1500 Warburton Avenue ● Santa Clara, CA 95050 ● Phone: 408-615-2200 ● Fax: 408-241-6771 ● SantaClaraCA.gov Lisa M. Gillmor
Mayor
June 9, 2025
Councilmember Michael Mulcahy
San José City Councilmembers
City Manager’s Office
City of San José
200 E Santa Clara St.
San José, CA 95113
Re: Santa Clara District 6 Resident Feedback and Opposition to 826 N. Winchester Project
June 10, 2025 City Council Agenda Item 10.3 GP23 -011: Early Consideration for Denial for a Privately-Initiated General Plan Amendment to Change the Envision San José 2040 General Plan Land Use/Transportation Diagram from Neighborhood/Community Commercial to Transit Residential for Property Located at 826 North Winchester Boulevard
Dear Councilmember Mulcahy, Councilmembers, and City Manager Maguire:
We are writing to you today as elected representatives of the City of Santa Clara; Vice Mayor Kelly Cox, Councilmember for District 6, and Mayor Lisa Gillmor, to express our strong opposition to the proposed development at 826 N Winchester Blvd. This opposition reflects the overwhelming feedback we have received from Santa Clara residents who live directly adjacent to this site. While this is not an official position of the City of Santa Clara as a whole, we feel it is our responsibility to clearly communicate the unified concerns voiced by our constituents.
Over the past several weeks, we have received a significant volume of input from Santa Clara District 6 residents who would be directly impacted by this project due to its proximity to their homes and to our shared corridors along Winchester Blvd, Hedding St, and Pruneridge Ave. Comments have been remarkably consistent and nearly unanimous in opposition. Common themes raised by residents include:
• Scale and Compatibility: The proposed 17-story structure is entirely out of character with the surrounding 1- and 2-story residential neighborhood. Santana Row’s tallest structures are only 8 stories high and are situated in a designated urban district. This is neither a transit hub nor an urban village area.
• Traffic and Safety: Residents have voiced serious concerns about increased traffic congestion on already burdened corridors, particularly near sensitive populations such as the nearby senior community. Additional concerns include pedestrian and cyclist safety, insufficient parking, and neighborhood cut-through traffic.
• Infrastructure Strain: There is significant concern about the strain this project would place on shared infrastructure, including emergency response capabilities, utilities, and parking spillover into Santa Clara streets.
Re: Santa Clara District 6 Resident Feedback and Opposition to 826 N Winchester Project June 9, 2025
Furthermore, San Jos é city staff in their staff report to the S an José Planning Commission did not support the project as it requires a change to the General Plan noting many inconsistencies but most specifically with their Focused Growth Major Strategy that concentrates new growth in defined areas (of which this site is not one) and to preserve the quality of established neighborhoods.
We want to emphasize that Santa Clara is supportive of thoughtful, well-planned housing that enhances the livability and sustainability of our shared region. The need for more housing is clear, and Santa Clara has embraced this challenge by nearly doubling our RHNA obligations and actively working to build balanced communities. Our residents are not opposed to well- integrated housing solutions.
However, this proposal does not reflect sound, balanced planning for a transitional neighborhood of this type. The proposed height and density are not appropriate for this location and would have direct, negative impacts on adjacent Santa Clara neighborhoods.
Lastly, several residents expressed disappointment that the San Jos é Planning Commission meeting record did not include formal input from the City of Santa Clara. While we fully understand that this process falls within San Jos é’s jurisdiction, we also believe that collaboration on shared corridors, historically valued between our two cities, should include more intentional dialogue regarding impacts on neighboring communities. We take responsibility for not submitting input ahead of that meeting and want to ensure that Santa Clara’s perspective is now clearly on the record.
In that spirit, we would like to sincerely acknowledge and thank Councilmember Michael Mulcahy and San José staff member Jason Lee for engaging in open and collaborative conversations with us on this topic. Their willingness to communicate exemplifies the type of intercity dialogue that can help us all move forward in good faith.
Together, we respectfully ask that you take this collective opposition from Santa Clara’s District 6 residents, and our shared position as elected representatives, into account as you deliberate on this project. The residents we represent are passionate about protecting the character, livability, and safety of their neighborhoods. We stand with them in urging San José to deny this rezoning request and high- rise proposal at this location.
We want to be clear that our intent is not to oppose all housing on this site. There is strong interest in working collaboratively with the City of San Jos é to support a more context -sensitive, appropriately scaled project that meets both regional housing needs and community compatibility goals.
We remain available for further discussion and sincerely hope to foster a collaborative approach to ensure that future development is compatible with the needs of both of our communities.
Sincerely,
Lisa M. Gillmor, Mayor Kelly Cox, Vice-Mayor
City of Santa Clara City of Santa Clara, District 6
cc: San José City Council San José Planning Commission San José City Manager’s Office Santa Clara City Council