You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important From: Mayor and Council
Cc: Clerk; Vinh Nguyen; Nora Pimentel
Subject: FW: Revised El Camino Real Plan Goes to Council May 19 Date: Sunday, May 17, 2026 4:33:19 PM
Attachments: image001.png
Dear Mayor & Council:
We have received the following correspondence in the general inbox which we are forwarding for your reference.
Maria Le
Mayor & Council Office
1500 Warburton Avenue | Santa Clara, CA 95050
Main: 408-615-5517
Mobile: 669-243-8467
From: Jeff Houston <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2026 5:45 PM
To: Mayor and Council <[email protected]> Cc: Mathew Reed <[email protected]>; Betsy Megas <[email protected]>; Santa Clara Housing Advocates <[email protected]>
Subject: Revised El Camino Real Plan Goes to Council May 19
Honorable Mayor and Council,
Santa Clara Community Advocates grew out of a series of resident-led walking tours along El Camino Real beginning in 2016. Bringing together affordable housing, bicycle, and environmental advocates, our goal was to engage the community in envisioning a people-centered, bike-friendly, transit-rich mixed-use corridor — one that was forward-looking while responsive to Santa Clara's needs today. We have remained active in the planning process ever since, and strongly supported the original plan in 2022.
The plan before you is the product of a multi-year process involving numerous public meetings, substantial community input, and Council direction. We believe there are elements that could be strengthened, but we encourage the Council to support its adoption.
El Camino Real is a critical transportation and commercial corridor. This planning process was undertaken to significantly expand the corridor's residential capacity, reduce auto dependence, and optimize the use of existing transit resources. The plan makes meaningful progress toward those goals: it establishes a framework of higher- density residential and commercial activity nodes, clear objective design guidelines, and a planning area EIR. It also integrates multimodal transportation infrastructure and takes a forward-looking approach to shared parking.
Our remaining concerns are as follows:
Housing capacity reduction: The plan reduces corridor housing capacity by approximately 2,000 homes — roughly 30% below the original plan — resulting in little net change from pre-process zoning.
Unprecedented restrictive shadow plane standard: The plan imposes a 30-degree shadow plane — compared to the 45-degree national standard — to address single-family interface concerns. We believe this will significantly constrain development with limited practical benefit.
Corridor Residential minimum density: The new Corridor Residential zoning sets a minimum of 26 dwelling units per acre (du/a). We are concerned this could inadvertently permit high-density townhouse development, and recommend raising the minimum to 30 du/a.
Corridor Residential – Low designation: This new category permits densities below what is currently being built in the corridor, and we question its inclusion in a forward-looking plan.
Area plans offer a valuable opportunity to embed best practices from the start. We urge continued attention to shared parking, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and policies that accommodate micro-unit development within current design standards.
We deeply appreciate the years of work City staff have dedicated to this plan, including their commitment to robust community engagement and their patience through multiple rounds of revision. We respect the integrity of this process and ask for the Council's unanimous support.
Regards,
Jeff Houston, Chair Santa Clara Community Advocates
(510) 697-4796
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: City of Santa Clara <[email protected]
>
Date: Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Subject: Revised El Camino Real Plan Goes to Council May 19
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View the El Camino Specific Plan Webpage
Santa Clara City News
El Camino Specific Plan
On April 8, 2026, the Planning Commission made a recommendation to the City Council who on May 19, 2026, will consider the adoption of the Revised El Camino Real Specific Plan, creation of the El Camino Real Zoning Districts, and an Environmental Impact Report and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.
The revised Specific Plan implements the General Plan’s goals and policies for the El Camino Real Focus Area and establishes the land use and development regulations for the Plan Area.
Its adoption will allow up to 4,390 residential units along the corridor, establish fine- grained land use designations and detailed land use policy beyond those in the General Plan, and provide objective design standards to regulate new development projects.
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