Politics & Government
San Jose Considers Annexation For Dozens Of Townhomes
At its Aug. 8 meeting, the council set a date for Aug. 22 to formally annex the land.
August 3, 2023
San Jose officials are considering annexing a piece of land in Santa Clara County to pave the way for a developer to build townhomes on the west side of the city.
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The True Life Companies, a Denver-based developer, is proposing to demolish 14 residential buildings which contain 30 rental homes to make way for 41 townhomes and 17 accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs or granny flats.
The project is being eyed for a 2-acre group of parcels at 2323-2391 Moorpark Ave., backing up to Interstate 280 near Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
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To make the project possible, the San Jose City Council needs to annex the property from the county, zone it and approve environmental impact documents as well as development permits.
At its Aug. 8 meeting, the council will decide whether to approve “prezoning” the land, the environmental review, and set a date for Aug. 22 to formally annex the land. An approval would signal support for the project, though a development permit would still need to be approved at a later date at a planning director’s hearing.
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The existing vacant buildings on the site are bounded by fencing and tagged up with graffiti. Pierluigi Oliverio, a planning commissioner for District 6, said multiple proposals have been considered for the plot of land over the past decade, and nearby residents will likely be happy to see a project moving forward.
“Being across from the hospital near Bascom Avenue and with bus lines in both directions, it’s a development area that could tolerate more density,” Oliverio told San José Spotlight. “Some of this stuff finally coming together will put people at ease, as opposed to what some people might view as blight.”
To make way for the project, all the existing homes, which are already vacant, as well as “several storage buildings, carports, paving, and landscaping” will be demolished, city reports said.
The new townhomes would be built across five 3-story buildings, with 2- and 3-bedroom models ranging in size from roughly 1,100 square feet to 1,800 square feet with attached two-car garages.
Seventeen townhomes would include attached 1-bedrooms or studio ADUs on the ground floor, which would be reserved as affordable rentals for people earning very low and low incomes, city reports said.
In Santa Clara County, a family of four earning up to $89,000 annually is considered a very low-income household, while a family of four earning up to $137,000 annually is considered low-income.
Those affordable small rentals would serve as required “replacement units” for the existing homes the city determined as protected under the state’s Housing Crisis Act of 2019.
The developer would also dedicate nearly 5,000 square feet of land that faces Moorpark Avenue for future realignment work by San Jose, city reports said.
“It’s an opportunity to bring more needed housing to San Jose and there’s going to be the benefit of the street alignment along Moorpark,” Kelley Rutchena, a project manager with The True Life Companies, told San José Spotlight.
The San Jose City Council meets Aug. 8 at 1:30 p.m. Learn how to watch and participate.
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