San Jose and Santa Clara County at loggerheads over home construction

Four months ago, the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara agreed to break a decade-long deadlock in the construction of 32,000 homes. Now the county has held up the deal.

Santa Clara County has blocked construction until San Jose completes a series of long-standing road improvements, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Negotiations have stalled, with both entities heading into mediation.

It’s part of San Jose’s “standard irresponsible approach to development,” said Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith, who emphasized a 16-year-old agreement that laid out explicit road improvements.

“When anybody is stuck in traffic on any of the San Jose roads,” he said, “they can think about the city not mitigating the housing and the construction that they approved.”

In May, San Jose cut a deal with the city of Santa Clara to end a decade-long housing cap, which cleared the way for housing, office and commercial development in North San Jose.

The city in 2005 had planned to build up to 32,000 homes and 26.7 million square feet of office or industrial space, plus 2.7 million square feet of commercial space on its north side. But lawsuits from the city of Santa Clara and Santa Clara County produced a settlement more than a decade ago that effectively capped housing development.

New development would play a critical role in San Jose’s effort to meet state-mandated housing goals, with 20 percent of the planned 32,000 units marked as affordable.

As part of the recent amended agreement, San Jose committed to investing $38.5 million in transportation improvements to reduce traffic congestion. In exchange, Santa Clara agreed not to sue San Jose.

But the county wasn’t hip to the deal, despite progress by San Jose in widening Montague Expressway between Lick Mill Boulevard and First Street, with more transportation projects in the pipeline.

“We’re eager for the county to articulate what specific requirements they have that will enable us to get affordable housing built in North San Jose,” Mayor Sam Liccardo told the Mercury News. “I haven’t seen any indication that the county is any more willing to allow housing to get built.”

A May letter from county counsel James Williams to the city outlined the roadway projects San Jose must complete, including the widening of Montague Expressway, as well as I-880 and Trade Zone Boulevard, plus the construction of a Trimble Road flyover.
The county has previously threatened to take San Jose to court if the city moves forward. But Liccardo sees litigation as “unlikely.”
“What’s far more likely is that the cloud of litigation will prevent any builder from getting a shovel in the ground,” he said. “The mere threat of litigation will be enough to tell every builder in the region that you should not build in North San Jose.”

— Dana Bartholomew

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