Will San Jose Residents Want Housing At Former Golf Course?

By Joseph Geha, San Jose Spotlight

April 25, 2023

San Jose could spend more than $250,000 for a consultant to handle community outreach for a potential mega-development on a former golf course in the city’s Eastside.

The San Jose City Council will vote today on a plan for a six-month “city-led” engagement process that could include up to four community workshops intended to gather input on what residents want to see happen with the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course property. A development group led by Gary Dillabough, Tony Arreola and Mark Lazzarini is eyeing the site for nearly 4,000 residences and about 785,000 square feet of commercial space, according to a preliminary filing with the city.

The city said reaching out to residents will help create a set of guiding principles for the possible redevelopment of the land. The input would also be used to identify public improvements and amenities that would be needed in the project area. If approved, the first community meeting could be held by October, and the hired consultant would present results by June 2024.

“Ensuring that we hear from anyone and everyone in council District 8 so they have direct engagement on this process to develop this area right is critically important,” District 8 Councilmember Domingo Candelas told San José Spotlight. He represents the area surrounding the former golf course, though the parcel itself is county land.

The course, located near the corner of Tully and South White roads, closed in 2004 and has largely been used for grazing. In December, the council voted to ease some development-related environmental restrictions, opening the door for housing to be built on large parcels of private recreation space, including the roughly 114-acre former golf course.

Hundreds of residents, many part of San Jose United, a community group tracking the policy changes that could affect the site, wrote emails to the council in support of a city-led process—though some still insisted the property should be preserved as open space.

“Perhaps turning this beautiful area into something like Emma Prusch would benefit the Community,” resident Stephanie Vargas wrote.

Barton Hechtman, an attorney representing the developers, asked the council in an April 18 letter to defer discussion of the topic, claiming the city is going against the will of some councilmembers who advocated for a developer-led process in December.

“It is premature for staff or the council to discuss a community engagement process for the redevelopment of the Pleasant Hills Golf Course,” Hechtman wrote. “That discussion should only occur after the developer-led, citywide community engagement process has been established.”

The council in December left open the possibility of pursuing a developer-led, city-led or hybrid engagement process. Ahead of today’s meeting, Candelas, along with Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmembers Peter Ortiz and Pam Foley, authored a memo supporting a city-led engagement process.

City reports indicate the developer will still be heavily involved in the process, with each community meeting allowing time for the developer to present its plans and concepts to the community, and get live feedback.

“The discussions on the developer’s concepts and plans could not only be informed by the discussion on guiding principles but could also inform the development of these principles,” city reports said.

The San Jose City Council meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. Learn how to watch and participate.

This story will be updated.

Contact Joseph Geha at joseph@sanjosespotlight.com or @josephgeha16 on Twitter.

San José Spotlight is the city's first nonprofit news organization dedicated to independent political and business reporting. Please support our public service journalism by clicking here.