Revisiting a Pre-Recession Plan to Transform North San Jose

Emily Deruy reports on efforts in San Jose, California to update a 2005 plan to add "25 million square feet of new office and industrial development, 32,000 housing units, almost 3 million square feet of retail and commercial space, and 1,000 hotel rooms to North San Jose in four phases."

The plan stalled out after partial implementation of the first phase due to the Great Recession and legal challenges from neighboring cities. The city still hopes to transform the area "into a walkable, denser mixed-use neighborhood where people can live, work and relax all in one spot."

Deruy provides details of the city's efforts to revive the plan:

Now, the city is considering amending its policy to go from a four-phase plan to two phases, effectively allowing another 8,000 housing units to move forward before all the original Phase One requirements are met. The City Council will hear a status report on those possible changes from city staffers on Tuesday and could take a vote on authorizing them as early as this summer.

The idea has sparked opposition from local neighborhood groups, as reported by Deruy in the source article.