Letters from the Public - 2 of 3 — San Jose City Council, August 9, 2022

From: Caryn Graves
To: Meiners, Laura
Subject: Support Cambrian Village!
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 2:49:27 PM
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City Planner Laura Meiners,
I write in strong support the San Jose Cambrian Village project. Cambrian village accomplishes the stated goals of the City of San Jose in a way very few other projects do. The proposal will activate and enhance retail as well as, 18 acres of surface parking with 428 much-needed new homes, including 30 affordable homes and $9 million in in-lieu fees for San Jose residents who need them the most. The City of San Jose is suffering from our shared housing shortage, which is driving a displacement and affordability crisis. To solve it, we need projects like Cambrian Village that can deliver homes for people in resource-rich areas that will serve residents. I urge you to move this project forward.

In addition to the urgently-needed housing, the project also delivers a number of strong community benefits including:
- Cambrian Village will deliver an abundant public green space and plaza to be used for community activation and resident use.
- The project will include commercial retail space for small-businesses to thrive in a unique public plaza surrounded by commercial shops creating a heart for the neighborhood. - The infrastructure improvements will contain 229 new bike parking spaces along with raised bike lanes along Union Ave and Camden Ave encouraging the use of green transit options. - The development team has worked with the community for five years to envision and design the Cambrian Village and has gone through multiple design changes as a result of community input and thus addressing and including the communities desires and concerns for the project.

Cambrian Village is an important project proposal that has earned the support of the the Housing Action Coalition, many residents of the neighborhood, and the City of San Jose not only because of its promise to deliver mixed- income housing, but also because of it’s robust community benefits. I urge you to move the project forward.

Caryn Graves
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From: Jennifer Michel
To: Meiners, Laura
Subject: Support Cambrian Village!
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 5:04:47 PM

City Planner Laura Meiners,
I write in strong support the San Jose Cambrian Village project. Cambrian village accomplishes the stated goals of the City of San Jose in a way very few other projects do.

The proposal will activate and enhance retail as well as, 18 acres of surface parking with 428 much-needed new homes, including 30 affordable homes and $9 million in in-lieu fees for San Jose residents who need them the most. The City of San Jose is suffering from our shared housing shortage, which is driving a displacement and affordability crisis. To solve it, we need projects like Cambrian Village that can deliver homes for people in resource- rich areas that will serve residents. I urge you to move this project forward.

In addition to the urgently-needed housing, the project also delivers a number of strong community benefits including:
- Cambrian Village will deliver an abundant public green space and plaza to be used for community activation and resident use.
- The project will include commercial retail space for small-businesses to thrive in a unique public plaza surrounded by commercial shops creating a heart for the neighborhood. - The infrastructure improvements will contain 229 new bike parking spaces along with raised bike lanes along Union Ave and Camden Ave encouraging the use of green transit options.
- The development team has worked with the community for five years to envision and design the Cambrian Village and has gone through multiple design changes as a result of community input and thus addressing and including the communities desires and concerns for the project.

Cambrian Village is an important project proposal that has earned the support of the the Housing Action Coalition, many residents of the neighborhood, and the City of San Jose not only because of its promise to deliver mixed-income housing, but also because of it’s robust community benefits. I urge you to move the project forward.

Jennifer Michel
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From: Justin Gee
To: Meiners, Laura
Subject: Support Cambrian Village!
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:44:46 AM

In addition to the urgently-needed housing, the project also delivers a number of strong community benefits including:
- Cambrian Village will deliver an abundant public green space and plaza to be used for community activation and resident use.
- The project will include commercial retail space for small-businesses to thrive in a unique public plaza surrounded by commercial shops creating a heart for the neighborhood. - The infrastructure improvements will contain 229 new bike parking spaces along with raised bike lanes along Union Ave and Camden Ave encouraging the use of green transit options.
- The development team has worked with the community for five years to envision and design the Cambrian Village and has gone through multiple design changes as a result of community input and thus addressing and including the communities desires and concerns for the project.

Cambrian Village is an important project proposal that has earned the support of the the Housing Action Coalition, many residents of the neighborhood, and the City of San Jose not only because of its promise to deliver mixed-income housing, but also because of it’s robust community benefits. I urge you to move the project forward.

Justin Gee
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From: Dave Stratman
To: Meiners, Laura; Lomio, Michael
Subject: Cambrian Park Plaza
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:52:41 AM

Hi Laura,
Thank you for your work with the developers to get the plaza annexation through the planning commission yesterday. This has been a very slow process and we're excited for this step and to be able to hopefully take advantage of the newly developed plaza sooner than later!
As you continue working with them to tweak the plans and move towards actual construction I'd recommend the following items be considered:

Restrict the "New Public Street" toward the back of the property into two sections Pragmatically the city will need a way to avoid this becoming a cut through for commute traffic.

Emergency fire/medical could pass through as could city utilities (trash/recycling), but normal cars should not be allowed past the halfway point.

Potentially some angled curb up onto a half grass, half pavers checkerboard section of the road with signage and/or flexible bollares marking the restrictions.

This would critically make it much safer for kids moving between the central grass area and the playground next to Wyrick.

Require first floor retail in all major buildings, not just the apartments in building 1.

For more of a true downtown mainstreet feel on "Main Street", both the hotel (building 2) & assisted living (building 3) on the other side of the street should have retail on the 1st floor facing building 1.

It seems the current plan only recommends/requires this in building 1. We would welcome this change even if the buildings were raised a level to accommodate.

Provide some "playable" artwork in the central plaza
We love the idea of outdoor eating and drinking for families! Being able to sit outside and allow children to play within viewing distance would be a great addition that allows more of an adult vibe to the restaurants while still welcoming families with kids (the playground is too far aways and currently requires crossing a street; see above)
For some great local examples of art/play fusion see the Pruneyard Gorrilla
climbing sculptures or Santana Row's chess board and Valencia plazas.

Overall the second incarnation of the redesign hits much closer to the mark of what the community is looking for and we're very encouraged by it. Our family is looking forward to spending our tax dollars here instead of just Campbell and Los Gatos as so many of us do today.
(I'm copying Michael from Pam Foley's office as he's been historically involved in helping

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provide community feedback to the developers).

Thanks,
-Dave Stratman

From: PlanningSupportStaff
To: Mitre, Betty
Cc: Meiners, Laura
Subject: FW: Please Approve the Cambrian Village Signature Project Date: Friday, July 22, 2022 8:51:00 AM
-----Original Message-----
From: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2022 3:19 PM
To: PlanningSupportStaff <[email protected]> Subject: FW: Please Approve the Cambrian Village Signature Project -----Original Message-----
From: Gavin Hayes
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2022 12:21 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Please Approve the Cambrian Village Signature Project [You don't often get email from . Learn why this is important at https://aka ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification
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Dear Councilmembers,
I live near Cambrian Park Plaza and am a long-time supporter of the Cambrian Village mixed-use redevelopment plan for the site.

I am writing to urge you to approve the Cambrian Village plan. Cambrian Village will revitalize this site and bring incredible community benefits to District 9 that are long overdue for the neighborhood.

Cambrian Village has taken years to plan, and it reflects what the community wants.

Please approve this Signature Project without delay.

Sincerely,
Gavin Hayes
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From: Carl Norum
To: City Clerk
Cc: Meiners, Laura
Subject: Please Approve the Cambrian Village Signature Project Date: Thursday, July 21, 2022 10:58:23 AM
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Dear Planning Commissioners,
I am a resident of Cambrian Park - I live just a block or so away from the plaza and am a long-time supporter of the Cambrian Village mixed-use redevelopment plan for the site. The existing retail has been under-utilized and terrible for years, and we really need to have the denser housing and improved outdoor space, too.

Cambrian Village will revitalize this site and bring incredible community benefits to District 9 that are long overdue for the neighborhood. I know there are a lot of vocal NIMBYs who want to stop any reasonable progress at any cost, but we can't keep placating them forever. Let's make our neighbourhood and city a brighter, better, place to live.

Please approve this project!
--
Carl Norum
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the plan's mixed-use walkability.

Please find below the evaluation from Catalyze SV's Project Advocacy Committee and a feedback form for the project.
1) Scorecard. The project scored well at 3.86 out of 5. This is above Catalyze SV's threshold - we can continue to be involved in urging this project to move forward. 2) Letter. We would also like to offer constructive comments on the project that come from our members. Especially with Catalyze SV's suggestions incorporated, we look forward to seeing this project move through the approval process to become a great asset to San Jose. 3) Feedback Form. To make it easier and quicker for you to respond point-by-point to our suggested improvements, we've prepared this feedback form. We'd like to ask Weingarten Realty Investors to use this form to respond to our comments within 60 days from today.

That would be May 10th. Is that feasible?
In the meantime, can we set up a follow-up meeting with you in March to go over our scorecard & letter and answer any questions you may have? Our Development Manager Gavin Lohry will be following up to set that up. We’ll also be asking Laura Meiners if we can follow up and chat with her.

In the coming days, we'll be adding the above scorecard & letter to our website, and the video of your presentation to our members is already on our Facebook Live page.

Thank you very much for considering our members' views on this project.

Warmly,
Alex
Alex Shoor
Executive Director
Catalyze SV
Engage: www.CatalyzeSV.org
Donate: www.CatalyzeSV.org/donate

We are very pleased the Planning Department has recommended approval of Cambrian Village in the staff report released last week. It provides an excellent overview of the project and how it supports important City planning goals. It also summarizes the unique efforts we have made with the community over many years to design this mixed-use urban village “Signature Project” for neighbors to enjoy for generations to come.

More than 600 residents have pledged support for Cambrian Village, and more than 90 letters have now been sent to the Planning Commission in support of the project.

Many stakeholder groups, including Greenbelt Alliance, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Bay Area Housing Advocacy Coalition, Catalyze SV, Bay Area Council, San Jose Chamber of Commerce and YIMBY Action are also supporting Cambrian Village.

As you may have heard, the applicant has advised the City we are doubling the number of on-site, deed-restricted affordable units that Cambrian Village will provide.

The
updated affordable housing plan now includes:

30 On-site Inclusionary Units in the mixed use building at 100% AMI An In-Lieu Fee in the approximate amount of at least $7.88M.

A Commercial Linkage Fee in the approximate amount of at least $1.13M.
27 Accessory Dwelling Units (affordable by design)

Our team would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have before the hearing tomorrow night. Feel free to contact me at ,
if you wish to meet or talk by phone.

Sincerely,

Sean Morley
Cambrian Village development team

Dear Chairperson Oliverio and Planning Commissioners,

I am writing to introduce you to the Cambrian Village Mixed-use Signature Project, which is scheduled to come to the Planning Commission on July 13th for review and recommendation on the Final EIR, Pre-zoning and Annexation applications.

We look forward to the Planning Department staff report coming out soon and presenting the mixed-use village to the Commission on July 13th.

The Cambrian Village
development team would also welcome an opportunity to meet with you before the hearing to review this unique Signature Project and address any initial questions you may have.

In the meantime, you can learn more about Cambrian Village by visiting our website at www.cambrianvillage.com
, reviewing the attached project summary, and reading
below.

Six years in the making, Cambrian Village provides a new community vision for the heart of Cambrian and a place for residents to enjoy for generations to come.

The
current site is a dated, underutilized shopping center with a sea of parking that poses an incredible opportunity for redevelopment to better serve the community.

The
mixed-use village design is based on a concept plan created by our neighbors and detailed guidelines provided by Council District 9 in 2019 following dozens of meetings and surveys in the community that started years earlier.

Since filing updated
applications in 2020, the development team and City have held several more community meetings and repeatedly refined and updated the design in response to ongoing community feedback.

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The 17.3 net acre site has been planned for people - not cars - with four acres of public open space and walking paseos linking a central park and large public plaza with small commercial shops, restaurants, and outdoor seating to four other smaller open spaces.

With 428 housing units, there are all kinds of housing opportunities including small apartments over the plaza shops (including on-site affordable units), for-sale townhomes and very small lot single-family homes, many with granny units.

A senior
assisted living building providing a full spectrum of care and a new 229 room hotel both front the central park.

A new pedestrian-friendly “Main Street” brings everything together and provides access to ample underground parking. We are of course preserving the iconic carousel, and also providing raised bike lanes, a community garden area, and space for a farmers market along with many other unique community benefits.

Over 600 nearby residents have already endorsed Cambrian Village, and the project has the support of many organizations, including: Greenbelt Alliance, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Bay Area Housing Advocacy Coalition, Catalyze SV, Bay Area Council, and San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

Should you wish to meet with the Cambrian Village development team or if you have any questions, please contact Sean Morley at

Regards,

The Cambrian Village development team

g ion (HAC)

First name Last name Email Address City State/Province State/Province Abbreviated ZIP code Country Target State Alex Storer San Jose California CA 95112 US CA
Flora Moreno de Thompson San Jose California CA 95112 US CA Salvador Figueroa San Jose California CA 95136 US CA
Kristal Caidoy San Jose California CA 95110 US CA
Deborah St Julien San Jose California CA 95136 US CA
Jonathan Gordon San Jose California CA 95112 US CA
Rosalia Estrada San Jose California CA 95134 US CA
Elizabeth Barcelos San Jose California CA 95125‐1771 US CA Faizah Armenta San Jose California CA 95136 US CA
James Marshall San Jose California CA 95125 US CA
Jeffrey Thompson San Jose California CA 95112 US CA
Jimmie Yonemoto San Jose California CA 95126 US CA
Sarah Carrillo San Jose California CA 95116 US CA
Ryan Globus San Jose California CA 95126 US CA
Johnny Le San Jose California CA 95111 US CA
Caryn Graves Berkeley California CA 94702 US CA
Brian Wheatley San Jose California CA 95118 US CA
Roman Perkis San Jose California CA 95136 US CA
Laurie Fraker El Centro California CA 92243 US CA
Ilya Gurin Mountain View California CA 94043 US CA
Ted
Fishman San Jose California CA 95123 US CA
Jimmie Yonemoto San Jose California CA 95126 US CA
Joyce Miller San Jose California CA 95123 US CA
Allan Campbell San Jose California CA 95132 US CA
Kelly Snider San Jose California CA 95126 US CA
Kevin Shlosberg San Jose California CA 95117 US CA
Sayanan Sivaraman San Jose California CA 95112 US CA
Flora Moreno de Thompson San Jose California CA 95112‐5253 US CA Allan Campbell San Jose California CA 95132 US CA
Alexa Kaskowitz San Jose California CA 95112 US CA
JEFFREY HERDMAN San Jose California CA 95129 US CA
Laurie Fraker El Centro California CA 92243 US CA
Mark Macy San Francisco California CA 94118 US CA
Elizabeth Conlan Santa Cruz California CA 95139 US CA
Neil Park ‐McClintick Cupertino California CA 95014 US CA Caryn Graves Berkeley California CA 94702
US CA

Opposition to Rezoning of Saratoga Ave from Doyle
Road to just south of Country Lane Road
San Jose 95129

We, the concerned neighbors in the Country Lane Neighborhood, object to the rezoning proposed in Files No. C22-037 and C22-039.

We strongly oppose the rezoning of existing residential housing from R-M to MUN or CP, and recommend “no” rezoning.

The new zone opens the doors to allow arcades, liquor shops, retail stores, hotels up to 75 rooms, and for the CP rezoned area, ambulance services, casinos, pawn shops, dance halls and more. This is not fitting to have so close to our homes. The CP zoning allows for zero setback!

The current structures are already dense housing and this will only get worse if the rezoning proposal is passed, which allows up to 4 story buildings up to 50 feet tall to be built.

This causes
● loss of natural sunlight to neighboring houses, which infringes on our solar rights ● loss of view of the sky and greenery when blocked by tall structures ● increase of traffic in a narrow stretch that runs directly along people’s backyards

The new zone would exacerbate
● the scarcity of parking in that region which currently already spills into the nearby streets ● noise pollution that is certain to emanate from future businesses. The allowed decib el level of the proposal is 60 dB, where permanent hearing loss can occur with 70 dB of prolonged exposure.
● light pollution from closeby businesses
● crime attracted by businesses such as liquor stores, bars, and restaurants

The new zoning along with nearby Costco plans and high density housing, would over-stress and destroy the peace and quiet of our neighborhood with businesses and clientele which congregate and commune outside. The rezoning is highly inappropriate and will destroy the character of the Country Lane neighborhood abutting the newly zoned areas.

Neighborhood citizens are increasingly frustrated and disappointed with San Jose’s decisions to increase property tax revenue at the expense of the quality of life of the current residents. We urge the council members to vote “no” on this proposal on behalf of the voting members.

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This is another important project that mixes affordable housing, retail, & market-rate housing on a walkable site. It's also right next to a VTA light-rail station and Canoas Creek Trail.

Catalyze SV members offered a lot of feasible suggestions to the developer two years ago and the developer didn’t take any of them. I’d like to ask you to incorporate the main ideas, such as:

a) provide free VTA transit passes to residents to make the transit stop here a greater success b) increase the sustainability of the project to a higher-level of environmental standard such as LEED Platinum c) activate the buildings & public space further to make it safer and more vibrant for residents & transit riders I would like to add that I live in affordable housing near transit. The free VTA SmartPass included with my apartment has been an incentive to use VTA for many trips even though I own a car. This helps reduce my carbon footprint even though I still need to use my car to haul materials for my business. Having the free pass means I don't worry about whether it's cheaper to pay for the gas than the fare, or if I'm going to ride enough to justify buying a monthly pass.

The best developments are ones in which community members like me offer constructive ideas for how we can make them better for everyone and you ensure these ideas are incorporated. Thanks for your engagement on these two projects!

Sincerely,
Kathryn Hedges
San Jose, CA 95112

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Catalyze SV members offered a lot of feasible suggestions to the developer two years ago and the developer didn’t take any of them. I’d like to ask you to incorporate the main ideas, such as:
a) provide free VTA transit passes to residents to make the transit stop here a greater success b) increase the sustainability of the project to a higher-level of environmental standard such as LEED Platinum c) activate the buildings & public space further to make it safer and more vibrant for residents & transit riders The best developments are ones in which community members like me offer constructive ideas for how we can make them better for everyone and you ensure these ideas are incorporated. Thanks for your engagement on these two projects!

Sincerely,
Courtney

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Sincerely,
Milo Trauss

right next to a VTA light-rail station and Canoas Creek Trail.

Sincerely,
Eamonn Gormley
Sent from my iPhone
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However, we are writing to you today to express our concerns over a number of issues that remain unresolved.

First, the traffic analysis in the EIR was flawed due to failure to include any analysis of traffic from Los Gatos, most notably from the North 40 phase 1 and 2 build out which is a 44 acre mixed use site. This deficiency was pointed out in January 2022, but no action was taken. It appears the City Planning Team contacted the Town of Los Gatos once in 2020 and when the team received no response, then the team just proceeded to ignore that the North 40 exists. The final EIR just states, “the town of Los Gatos never got back to San Jose on any potential developments and how they might impact traffic”. Our group believes that this crucial development should have been included in the EIR analysis and the Council must require this analysis be included.

This development will certainly generate additional car use by residents who come to live there. Given the market rate rental and purchase prices of properties at the Plaza, we believe that few new residents will work nearby and most will commute to and from their jobs. Given the lack of public transportation available at and around the Plaza, this means that most new residents will need to own cars to get to and from work, leading to increased issues of parking for the Cambrian community, congestion, pollution and general reduction of quality of life for the Cambrian Community. We recognize that the City does not directly control public transportation, but the San Jose 2040 plan contains requirements for Urban Villages and Signature Projects to ensure adequate public transportation to avoid many of these problems. We request that the Council not approve the current plan without mitigation of these issues.

Second, when this plan is approved the Plaza will be annexed into San Jose, but much of the surrounding neighborhood will remain in the County. This will require close co-operation between City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara on infrastructure such as traffic signal synchronization (7 lights in the 0.6 mile from Highway 85 to Camden Avenue), cross walks, sidewalks, street lights etc. So far, we have not observed any interaction by the City of San Jose with the County of Santa Clara to mitigate the effects this project will have on the neighboring County residents.

Last, we support the increased number of Affordable rental apartments at the Plaza. However, we would like to see these kept at 100% AMI to ensure that local public servants, such as teachers, police and fire fighters are able to live here in their community. Dropping the AMI down below 100% will disqualify many of them from being able to apply. There are numerous other Affordable Housing developments nearby that already target the 60% and lower AMI communities.

Retaining the AMI at 100% still allows those making less than 100% AMI (such as 60% AMI) to apply, so it does not disadvantage their opportunity to rent these units.

We are asking that the City follow the laws that are required for an EIR and require the Plaza EIR to include analysis of the traffic impact from the North 40. Failure to obtain this information and ignorance of this development by the present EIR does not benefit the Cambrian community. Moreover, it blatantly and openly ignores the laws we have in place to ensure that adequate environmental review is conducted of projects bearing such a significant scope in a community.

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August 9th City Council Meeting - Please Approve Cambrian Village Signature Project Laura Seaman <
Mon 8/8/2022 5:47 PM
To:City Clerk <

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Dear City Council Members,
I am a lifelong resident of San Jose, I live minutes from Cambrian Park Plaza and I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Cambrian Village mixed-use redevelopment plan for the site.

Cambrian Village will revitalize what is essentially a vacant parking lot and bring many community benefits to District 9 that are long overdue for the neighborhood, including outdoor public gathering spaces, a senior living community, and more desperately-needed housing.

Please approve this project and bring a vibrant new community benefit to the Cambrian area.

Sincerely,
Laura Seaman

San Jose City CouncilAugust 9, 2022

San Jose City Council
August 9, 2022