RESOLUTION NO. _____
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
ADOPTING AN AMENDMENT TO THE GENERAL PLAN TO REMOVE THE LAWRENCE STATION PHASE II FOCUS AREA, THE CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY AND DE LA CRUZ FUTURE FOCUS AREAS, AND MAKE ASSOCAITED TEXT AND DIAGRAM EDITS WHEREAS, a General Plan Amendment is required to remove the Lawrence Station Phase II Focus Area, and the Central Expressway and De La Cruz Future Focus Areas; WHEREAS, the amendment will revise the text and land use diagrams associated with the subject Focus Areas.
WHEREAS, the City Council certified the Environmental Impact Report for the 2010-2035 General Plan on November 16, 2010 (the “General Plan EIR”); WHEREAS, thereafter, the City Council adopted a series of environmental review documents that were prepared for subsequent amendments to the General Plan that affected housing development in the City, including but not limited to the December 2013 Climate Action Plan Negative Declaration; the February 2016 Mission Town Center EIR; the 2016 Related Santa Clara EIR; the November 2016 Lawrence Station Area Plan EIR; the July 2018 575 Benton Project Addendum; the July 2019 Gateway Crossings EIR; the March 2022 Patrick Henry Drive Specific Plan EIR; the June 2022 Climate Action Plan Addendum; and the June 2022 Freedom Circle Future Focus Areas EIR (collectively, the ”Subsequent Documents”); WHEREAS, on January 31, 2023, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 23-9188, adopting an Addendum to the General Plan Environmental Impact Report, as addended by the Subsequent Documents, for adoption of the sixth Cycle Housing Element (2023-2031), which considered the removal of the subject Focus Areas from the General Plan (the “2023 Addendum”); WHEREAS, Santa Clara City Charter Section 1007 requires that the Planning Commission provide input to the City Council on any proposed General Plan Amendment; WHEREAS, Government Code Section 65353 requires the Planning Commission to hold a public hearing prior to making a recommendation on the General Plan Amendment; WHEREAS, on April 2, 2025, a notice of the public hearing on the proposed General Plan Amendment was published in the Santa Clara Weekly, a newspaper of general circulation for the City, for the Planning Commission Hearing to be conducted on April 16, 2025, and for the City Council Hearing to be conducted on May 27, 2025; WHEREAS, on April 16, 2025, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing to consider the proposed revisions to the General Plan during which the Planning Commission invited and considered any and all verbal and written testimony and evidence offered in favor and in opposition to the General Plan Amendment; and WHEREAS, on May 27, 2025, the City Council conducted a duly noticed public meeting to considered the proposed General Plan Amendment and considered all verbal and written testimony and evidence offered in favor and in opposition to the General Plan Amendment; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA AS FOLLOWS:
1. That the foregoing recitals are true and correct and are incorporated by reference into this action.
2. That the City Council hereby finds and determines that the General Plan Amendment is in the interest of the public good for the following reasons:
A. The proposed Amendment is deemed to be in the public interest, in that the update will more accurately reflect development projections in response to shifting market conditions, as other focus areas have moved forward, additional housing developments have been proposed outside of focus areas, and the three areas in question have continued to effectively serve industrial and research and development (R&D) users; B. The proposed Amendment is consistent and compatible with the rest of the City’s General Plan and any implementation programs that may be affected, in that the proposed removal of the three focus areas is consistent with the existing uses and land use designations, the focus areas are not necessary to achieve the City’s regional housing needs allocation and the sites are not listed on the adopted Housing Element Sites Inventory; and the Amendment does not increase development capacity and does not introduce new or revised policies or programs under the General Plan, as amended.
C. The proposed amendment has been processed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the California Government Code and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), in that the impacts of the deletion of the focus areas were considered in the 2023 Addendum, which concluded that the proposal would not require major revisions to the General Plan EIR as addended and would not cause new or substantially more severe significant impacts, and that there was no new information of substantial importance that identified new or more severe significant impacts than those identified in the General Plan EIR and the Subsequent Documents; D. The potential impacts of the proposed General Plan Amendment have been assessed and have been determined not to be detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare, in that the proposed Amendment would merely continue the existing land uses on the affected properties. The impacts of the deletion of the focus areas have been disclosed through the CEQA process, and the Planning Commission has determined that any impacts from the proposed revisions remain within the scope of the General Plan EIR, as addended.
3. The City Council amend Figure 5.2-2 (Land Use Diagram Phase II: 2015-2023) of Section 5.3 (“Land Use”) of Chapter 5 (“Goals and Policies”) of the 2010-2035 General Plan by modifying the land use designations for the properties South of Central Expressway, West of Lawrence Expressway, and North of Kifer Road, to reflect their current land use designation, Light Industrial.
4. The City Council amend Figure 5.2-3 (Land Use Diagram Phase III: 2023-2035) of Section 5.3 (“Land Use”) of Chapter 5 (“Goals and Policies”) of the 2010-2035 General Plan by (1) modifying the land use designations for the properties South of Central Expressway, West of Lawrence Expressway, and North of Kifer Road, to reflect their current land use designation, Light Industrial; (2) modifying the land use designations for the properties North of the Caltrain tracks, South of the 101 freeway, West of San Tomas Aquino Creek and East of Bowers Avenue that are shown as High Density Residential to reflect their current land use designation, Light Industrial; and (3) modifying the land use designations for the properties north of West Trimble Road, East of De La Cruz Boulevard, West of the Guadalupe River, and South of Eastwood Circle that are shown as Medium Density Residential to reflect their current land use designations: Light Industrial, Heavy Industrial, and Low Intensity Office/R&D.
5. That the City Council amend Figure 5.4-1 ("Focus Areas (2035)") of Section 5.4 (“Focus Areas”) of Chapter 5 (“Goals and Policies”) of the 2010-2035 General Plan to reflect the above changes.
6. That the City Council amend Section 5.4.7 (“Future Focus Areas Goals and Policies”) of Chapter 5 (“Goals and Policies”) of the 2010-2035 General Plan by revising the bulleted list after the first paragraph to delete “Central Expressway” and “De La Cruz”. ///
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7. Effective date. This resolution shall become effective immediately.
I HEREBY CERTIFY THE FOREGOING TO BE A TRUE COPY OF A RESOLUTION PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, AT A REGULAR MEETING THEREOF HELD ON THE 27th DAY OF MAY, 2025, BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: COUNCILORS:
NOES: COUNCILORS:
ABSENT: COUNCILORS:
ABSTAINED: COUNCILORS:
ATTEST: ______________________________
NORA PIMENTEL, MMC
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
CITY OF SANTA CLARA
Attachments incorporated by reference:
1. Map of Focus Areas and Removal Areas
2. General Plan Chapter 5.4, Focus Areas Clean
3. General Plan Chapter 5.4, Focus Areas Markup
FILENAME \p I:\PLANNING\Advance Planning\GP Phase III Amendment\CC\City Council General Plan Amendment Resolution.doc Resolution/General Plan Amendment – Removal of Three Focus Areas Page PAGE 1 of 2 Rev: 7/27/2023
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Rev: 03-09-10; Typed: *Insert date