Outlook
FW: 9/1 Council Item: Final Adopti on Ordin ance No. 31345 - 650 Harry Rd Rezone From City Clerk <[email protected]>
Date Tue 9/1/2026 12:10 PM
To Agendadesk <[email protected]>
® 1 attachment (323 KB)
2026 09 01 SJCC 650HarryRd.pdf;
From: Lena Drape
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2026 11:31 AM
To: The Office of Mayor Matt Mahan <[email protected]>; Districtl <districtl@sanjoseca .gov>; District2 <District2@sanjoseca .gov>; District3 <[email protected]>; District4 <[email protected]>; Districts <[email protected]>; District 6 <district6@sanjoseca .gov>; District7 <[email protected]>; District8 <district8@sanjoseca .gov>; District9 <[email protected]>; District 10 <[email protected]> Cc: Andrea Mackenzie ; Marc Landgraf
>; Tu, John <john [email protected]>; City Clerk <[email protected]>; Burton, Chris <[email protected]>; Keyon, David <[email protected]>; Sandhir, Manira <[email protected]>
Subject: 9/1 Council Item: Final Adoption Ordinance No. 31345 - 650 Harry Rd Rezone [External Email. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. Learn morel Some people who received this message don't often get email from Dear Mayor Mahan and Members of the City Council,
Leam why this is important
On behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, please see the attached letter regarding considerations for the Final Adoption of Ordinance No. 31345 (650 Harry Road rezone).
Thank you,
Lena Drape
Lena (Eyen) Drape (she/her)
Conservation Policy Specialist
openspaceauthorit)l.org
Please print only if necessary.
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From: Lena Drape
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2026 4:21 PM
To:
[email protected]; SJ Councilmember D1 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D2 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D3 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D4 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D5 ([email protected]) <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D6 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D7 <[email protected]>; District8 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D9 <[email protected]>; SJ Councilmember D10 <[email protected]>
Cc: Andrea Mackenzie >; Marc
>; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; Keyon, David <[email protected]> Subject: 8/18 Council Item 10.1(a): 650 Harry Road Rezoning
Dear Mayor Mahan and Members of the City Council,
On behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, please see the attached letter regarding Item 10.1(a), the proposed rezoning of 650 Harry Road.
The Authority respectfully requests that the Council defer this item to a later date in order to address the important matters detailed in this letter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Lena Drape
Lena (Eyen) Drape (she/her)
Conservation Policy Specialist
openspaceauthority.org
Please print only if necessary.
Confidentiality Notice: This message, including any attachments, is intended to be used only by the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed. This message may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. If the reader is not the in tended recipient of this ~ PEN
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SA TAC.LARA VALLE
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SANTA CLARA VALLEY
September 1, 2026
The Honorab le Matt Mahan and City Counci l
City of San Jose
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Andrea Mackenzie, General Manager
Alex Kennett, District 1
Margie Matthews, District 2
Helen Chapman, District 3
Kathy Sutherland, District 4
Cathryn Ming Hyde, District 5
Lisanna Dominguez, District 6
Kalvin Gill, District 7
Subject: Second Reading - 6S0 Harry Road (former IBM Almaden Research Center) Dear Mayor Mahan and Members of the City Council,
On behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Author ity (Open Space Author ity), regard ing the rezone of 650 Harry Road, thank you for your interest in ensur ing the permanent long-term protect ion (e.g. conservat ion easement ) and stewardsh ip of the 565 acres of open space. As you consider fina l adopt ion of Ordinance No. 31345 to immed iately rezone this property, we ask you to consider prov iding the follow ing clarificat ions, for the benefit of the publ ic:
1. The staff report states that the Industr ial Park Zoning "would allow" the project site to be consistent with the current General Plan designat ion, implying that it is current ly inconsistent .
However, the current A(PD) zoning district is consistent with the Industr ial Park General Plan designat ion . Therefore , the City is not approv ing this rezone in order to address state requ irements ; instead it is enabling additional industr ial uses, for the benefit of future property owners . If the City waited until there was a proposed project to concurrentl y review alongside a zoning request , it would not risk inconsistency with any state laws. In fact, uses perm itted under the current PD zoning would be consistent w ith the General Plan designat ion. In summary , we ask Council to clarify that the t imeliness for this decision is solely in response to the application received by the unnamed private party , and not a necessity of state law.
2. In response to statements that the Cit y's OS zoning offers a higher level of protect ion than the current PD zoning: We ask that Counci l clarify that the OS zoning does not on ly reduce the types of perm issible uses - it also introduces new allowable uses (see Append ix). This clarification underscores the important difference between open space zoning and permanent protection ( e.g. easement) for conservation.
We appreciate Council's attent ion to the nuance and impact of this language and welcome any addit ional discussion.
Sincerely,
Andrea Mackenz ie
General Manager
Cc: Santa Clara Valley Open Space Author ity Board of Directors 33 Las Colinas Lane, San Jose, CA 95119 I 408.224.7476 T I 408.224.7548 F openspaceauthority.org
App endi x:
Current :
35 acres of General Plan: Indust rial Park
already- Zoning: Base District:
developed Agricu lture ; Overlay: Planned
site: Development
Allowabl e uses:
Research and parking uses
565 acres of General Plan: Open Space,
open space: Parklands and Habitat
Zoning: Based District :
Agricu lture ; Overlay: Planned
Development
Allowabl e uses:
Recreation on 4 acres, and
open space for the remain ing
portion of the site
P=Permitted
$=Special Use Permit
C=Conditiona l Use Permit
Atta chments:
Proposed:
General Plan: Indu strial Park
(NEW) Zoning: Industria l Park
(NEW) Allowabl e uses include :
Data center (S)
Co-generation facility (S)
Manufacturing and assembly, medium (P)
Warehou se/ distribution facility (P)
General Plan: Open Space, Parklands and
Habitat
(NEW) Zoning : Open Space
(NEW) Allowabl e uses include :
Solar photovoltaic power system (P)
Certain backup facilities (S, C)
Golf course (C)
Shoot ing range (C)
8/17/ 2026 Letter from the Open Space Authorit y to San Jose City Council 33 Las Colinas Lane, San Jose, CA 95119 I 408.224.7476 T I 408.224.7548 F I openspaceauthority.org
33 Las Colinas Lane, San Jose, CA 95119 | 408.224.7476 T | 408.224.7548 F | openspaceauthority.org
August 17, 2026
Mayor Matt Mahan
City of San José
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San José, CA 95113
Subject: Item 10.1(a) – C26-008 & ER26-088, 650 Harry Road (former IBM Almaden Research Center)
Dear Mayor Mahan and Members of the City Council,
On behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority (Open Space Authority), I write to request that Item 10.1(a) deferred to a full Council discussion, at a later date, in order to ensure that the full implications of the proposed rezone are understood by the Council and the public.
Due to the significance of this potential action, we respectfully but strongly request the following:
1. Defer this item to a full Council discussion at a later date, and provide clearer disclosure to the public about the potential implications of this decision. If Item 10.1 is approved, the following uses would be allowed on this site: “data centers, industrial, research and development, advanced manufacturing, and general office” – as is advertised on the Cushman and Wakefield 650 Harry Road marketing flyer for the sale of the approximately 600-acre property. The Planning staff report acknowledges that the proposed conforming rezone would “allow a broader range of uses,” but it does not include the clearly advertised, desired future uses for this property, in the context of ongoing City efforts to ask for community feedback on the approval of high intensity projects such as data centers.
2. Address the pending permanent protection of the 565 acre portion of open space, as directed by Council in 1999. The Open Space Authority requests the City’s implementation of action directed by the Council in December 1999 to permanently protect the approximately 565 acres of open space.
OS zoning does not equate to permanent protection.
3. Clarify that this action is not a matter of General Plan conformance, as there is no current inconsistency between the onsite development and the A(PD) Zoning District. The proposed action would preemptively enable newly allowable development uses on this site, which is a rezone. The staff report says that the IP Industrial Park Zoning “would allow the project site to be consistent with the Industrial Park and Open Space, Parklands and Habitat designation.” However, the project site is not currently inconsistent with the Industrial Park designation. The current developments on the site (i.e. IBM) strictly conform with the Planned Development Permit that conforms with the A(PD) Zoning District. Therefore, the proposed action is not to resolve a current problem – it would broaden the zoning in order to preemptively “allow additional industrial and agriculture/resource uses in conformance with the General Plan designations,” as is stated in the staff report.
Andrea Mackenzie, General Manager
Alex Kennett, District 1
Margie Matthews, District 2
Helen Chapman, District 3
Kathy Sutherland, District 4
Cathryn Ming Hyde, District 5
Lisanna Dominguez, District 6
Kalvin Gill, District 7
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4. A rezone request should occur in tandem with a project application. According to the informat ion available to Counci l and the pub lic, there is no reason that this site must be rezoned before a project applicat ion is subm itted. W hile rezoning the property now would increase the perceived developab ility and therefore sale value of the site to future developers, it would come at the expense of transparency and the type of commun ity engagement that the City is seeking to faci litate for these types of project s.
5. Evaluate the applicability of SB 131 exemptions for this site if rezoned to Industrial Park. Once rezoned to Industria l Park, it may be immed iate ly eligible for SB 131 (2025) exempt ions, w hich eliminate environmenta l review. The City's CEQA Analysis predated the passage of SB 131; therefore , before approv ing this rezone, the City must evaluate the app licability of SB 131 on this site.
Thank you for you r attent ion to the details of this important decision.
Sincerely ,
Andrea Mackenz ie
General Manager
Cc: Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority Board of Directors 33 Las Colinas Lane, San Jose, CA 95119 I 408.224.7476 T I 408.224.7548 F I openspaceauthority.org