MILPITAS – Plans so as to add tons of of recent reasonably priced housing projects to a south Milpitas neighborhood are facing resistance from locals who say such developments would disrupt their community.
More than 550 community members living near Landess Avenue – west of Interstate 680 – have signed a petition and urged the City Council to reject plans to rezone the avenue as a mixed-use district. The proposed designation – NCMU – would allow for the development of business, retail and reasonably priced housing units alongside existing businesses.
The move, in response to the town, is meant to offer a possibility to redevelop older industrial properties and implement state and city-led plans to construct hundreds of recent apartments in Milpitas by 2031. But Landess petitioners claim the town has not adequately analyzed the impact of the NCMU change and are concerned that a possible influx of recent residents will impact local resources.
The rush for housing coincides with Milpitas, like dozens of other Bay Area cities, moving forward with the Housing Element – a housing plan submitted to the state every eight years that lays out how cities will create a certain variety of apartments at different price points. Milpitas is required to construct 6,713 latest housing units by 2031.
To meet housing needs, the Bay Area, which incorporates nine counties, is anticipated to construct greater than 441,000 latest homes by 2031, a 15 percent increase within the region's total housing stock. Counties must also provide about 40 percent of that housing for low- and really low-income families.
Landess Avenue is just not the one area in the town slated for NCMU zoning. there are three other throughout North and Central Milpitas. The NCMU areas were identified by the town in 2021 and chosen based on aspects comparable to available land area. The council will consider whether to approve the zoning at its August meeting.
Landess is currently lined with quite a few restaurants, a small plaza with several stores and empty parking lots. The surrounding neighborhood consists primarily of single-family homes and schools. The applicants say it’s unclear how the town will handle the potential congestion of colleges, hospitals and roads. Local roads are already overloaded with traffic from ongoing construction projects across the Great Mall area – which is just a number of miles from Landess.
NCMU's zoning plans allow a maximum height of 75 feet, or six stories, raising privacy and safety concerns amongst some residents.
“I am currently next to the NCMU premises,” said petition organizer Manali Desai. “It will be a six-story building next to my home and community. I don't know what will happen to our privacy and safety, that is my biggest concern.”
In an announcement, City Manager Ned Thomas said staff was aware of the petition and recently held public meetings to reply questions and “address inaccurate or misleading statements of information in the petition,” comparable to referring to the NCMU as a project fairly than a zoning category.
According to the town, properties inside city limits are assigned a selected zoning category, which comes with its own standards and guidelines for certain permitted developments.
All future development projects within the NCMU zone must undergo a “comprehensive public review process that provides residents and business owners with multiple opportunities to voice their opinions,” Thomas said. The city's review and approval processes also include a “full analysis of potential impacts on traffic, parking, open space, noise, aesthetics, housing and schools.”
New homes in the world mean more customers, but construction nearby could impact people's shopping experience, he said.
“We understand these requirements,” he said recently in the shop, “but they will have a massive impact on us.”
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