Willow Glen Resident

News

Sobrato asks city to change General Plan so 900 units can be built

By Alicia Upano

Sobrato Development is back to where it began two years ago--trying to change the zoning from industrial to high-density housing on 21.5 acres on Lincoln Avenue .

When Sobrato first proposed the General Plan amendment, the community wanted to participate in the process. After numerous meetings with neighbors, Sobrato brought its plans to the San Jose Planning Commission on March 28 and received 6-1 approval. The issue goes next to the San Jose City Council for approval.

Sobrato has owned the multi-acre lot bounded by Auzerais and Lincoln avenues, Interstate 280 and Race Street since the 1980s. Industrial buildings on the site have sat vacant for nearly six years, said Eric Morley of the Morley Bros., a partner in the project. The developer wants to build nearly 900 rental units on the property over the next decade, including 180 affordable units. The site is divided by the light rail line, which planners hope will be used by the project's future residents.

Development plans also include a 5,000-square-foot retail area, which is being designed to create a stronger connection between the Willow Glen and San Carlos business districts. The project would accommodate three to four small stores and business parking.

Burbank/Del Monte Neighborhood Advisory Committee president Randi Kinman told the commission she was excited about the project, but that's not how it began.

"When Sobrato came to us a couple years ago proposing 1,000 units of high-density housing in an area that was already blighted because of poor planning and infrastructure, we weren't exactly excited in a good way," Kinman said, "but we are in favor of this project because we feel it's going to benefit our community."

Kinman points to Sobrato's willingness to slow down the process in order to work with the neighborhood. The collaboration created a project that accomplished a number of goals, Kinman said, including an increase in affordable housing, street improvements and funding for parks.

While the commission voted unanimously to certify the Environmental Impact Report, which studies the development's impact on its surroundings, Commissioner James Zito was the only member to vote against the General Plan amendment. Zito said the Sobrato project was good overall, but he was concerned about 148 units that will be only a few hundred feet from Interstate 280.

Morley said these residences will differ from the rest of the project in that those units will have sealed windows and the air would have to be filtered throughout the units in order to shield residents from freeway noise and air pollution.

An alternative solution, according to the Environmental Impact Report, would be to build those units further from the freeway, but it would add two stories to the proposed three- to four-story buildings.

While Zito found the alternative "environmentally superior," Morley said the mitigation--inoperable windows and filtered air--made the impacts "less than significant." These measures are commonly used at developments in the area, he said.

Zito still thought the inoperable windows set a bad precedent and downgraded the quality of the units in the long term.

Along with reviewing the General Plan amendment, the city council will study the project in depth while considering a planned development permit in May.