To spur downtown development, San Jose officials are proposing streamlining the approval process for big, revolutionary projects, despite the fact that they might not fully comply with city regulations.
Instead of watching potential projects fall by the wayside as a result of strict zoning and development regulations, the town wants to present developers the chance to supply viable projects so long as they supply “exceptional benefit” to the town, comparable to a serious investment, meeting climate goals or strengthening housing production.
“The nature of zoning and the way we approach it is that we plan ahead and tell the market what to build, where and how to build, and to a certain extent that makes sense,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan told The Mercury News. “For obvious reasons, we don't want to have a daycare next to an industrial site, but we tend to be very strict in California and San Jose is no exception. My hypothesis is that by creating more flexibility and asking the market to suggest to the city what might be feasible to provide insight, we will get suggestions for things that might not fit perfectly with the zoning and development regulations that we have today, but ultimately perhaps these are good things for the community.”
Mahan said that lately several investors have come to the town with potential projects, but concluded that it will take several years to get approval for a non-conforming use and ultimately decided to that the danger shouldn’t be value it.
He identified how zoning regulations hampered a developer who had built a 20-story high-rise with ground-floor retail on the location of a two-story business constructing that suffered fire damage.
“If you look back now a few years later, we would be so happy if we were rebuilding retail now with 18 or 19 floors of housing – housing that we so desperately need – but instead we have a 'The building is still standing vacant and still damaged by fire because there was simply no viable use for someone to invest in and get a return on investment that would justify bringing back the retail store and rehabilitating the building,” Mahan said.
As a part of the proposal the City Council will consider Tuesday, Mahan and council members Dev Davis and Pam Foley have asked city staff to develop a process with clear submission requirements and objective criteria for evaluating project proposals, comparable to density levels or housing production .
“There could be creative mixes of public spaces and rooftop uses that, strangely enough, we don’t see as much in San Jose despite our great weather,” Mahan said. “It can creatively combine residential, retail and entertainment uses. Actually the point is to say that outside of industrial production we want to know what your most creative ideas are, but the advantage has to be that there is significant value in terms of economic activity, reflected in a growth in the tax base, but also in growth lies in amenities that the community really wants, lots of housing, lots of potential for job creation or a combination.”
While the town still must approve this system and develop the evaluation criteria, business and labor groups are calling the proposal a step in the correct direction.
“We all know we need more housing, and the problem is that it's very difficult to plan housing projects, especially with interest rates and high material costs,” said union consultant Doug Bloch. “We believe that San Jose needs the flexibility to consider non-traditional projects so that we can build more housing, plan projects and put people from San Jose to work and provide them with a path to the middle class through our training.” Program.”
San Jose is starting in the downtown area because the city is trying to create a denser, mixed-use environment there.
“I think what this might do is that if there are projects that haven't been considered before that have had too many hurdles to get started, the problem should be resolved,” said Bob Staedler, land use consultant and development at Silicon Valley Synergy. “Starting in the city center should allay the concerns of residents and businesses alike that they will not be affected.”
If the downtown program is successful, Mahan said the city could follow a similar path with its urban villages. While the city has sought to build denser, mixed-use development in these areas, Mahan believes the city has enacted too many restrictions that inadvertently stifle development.
In particular, he pointed to some constraints that required a certain level of job growth before housing could be built, which in turn meant that the housing component was no longer viable due to skyrocketing costs. Mahan added that if the city continues to dictate when and where to concentrate jobs and housing production, there may end up being too little of both.
“We introduced this idea of urban villages that were intended to be mini downtowns — these kinds of dense, mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented communities that we know we'll need more of as we grow — because we're not moving forward can spread. said Mahan. “We need to build mass transit connections in places like the city center and these urban villages that meet certain criteria in terms of infrastructure and transport service levels. We have not seen as much investment and development in urban villages as expected over a decade ago when this became a core strategy in the General Plan, as we look to future updates to the General Plan.”
While San Jose dealt with its $50 million budget deficit this year, city leaders anticipate greater budget challenges in the coming years. To spur development, the city expanded its downtown high-rise program, which waived construction taxes and some construction fees, and created a Two-year leasing incentive program in order to attract new tenants for the oversupply of vacant office space in the city center.
But these policy initiatives might not be enough, which is why the town is popping to this unconventional program to get shovels in the bottom faster.
“I hope to come back to you in the coming months and years and develop concrete projects moving forward because we have signaled to the market that San Jose is open for business,” Mahan said. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll try other things.”
Originally published:
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