1) shows VMT impacts less than significant with carpool and shuttle programs. Coordination with DOT for short‑term parking zones along Bucknell Avenue to prevent driveway blocking.
- TDM plan includes private shuttles, education, and marketing of multimodal options (transit, bike network, carpool).
Hearing Officer (Ruth Cueto):
- Acknowledged the frustrations of neighbors but stressed a multi‑pronged approach: infrastructure improvements (queuing space, traffic calming, design changes), behavioral changes (parent education), and enforcement (encouraged residents to submit complaints to SJPD Traffic Enforcement Unit). Recommended approval.
Key Outcomes
- Approved: The special use permit (SP 25‑008) for the Harker School expansion (from 580 to 650 students) and the Mitigated Negative Declaration (ER 25‑076) were approved by Hearing Officer Ruth Cueto.
- Conditions: The project must implement the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program, comply with construction noise restrictions (7 a.m.–7 p.m. M–F within 500 ft of residences), provide the $100,000 traffic calming contribution post‑occupancy (with DOT and community input), and maintain TDM measures (shuttles, education).
- Next Steps: The permit action is final upon signing and mailing; appealable under Title 20 (zoning) and Title 21 (CEQA) of the Municipal Code.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. We are calling to order the planning director hearing of May 6, 2026. My name is Ruth Cueto, 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 nine on their phone. Remember to keep your raised hand feature on until planning support staff identify your turn to speak. During the meeting, please call 408 535 8517 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 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. 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 them. 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 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 their representative has spoken, any member of the public who wishes to speak on the item may provide testimony for 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 a 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 or someone else raised at this public hearing or in written correspondence delivered to the city at or to the public meeting. The planning director's actions on the 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 Zoning Ordinance. The planning director's actions on the environmental review for the permits under the California Environmental Quality Act CEQA, are separately appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 21 of the Municipal Code 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, which 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. We will begin today's meeting with the 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 9 to raise a hand to speak. We have one item proposed for deferral today. Item 2A, PD 25-019, and ER25-194. Planned development permit to allow paving landscaping, including the removal of one ordinance-sized palm tree, the creation of 30 EV truck charging stalls, and 10 trailer truck storage stalls with charger plugins, the construction of an approximately 3200 square foot maintenance building, and approximately 6,420 square foot recycling and trash enclosure located southeast of the Top Golf Drive and Bay Vista Drive intersection at 4553 North First Street, 4563 North First Street, and 4653 North First Street in Council District 4. Staff's recommendation is dropped to be renoticed for the May 20th, 2026 director hearing per staff request. Is there anyone who wishes to speak on this item? Okay, hearing no none. I will drop item 2A, which will be renoticed for a later date per staff's request. We will move on to item three of the agenda, which is a consent calendar. There are no items on the consent calendar, so we will go ahead and move on to item four on the agenda, which is the public hearing. There is one item on the public hearing, and it is item 4A, SP25 and ER25-076, a special use permit to allow the expansion of a private elementary school, Harker School, from 580 students to up to 650 students in two phases of construction on an approximately 8.9 gross acre site as follows. Phase one, demolition of the existing approximately 4,800 square foot library building, and the construction of a new approximately 34,156 square foot two-story, multi-story multi-purpose building with an approximately 6,398 square foot basement parking garage and reconfiguration of the access driveway, parking lot, and vehicular circulation along Rincon Avenue.
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