Dear Neighbor,
Last Friday, Weingarten Realty, owners of the Cambrian Park Plaza, formally resubmitted redevelopment plans to the City for the proposed mixed use village. These updates are in response to city staff technical comments and community feedback received last fall. Their project will be formally studied in the Draft Environmental Impact Report being prepared by the Planning Department.
You can find these updates on the City of San Jose’s Project’s of High Interest Website under the architectural plan sets and city comment letters section. Below is a summary of their primary changes:
- Single Family Homes — Released designs for the single family homes within this development. Here are some highlights:
- Approximately twenty-four of these single family homes will have accessory dwelling units with a separate entrance attached to the home. These homes will be 3 stories while the rest of the single family homes will be 2 stories.
- The 3 story homes are primarily on the interior of the newly proposed public street (closer to the Plaza at Union Ave and Camden Ave), while some are also sprinkled on the exterior side that faces the existing single family homes and commercial buildings on Bercaw Ln.
- Senior Assisted Living Facility — Within essentially the same height and size of the previously proposed Assisted Living Facility, the developer is now looking to add independent living options within 2 floors of the now 5 story building. Previously, the building was planned to be 4 floors, but the architect was able to shrink the average height of each story and add another level without increasing the height. San Jose has the second least amount of senior living facilities in the country, which is just one reason why senior living facilities are so expensive in this area. The updated plan is for this building to now have independent living, assisted living, and memory care services.
- Children’s Playground and Dog Park — Members of the community expressed a concern about placing the children’s playground on Union Ave because it is a fairly busy street. The builders have decided to switch the locations of the children’s playground and the dog park so that the dog park is now on Union Ave and the children’s playground is on Wyrick Ave.
- Architectural Design Modifications — Below are some of the changes Weingarten has made:
- Added some clay roof tiles to the architecture, a proposal from an attendee at one of our most recent public meetings.
- Placed stone features extending from the “portal” found at the building/plaza entrance near the intersection of Union and Camden Ave.
- Created a more active use in front of the senior assisted living facility fronting the park by adding benches and a more welcoming entryway.
- Affordable Housing — Weingarten Realty is still exploring options of whether the developer will build affordable housing on-site or whether they will pay a fee in-lieu of producing affordable housing out-right. Every builder has these two options under the City’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
Please be on the lookout for the announcement of additional public meetings in the near future. This project still has many more months before it comes to the Planning Commission. A project approval timeline is still being determined by city staff.
To provide feedback on this project, please email the project planner, Laura Meiners, at laura.meiners@sanjoseca.gov and loop in our district email address at district9@sanjoseca.gov. You are also welcome to take our Cambrian Park Plaza survey.
Sincerely,
Pam
