OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Planning Commission Regular Meeting - July 8, 2026

Planning CommissionWednesday, July 8, 2026
BodySan Jose, California
SessionPlanning Commission
DateWednesday, July 8, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 14:41
Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

Alright.

0:11

Just calling the meeting to order.

0:13

This is a regular hearing.

0:14

Welcome everyone.

0:17

Good evening.

0:17

My name is Chuck Cantrell.

0:19

I am the chair of the Planning Commission.

0:22

Welcome to the Planning Commission meeting.

0:24

Please remember to turn off your cell phones.

0:27

The parking validation machine for the garage under City Hall is located at the entrance up at the top of the stairs.

0:37

Please join in the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:45

The United States is a requirement to the public religious things.

0:58

All right, thank you.

1:00

Let's uh do a roll call.

1:03

I am Chuck Canchell and I am here.

1:06

Michael Young, he is, I know, on his way up.

1:09

There's no elevator, evidently.

1:13

Um Luis Orgel?

1:16

Present.

1:24

Melissa Bickford.

1:26

Here.

1:27

Daniel Cow.

1:31

Lawrence Casey?

1:33

Here.

1:35

Amy Escobar.

1:37

Here.

1:38

Coy Newen?

1:42

Pier Luigi, Oliver?

1:44

Here.

1:46

And Carlos Rosard.

1:48

Here.

1:49

All right.

1:50

We do have Quorum.

1:53

Oh, we do.

1:56

We'd actually like to welcome our new commissioner.

1:59

Luis.

2:00

Welcome.

2:01

Welcome.

2:01

We're glad to have you.

2:03

Thank you.

2:04

Would you like to say anything?

2:08

Well, not really.

2:09

Excited to be here.

2:10

Looking forward to serving the body.

2:14

And I think everyone, including the chair and my colleagues look forward to learning from each and every single one of you.

2:21

Thank you.

2:23

Welcome.

2:24

All right.

2:24

So, summary of the hearing procedures.

2:26

If you want to address the commission, please fill out a speaker card located on the table near the audio visual technician and deposit the completed card in the basket.

2:38

There are also speaker cards in the back of the chamber and at the side entrance.

2:44

The procedure for this hearing is as follows.

2:48

After staff's presentation, applicants and/or appellants may make up to a five-minute presentation during the public comment period.

2:57

The chair will call out names on the submitted speaker cards in the order received.

3:04

As your name is called, line up in front of the microphone at the front of the chamber.

3:11

Generally, each speaker will be given up to two minutes for public testimony, and speakers using a translator will have up to four minutes.

3:21

At the discretion of the chair, the time allotted to each speaker may be changed depending on the number of items on the agenda, number of speakers, and other factors.

3:33

Speakers using a translator will have double the time allotted.

3:37

After public testimony, the applicant and or appellant may take may make closing remarks for up to an additional five minutes.

3:50

Planning commissioners may ask questions of the speakers.

3:55

Response to commissioners' questions will not reduce the speakers' time allowance.

4:17

If you challenge these land use decisions in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised in the in this public hearing or in writing or written correspondence delivered to the city at or prior to the public hearing.

4:38

The planning commission action on rezoning, pre-zoning, general plan amendments, and code amendments is only advisory to the city council.

4:49

The city council will hold public hearings on these items.

4:53

Section 20.120.400 of the municipal code provides the procedures for legal protests to the city council or rezoning or pre-zonings on rezonings and pre-zonings.

5:08

The planning commission's actions on conditional use permits is appealable to the city council in accordance with section 20.100.220 of the municipal code.

5:22

Agendas of all staff reports for this meeting may be accessed on the city's website.

5:30

All right, I call this meeting to order and in the order of the day.

5:35

Before we begin, I want to remind the planning commission members and members of the public to follow our code of conduct at meetings.

5:44

This includes commenting on the specific agenda item only and addressing the full body.

5:51

Public speakers will not engage in conversation with the commissioners or staff.

5:57

All members of the planning commission staff and public are expected to refrain from abusive language.

6:04

Repeated failure to comply with the conduct, the code of conduct, which will disturb, disrupt, or impede orderly conduct in this meeting may result in removal from the meeting.

6:19

This meeting of the planning commission will now come to order.

6:34

Please fill out a speaker card and give to the technician.

6:38

Each member of the public may address the commission for up to two minutes.

6:43

The commission cannot take any formal action without it being properly noticed, placed and placed on an agenda.

6:51

In response to public comment, the planning commission is limited to the following options: responding to statements made or questions posed by members of the public, or requesting staff to report back on a matter at a subsequent meeting, or directing staff to place the item on a future agenda.

7:14

Staff, do we have any public comment?

7:16

Yes, we do.

7:17

That might not be.

7:29

Okay, great.

7:30

Come forward, please.

7:32

Can you state your first and last name?

7:34

And you have two minutes.

7:37

So my name is Sherat Lin, and uh I represent uh the community and and human agenda and a few other organizations.

7:47

So I'm here today to uh talk to you about a site development proposal, which is PD 25-013.

7:58

And this is the development proposal for the for the block that is bounded by San Carlos Street, San Salvador Street, um, 2nd Street, and 1st Street.

8:12

And the the proposal, the development proposal, uh option B in particular calls for the construction of three high rises, residential towers of 29 to 30 stories.

8:28

It also calls for the construction of a data center, a massive data center.

8:34

So this data center will be eight stories high, but because the stories are the floors are very high, the building will be almost as tall as the 30-story buildings.

8:46

It uh the the power consumption of the data center is 22 megawatts, so it's gonna have 22 one megawatt backup generators.

8:58

Uh, it's going to have a a cooling um complex on the on the roof that will be able to dissipate those 22 megawatts of thermal power.

9:10

And it's just inappropriate to locate this data center next to these residential towers because they're the separation between the data center and the nearest tower is only 43 feet.

9:22

There's noise, there's pollution.

9:24

I mean, when the generators are on, they're not on all the time.

9:28

And uh, and also it creates a uh an empty area, uh in downtown, which I think is inappropriate for for downtown, which is really for high-density shopping people.

9:41

Just thank you, sir.

9:46

Okay, deferrals and removals from calendar.

9:49

Any items scheduled for hearing this evening?

9:52

Um there any deferrals?

9:55

No, there are no deferrals.

9:56

Thank you.

9:57

All right, all right, consent calendar.

10:09

There will be no separate discussion or individual on individual consent calendar items, as they are considered to be routine and will be adopted by one motion.

10:21

If a member of the commission requests debate, separate vote or recusal on a particular item, that item may be removed from the consent calendar by the chair and considered separately.

10:35

The public may comment on the entire consent calendar and any item removed from consent by the chair.

10:43

Okay.

10:46

All right.

10:47

Staff will provide an update on the consent calendar.

10:50

If you wish to speak on one of these items individually, please come to the podium at this time.

11:01

Are there any public speakers for this item or any item on a consent calendar?

11:08

Okay, motion to approve the consent agenda.

11:11

Second, okay, motion to approve by Commissioner Oliverio.

11:16

Second by Commissioner Umario.

11:21

Sorry about that.

11:22

Um, great.

11:24

No, I guess no other input.

11:28

We good, all right.

11:29

Let's take a vote then.

11:33

Starting with uh Vice Chair Young.

11:36

Yes.

11:40

Commissioner Harug, or sorry, or guelo?

11:45

Arguello, yes.

11:48

Thank you so much.

11:51

My apologies.

11:53

Commissioner Bandal.

11:56

Commissioner Pickford.

11:58

Yes.

12:01

Commissioner Cow.

12:05

Commissioner Casey.

12:06

Yes.

12:08

Commissioner Escobar.

12:11

Yes.

12:14

Commissioner Newen.

12:19

Commissioner Oliverio.

12:22

Yes.

12:23

Commissioner Rosario.

12:25

Yes.

12:26

All right.

12:27

So we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight yeses, and two, three apps.

12:37

No, two.

12:38

I didn't vote myself.

12:39

Yes.

12:41

Is it only two?

12:42

One, two.

12:42

Oh, you're right.

12:43

Sorry.

12:43

Three absence.

12:44

Uh motion carries.

12:47

Great.

12:48

All right.

12:50

First one.

12:50

Yeah, this is easy.

12:54

All right.

12:55

Um there are no public hearing items today.

13:00

So let's go to referrals from City Council.

13:05

Good evening, Manira Sandhir, Deputy Director for Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement.

13:11

Uh, there are no referrals from City Council, boards, commissions, or other agencies.

13:15

Uh, however, I can go right into item 7 and a uh 7a good and welfare and provide a report from City Council.

13:22

Uh so council will be on recess in July.

13:25

Um, however, their next uh meeting on August 11th will include two land use items, one for an appeal of an eight-unit project uh at Kirtner and Cottle.

13:37

Um, and that went directly to council because their environmental um analysis was appealed.

13:43

Um, and there will also be a conforming rezoning considered by the council that day uh from industrial park use to combined industrial commercial use to convert an office building into a church use.

13:55

Um so those are the two items scheduled for August 11th, um, and then August eighteenth will be the big one before council when they will take up consideration of the planning commission's recommendation on the general plan for your review.

14:26

But we are we do have a few items lining up for the first meeting in August.

14:30

So please hold your calendars for that.

14:33

We will now be more on a regular schedule now that the task force process is completed.

14:38

So we will, you know, continue with the two meetings a month.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████78%
Land Use█████████15%
Technology and Innovation████7%
Summary of Proceedings

Planning Commission Regular Meeting - July 8, 2026

The San Jose Planning Commission held a regular hearing on July 8, 2026, with Chair Chuck Cantrell presiding. The meeting included public comment on a major development proposal, approval of the consent calendar, and a staff report on upcoming City Council items. All commissioners were present, and a new commissioner was welcomed.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Sherat Lin (representing community and human agenda organizations) spoke in opposition to the PD 25-013 development proposal for the block bounded by San Carlos Street, San Salvador Street, 2nd Street, and 1st Street. He stated that Option B calls for three residential towers (29 to 30 stories) and an eight-story data center that will be almost as tall as the residential towers due to high floor heights. He emphasized that the data center's power consumption is 22 megawatts with 22 one-megawatt backup generators and a cooling complex on the roof. He expressed concern that the 43-foot separation between the data center and the nearest tower is inadequate, citing noise and pollution from generators, and argued that the data center would create an empty, inappropriate area in downtown.

Consent Calendar

  • The consent calendar was adopted by a single motion. After roll call, the chair reported 8 yes votes and 3 absences (the chair did not vote). The motion carried.

Staff Reports / City Council Referrals

  • Manira Sandhir (Deputy Director for Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement) reported that the City Council is on recess in July but will meet on August 11, 2026, to consider two land use items: an appeal of an eight-unit project at Kirtner and Cottle (environmental appeal) and a conforming rezoning from industrial park to combined industrial commercial to convert an office building into a church use. On August 18, 2026, the Council will take up the Planning Commission's recommendation on the General Plan. The commission will resume a regular schedule of two meetings per month.

Key Outcomes

  • The consent calendar was approved (motion carried).
  • No formal action was taken on the public comment regarding PD 25-013; the commission is limited to responding, requesting staff reports, or placing items on a future agenda.
  • Upcoming City Council hearings were noted for August 11 and 18, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

Alright. Just calling the meeting to order. This is a regular hearing. Welcome everyone. Good evening. My name is Chuck Cantrell. I am the chair of the Planning Commission. Welcome to the Planning Commission meeting. Please remember to turn off your cell phones. The parking validation machine for the garage under City Hall is located at the entrance up at the top of the stairs. Please join in the Pledge of Allegiance. The United States is a requirement to the public religious things. All right, thank you. Let's uh do a roll call. I am Chuck Canchell and I am here. Michael Young, he is, I know, on his way up. There's no elevator, evidently. Um Luis Orgel? Present. Melissa Bickford. Here. Daniel Cow. Lawrence Casey? Here. Amy Escobar. Here. Coy Newen? Pier Luigi, Oliver? Here. And Carlos Rosard. Here. All right. We do have Quorum. Oh, we do. We'd actually like to welcome our new commissioner. Luis. Welcome. Welcome. We're glad to have you. Thank you. Would you like to say anything? Well, not really. Excited to be here. Looking forward to serving the body. And I think everyone, including the chair and my colleagues look forward to learning from each and every single one of you. Thank you. Welcome. All right. So, summary of the hearing procedures. If you want to address the commission, please fill out a speaker card located on the table near the audio visual technician and deposit the completed card in the basket.

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