TO: COMMUNITY AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FROM: Christopher Burton
SUBJECT: Citywide Planning Activities
Semi-Annual Status Report
DATE: October 13, 2026
Approved Date:
10/14/26
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the semi-annual status report on Citywide planning activities, including Urban Village planning and aligning zoning with the General Plan.
BACKGROUND
The Citywide Planning team manages and supports land use policy and ordinance efforts within Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement (PBCE), including the evolution and implementation of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan, adoption and implementation of the Housing Element, area and specific plans, and urban villages. In addition, the Citywide Planning team is responsible for the City's ordinances and policies that relate to land use and urban planning, including the Zoning Ordinance, Sign Ordinance, Citywide Design Standards and Guidelines, and various City Council Policies. The team is also responsible for monitoring and maintaining data relating to permits and development in the City, forecasting development trends to inform the City’s Budget, and monitoring and responding to both pending and recently adopted state legislation. Much of the Citywide Planning team’s work is mandated by state law, such as the Housing Element, or implementing new state laws such as ongoing updates around Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Other work plan items for the team includes Council’s priorities, such as changes to the Zoning Ordinance to implement process improvements and establish a clear local regulatory framework for development.
This update on Citywide planning activities is provided semi-annually to the Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee in the spring and fall. This report will focus on the work completed since the April CED Committee update and work in progress. Staff will provide a verbal update on the outcome of City Council action at the October 20, 2026, City Council meeting on the Citywide Planning Work Plan Prioritization item that will determine the team’s work plan through the end of calendar year 2027. Depending on direction from City Council on October 20, 2026, the CED Committee may receive annual updates on this topic in April, with the full Council CED COMMITTEE AGENDA: 10/26/26
ITEM: (d)3
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
evaluating the Citywide Planning team’s work plan in November starting with FY 2027- 2028.
ANALYSIS
Projects managed by the Citywide Planning team vary in duration and resource needs but are typically lengthy efforts because of the extensive research, analysis, mapping, outreach, stakeholder coordination, and public hearing requirements associated with such legislative and policy actions that can affect wide swaths of the City. For example, minor ordinance updates could be completed within six months, but a General Plan update or creation of an Urban Village Plan may be a multi-year process.
In FY 2025-2026, the Citywide Planning team completed or made significant progress on the following major efforts:
• General Plan Four-Year Review process and outreach;
• Housing Element action items such as group homes, reasonable accommodations, updating permit findings, and Senate Bill 9 expansion zoning updates;
• Senate Bill 79 analysis and industrial exclusion ordinance; and • Progress toward completion of the Eastside Alum Rock, Saratoga, and Five Wounds Urban Village Plans
In the current fiscal year, the Citywide Planning team’s focus remains on completing the General Plan Four-Year Review and implementing Housing Element actions to ensure San José meets state housing requirements, retains access to funding, and lays the groundwork for the next Housing Element cycle. Limited staffing and significant statedriven deadlines require prioritization of core initiatives over projects that are not driven by an outside mandate and where the City has more flexibility in determining timelines.
Citywide 2031 Horizon Work Plan
The Citywide Planning team continues to make progress on the significant major projects identified from now until January 2031 that will dominate its work plan to maintain compliance with state law and, in particular, a compliant and timely 7th Cycle Housing Element. Given the size and scope of these items, some work can be done concurrently, but some must be done sequentially.
Current Major Initiatives (In progress):
1. Continued implementation of the 6th Cycle Housing Element, such as:
a. Downtown Ministerial Ordinance
b. Five Wounds Urban Village Plan
2. General Plan Element Updates
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
a. Safety Element
b. Open Space and Environmental Justice
3. General Plan Four-Year Review Updates
a. Policy Amendments such as missing middle housing, updating residential capacity, updates to Urban Village strategy (e.g., streamlined Neighborhood Urban Village planning process), and modifications to Public/Quasi-Public land use designation
b. Environmental Impact Report
4. Continued Focus Area Work, such as:
a. Minimum Downtown densities
b. Ordinance Amendments focused on state mandates and multiple Council and Department priorities such as childcare and vape shops
5. Transit Oriented Communities
6. Urban Villages
a. Eastside Alum Rock
b. Saratoga Ave/West San Jose Urban Village
Future (FY27/28 & beyond):
7. Continued work on General Plan Four-Year Review
8. Open Space, Safety and Environmental Justice Elements (Tri-Element Update)
9. 7th Cycle Housing Element
10.Small multi-family and Other Design Standard Updates
11.Ongoing Zoning Ordinance amendments
Work Plan Workload Analysis
The Citywide Planning team has five subgroups that focus on a specific area of work and include the following: (1) Housing Element & Housing Policy; (2) General Plan & Data Analytics; (3) Ordinances & Policy; (4) Citywide Special Projects/Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Compliance; (5) Urban Village Planning. The Citywide team has 16 planners and also relies on consultants for outreach and technical analysis. There are currently two vacancies; recruitment is underway to fill a new Planner I/II/III position on the Ordinance & Policy team that was approved in the FY 2026-2027 budget and to fill a vacant Planner IV position on the Housing Element & Housing Policy team.
As part of the FY 2026–2027 Adopted Budget, the City Council approved the Mayor’s June Budget Message, which incorporated Manager’s Budget Addendum (MBA) #24, Citywide Planning – Workplan, Potential New Planning Efforts, and Funding Strategies.
MBA #24 provided a detailed response to the Mayor’s March Budget Message that directed staff to evaluate and advance several new planning work efforts. MBA #24 recommended as part of the FY 2027–2028 Budget process, that staff will evaluate long-term staffing and funding needs based on a comprehensive review of the work plan. This work is underway.
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
Staff analysis in MBA #24 found that the FY 2026–2027 work plan represented 126 percent of available staff capacity before accounting for new policy work items added during the budget process. This overage represented a workload equivalent of approximately 4.3 additional planner positions. At the same time, approximately 90 percent of the work plan was driven by State mandates or implementation of State requirements, limiting staff’s ability to take on additional Council priorities without affecting existing commitments. Staff committed to return to Council in the first part of FY 2026–2027 with a framework for work plan prioritization that clearly identifies the choices, tradeoffs, risks, and schedule implications needed to align the Citywide Planning work plan with available resources. The prioritization item is scheduled for October 20, 2026, City Council meeting and covers staff time from October 2026 through December 2027. The item will include a framework that is intended to support City Council in making choices about the Citywide Planning work plan, including which items should proceed, be deferred, narrowed in scope, sequenced differently, or potentially removed. Staff will present the updated Citywide Planning Work Plan based on City Council action at the October 20, 2026, meeting.
The Citywide Planning team is in the process of transitioning to new project management software that will be used for project planning, tracking, and resource allocation. The software will provide a detailed view of active and planned projects, with the ability to use dynamic data to predict schedule changes, identify areas where additional staff resources may be necessary, and show how new projects or changes in project scopes could impact other projects within the overall portfolio. Staff is currently completing initial setup and expect full functionality by Q3 FY 2026-2027.
The following sections describe the Citywide Planning team’s efforts by subgroup, providing greater detail on work that has been completed and is currently underway.
General Plan & Data Analytics
The General Plan team is responsible for maintaining and updating the Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan, data and maps relating to development, and forecasting development trends. The team’s focus for the upcoming year is implementing portions of the Four-Year Review Policy Framework, as well as initiating work on the Safety Element, Open Space Element, and the new Environmental Justice Element.
Since the last reporting period, the General Plan team continued co-leading the FourYear Review Task Force process. This included presenting analyses and recommendations for multiple task force meetings, conducting extensive stakeholder and community outreach, as well as presenting staff’s Four-Year Review Policy Framework to the Planning Commission and City Council.
The main focus of the General Plan team through this and the first half of the next fiscal year will be the updates and environmental review associated with the General Plan Four-Year Review Updates. In addition, the Tri-Element Update is an important state-
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
mandated priority that will need to be resumed in order to meet the City’s legal obligations. In addition, the team also has ongoing projects such as the General Plan Annual Report, seven privately initiated general plan amendments, and the Five-Year Development Forecast. The following table describes the team’s major projects:
Table 1: Completed Since April 2026 CED Update
General Plan FourYear Review Task
Force process
Evaluation of significant changes in the planning context and achievement of key General Plan goals, Present recommendations to Task Force and City Council on increase in residential capacity, Missing Middle Strategy, UV strategies and J/ER.
Priority: State Law Completed: August 2026
General Plan Annual
Report 2025
State- and GP 2040 required annual report that analyzes and tracks progress on Major Strategies and implementation actions of GP 2040.
Priority: State Law Completed: May 2026
Privately Initiated
GPA
Review of privately initiated General Plan Amendment applications, including the processing of one Early Consideration Hearing.
Priority:
City Priority
Completed:
September 2026
Housing Element & Housing Policy
The Housing Element & Housing Policy team is tasked with implementation of the City’s Housing Element and annual reporting related to progress on the Housing Element. The team maintains housing production data and implements additional policies related to housing, including recently leading initial analysis of Senate Bill 79. The team will continue to focus on Council-directed items from the General Plan Four-Year Review, which will necessitate substantial amendments to the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance based on City Council action. Further development of the missing middle housing program is also included. Additionally, the team will focus on updating City Council Policy 6-30, Outreach Policy for Pending Land Use and Development Projects.
The work on the General Plan Four-Year Review updates is anticipated to finish by December 2027, contingent upon City Council’s action on the Citywide Planning Work Plan on October 20, 2026. In January 2028, the team will immediately need to pivot to the 7th Cycle Housing Element with targeted completion in June 2030 and a statutory due date of January 2031.
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
The following represents completed work for the Housing Element & Housing Policy team:
Table 2: Completed since April 2026 CED Update
General Plan Four
Year Review Task
Force process
Evaluation of significant changes in the planning context and achievement of key General Plan goals, Present recommendations to Task Force and City Council on increase in residential capacity, Missing Middle Strategy, Urban Village strategies and Jobs to Employed Resident ratio.
Priority: State Law Completed: August 2026
Reasonable
Accommodation
Zoning Update
Remove barriers to the Reasonable Accommodate process in which persons with disabilities may request exceptions from zoning and building standards
Priority:
Housing Element
Completed:
September 2026
Housing Element
Annual Progress
Report/ Housing
Catalyst Team Work
Plan Update
Required annual progress report on implementation to the Department of Housing and Community Development along with annual Housing Catalyst Team Work Plan Update.
Priority:
Housing Element
Completed:
April 2026
Ordinances & Policy Updates
The Ordinance and Policy update team is responsible for updating the zoning ordinance, sign ordinance, and City Council policies on land use; reviewing and responding to pending and recently adopted state legislation; and monitoring emerging trends and needs to identify potential updates. This team is also responsible for assisting with zoning and sign code interpretations and training staff on new requirements. In addition, this team coordinates with departments such as Police, Fire, Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, and Public Works on overlapping policy areas such as digital wayfinding, temporary outdoor events, wildfire prevention requirements, and cannabis regulation.
In recent years, addressing new state legislation and other state mandated work has become a significant workload for this team. City priorities, such as the zoning ordinance update to address vape shops, have been either delayed or indefinitely backlogged. For example, in the prior fiscal year Senate Bill 79 required substantial analysis and generated two new ordinance updates that are either led or assisted by the Ordinance and Policy team. Some years result in a lighter ordinance update workload from the state, but there is always a body of work to conduct analysis and coordination with the City Manager’s Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations as bills progress through the state legislature. Staff is currently evaluating the impact of bills signed by the governor to determine the extent of zoning code updates that will be needed this fiscal year. The team also leads appropriate code technical revisions and improvements to refine the development review process; however, this work has been slower in recent years as the need for zoning updates to address state
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
mandates has increased. The exact workload is challenging to predict; however, every year staff assumes there will be some workload generated by the state for this team, while prioritizing City Council and department priorities to the extent feasible for improving the development review process. The following represents completed work for the ordinance and policy team:
Table 3:Completed since April 2026 CED Update
Update Standard
Permit Findings
Update the required permit findings in the Zoning Ordinance so that housing projects are only subject to uniform, objective findings.
Priority:
Housing Element
Completed:
June 2026
State Law
Compliance/
Maintenance
Zoning Update
2026
Update to address recent state laws, such as daycares being a permitted use in multi-family buildings, minor changes to Junior Accessory Dwelling Units standards, allowing Senate Bill 9 subdivisions on historic properties, and other zoning maintenance updates.
Priority:
State Law
Completed:
June 2026
Citywide Special Projects/Transit Oriented Communities Compliance The Citywide Special Projects/Transit Oriented Communities team’s primary responsibility is implementation of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) policy. This policy requires the City to adopt minimum and maximum residential density and office floor area ratio (FAR) requirements within a half-mile of 54 transit stations in or adjacent to San José .
Compliance with the policy is required to access future discretionary funding, such as the One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) program, from which the City has received millions of dollars in the past.
The team has received approval of approximately $1.4 million in grant funding for this work from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Valley Transportation Authority. The grant funding focuses on 26 stations where the market is strongest and/or where the City is planning to seek transportation funding. The team will first complete an analysis of existing density and FAR compliance, then formulate potential strategies for compliance such as overlays, targeted amendments, and combined area plans. Options may be presented to the CED Committee and/or the City Council. A preferred approach will be selected and then implemented. This is expected to take two to three years, depending on the California Environmental Quality Act clearance path, meaning this team’s work is largely allocated through FY 2027-2028.
The station areas covered by the TOC policy overlap with many unplanned urban villages, Senate Bill 79 eligible areas, and other policy work focused around transit stations; therefore, the team regularly evaluates ways to consolidate TOC planning with other related work. Staff identified that the General Plan Four-Year Review direction to create a transit area commercial overlay significantly overlaps with the need to create
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
October 13, 2026
Subject: Citywide Planning Activities Semi-Annual Status Report
minimum commercial office floor area ratio requirements to conform to the TOC policy, so the TOC team has taken the lead on that work. Further, the team is assisting with the effort to establish downtown minimum densities, as this is both City Council direction and a requirement of the TOC policy.
Urban Village Planning
The Urban Village Planning team is responsible for creating new Urban Village plans and updating existing ones. The team is currently working to finalize the Five Wounds Urban Village Plan update, which is now targeted for completion in late fall 2026. The team is in the drafting stages of the Eastside Alum Rock Urban Village Plans, which are expected to go to City Council in early 2027 after additional outreach in the fall or winter.
Staff is working on the Saratoga Avenue Urban Village Plan, which is on track for completion concurrent with the General Plan Four-Year Review Updates, as CEQA clearance is being addressed through that process. Community touchpoints will continue to be scheduled for the Saratoga Avenue Urban Village Plan, with the next meeting scheduled for November 9, 2026, to focus on parks and open space. The team has also begun preliminary work on the Neighborhood Villages strategy, which is part of the direction from the General Plan Four-Year Review.
/s/
Christopher Burton
Director, Planning, Building, and Code
Enforcement
For questions, please contact Martina Davis, Division Manager, Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, at [email protected] or (408) 535-7888.