REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on the Revised El Camino Real Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment for the Creation of Five New General Plan Land Use Designations, Waive the First Reading and Introduce an Ordinance for the Creation of the El Camino Real Zoning Districts, and Certify and Adopt an Environmental Impact Report and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The El Camino Real Specific Plan carries forward the City Council and the community’s vision for revitalization, housing, and economic development. A re-vitalized El Camino Real corridor will provide opportunities for establishing a strong City identity for visitors and residents alike.
The revised El Camino Real Specific Plan (“Plan”) establishes a comprehensive framework to guide the transformation of a key City corridor, El Camino Real, from an auto-oriented commercial strip into a mixed-use, pedestrian- and transit-oriented urban corridor. The Plan implements the City’s 2010-2035 General Plan vision for this Focus Area by accommodating long-term growth while enhancing quality of life, economic vitality, and urban design.
The El Camino Real Specific Plan Area is just over 250 acres and extends the entire 3.2-mile length of the El Camino Real corridor between the western City limits and Lafayette Street. The revised Plan allows for the development of up to 4,390 residential units and concentrates higher-intensity mixed-use development at larger parcels. Key components of the Plan are:
1. Lower density transitions to adjacent single-family neighborhoods. This addresses community concerns regarding neighborhood compatibility, building scale, height and privacy.
2. Objective Design Standards (ODS) consistent with State Law, enabling streamlined housing approvals, and clear, enforceable design expectations while maintaining community character.
3. Retail development is strategically located in “Activity Centers” to allow for experience-based uses and local-serving businesses. The retail is a projected reduction of approximately 10% of existing commercial space to reflect market demand.
4. Affordable housing provisions that exceed current City standards.
5. Multimodal “complete streets” to improve pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure along El Camino Real.
6. Requirements for publicly accessible open space within new development.
Adoption of the Plan will provide a clear, predictable regulatory framework to guide future development, balance growth with neighborhood compatibility, and support the long-term revitalization of El Camino Real. The adoption of the Plan advances a key City Council vision consistent with General Plan policies and implements new objective development standards.
Staff has also conducted robust community outreach and proactively engaged the community in multiple ways to address concerns.
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara 2010-2035 General Plan identifies specific geographic areas within the City as Focus Areas, including El Camino Real. The purpose of a Focus Area is to accommodate a significant amount of the City’s long-term growth. The General Plan vision for El Camino Real is to transform this Focus Area from a series of automobile-oriented strip malls to a tree lined, pedestrian and transit-oriented corridor with a mix of residential and retail uses with an emphasis on mixed use and higher intensity development. This type of redevelopment is an opportunity to support the City’s changing quality of life and economic vitality. Section 4.5 of General Plan, “Support Focus Areas and Community Vitality,” lists the following goals for the El Camino Real focus area:
“Redefining El Camino Real as a pedestrian-oriented corridor, including a diverse array of uses, with an emphasis on increasing the intensity of development at
mixed use areas that have larger properties for redevelopment.”
The revised Specific Plan implements the General Plan’s goals and policies for the El Camino Real Focus Area and establishes the land use and development regulations for the Plan Area. There are approximately 2,500 existing residential units along the corridor and 2.8 million square feet of commercial uses. Adoption of the Plan will allow up to 4,390 residential units along the corridor, establish fine-grained land use designations and detailed land use policy beyond those in the General Plan, and provide objective design standards to streamline and regulate new development projects.
The first proposal for the Specific Plan was initially prepared between 2017 and 2021, with multiple City Council check-ins and robust community outreach throughout the process. The first complete draft Specific Plan was presented to the City Council in June of 2021; however, neither the Plan nor the Environmental Impact Report were adopted. At that time, the main concern of the City Council and the community was the impact of additional density on surrounding established neighborhoods and it was requested that staff look at lowering density in the Plan. On September 13, 2022, City Council provided direction on developing a revised draft of the El Camino Real Specific Plan. Staff engaged a consultant, Raimi & Associates, to work on the draft revisions. All of the City Council actions on the Specific Plan are summarized in Attachment 1.
DISCUSSION
The Specific Plan sets forth land use, urban design, and transportation policies that balance the community’s wants and needs and support an overarching vision of a future El Camino Real Corridor. The Plan envisions a corridor with:
• Land Use Framework designed as mixed-use and residential to respect the scale and character of adjacent residential neighborhoods;
• Retail that is anchored by vibrant shopping destinations and public open space;
• Objective Design Standards to create an attractive and engaging pedestrian environment with wider sidewalks and street trees;
• Affordable Housing options for a range of incomes and life stages;
• A Complete Streets Policy that is multi-modal with protected or separated bicycle lanes for bicyclists and enhanced bus stops and boarding areas for transit riders;
• Open Space to promote and support community gathering, enjoyment, and a broad range of active uses
• A Community Benefits Program to allow for additional amenities through a Development Agreement.
The desired outcomes, listed above, are outlined in Chapter 2, Vision and Framework, and set the stage for the overall planning framework, policies, design standards and guidelines, and implementation actions.
Land Use Framework
El Camino Real is currently characterized by predominantly one-story automobile-oriented strip commercial development and surface parking located at the street edge, resulting in approximately 70% of the existing land area being dedicated to parking. Many of the parcels are relatively shallow, and located adjacent to single-family neighborhoods, which limits the potential for higher-intensity development. In response to these constraints, the land use framework focuses more intensive development at key nodes or “Activity Centers” while promoting a less intensive mix of commercial and residential uses in the “in-between” areas.
In August 2023, the City Council directed staff to continue advancing the proposed land use plan, including the addition of a fourth land use designation, Corridor Residential - Low (12-25 du/ac). This designation was proposed for the 60 properties along the corridor that serve as sensitive interfaces due to their proximity to single-family residences. Since then, staff and the consultant team have worked on updating the Specific Plan with revised guidelines, standards, and policies to reflect Council direction and the new land use designation. The updates specifically address concerns related to taller buildings and their potential to cast shadows on single-family lots.
Adoption of Plan will amend the General Plan Land Use Designations along the entire corridor (See Attachment 2 Land Use Plan) to include the following new designations:
• Regional Commercial Mixed Use (55-100 dwelling units per acre; 0.20 minimum commercial Floor Area Ratio (FAR) required) - applied to the larger shopping centers or activity centers and would support the most intensive uses.
• Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 dwelling units per acre; commercial allowed but not required, except where the Ground Floor Commercial Overlay is applied) - a medium density designation applied to the larger sites in the in-between areas.
• Corridor Residential (26-45 dwelling units per acre; commercial allowed but not required) - a lower density designation for sites with the most sensitive interfaces.
• Corridor Residential - Low (12-25 dwelling units per acre; commercial allowed but not required) - a low density designation intended for townhome development. These areas provide a low-intensity residential character compatible with adjacent single-family residential neighborhoods.
• Ground Floor Commercial Overlay - is applied to sites in the in-between areas where commercial uses are likely to be most viable and support pedestrian activity.
• Public/Quasi-Public - applied to City Hall and includes a variety of public and quasi-public uses such as government offices, schools, and childcare centers.
The estimated build out under the revised Specific Plan’s proposed land use designations, through the 2040 horizon year, anticipates a development of 4,390 housing units above existing conditions, and a decrease of approximately 289,110 (10%) square feet of commercial space, relative to the existing General Plan land use designations. These net growth projections are focused on sites with anticipated redevelopment potential and excludes sites such as recently constructed housing developments and the Santa Clara Town Center (Target shopping center). While the Specific Plan permits office uses, the expected commercial development under the plan would primarily be retail and service uses.
Retail Market Trends
The City’s General Plan currently supports approximately 2.8 million square feet of retail development, spread out along the corridor. Consistent with the findings and recommendations in the City’s retail market demand analysis (See weblink in Attachment 7), by KMA, the proposed plan would support a reduced amount of retail development, approximately 1.8 million square feet, concentrated at focal locations that would act as shopping destinations and minimize the designation of retail on sites where it would not be economically viable.
The Plan includes a significant amount of retail that is comparable to a large, regional shopping center. The retail market demand analysis conducted by Keyser Marston Associates (KMA) examined key factors that will affect future retail development opportunities in the Specific Plan Trade Area. The Trade Area for the Specific Plan extends two miles from the corridor but does not extend north of Highway 101 and does not include the automobile retailing that dominates the north side of Stevens Creek Boulevard, and does extend into a small portion of the adjacent Sunnyvale. The factors include:
• Retail market trends;
• Demographics of the Trade Area;
• Performance of existing retailers within the specific Plan area;
• Attributes of the properties within the Specific Plan area to accommodate new retail development; and
• Strengths of competing retail centers that serve the Trade Area.
Internet sales have a significant negative impact on several retail segments, including department stores, apparel, and electronic stores. Experience-based or “experience” sectors such as restaurants, entertainment, fitness centers and other services-oriented retail have remained strong until the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions. Grocery stores, however, have remained strong both before and during the pandemic. Looking ahead “experience” sectors are expected to recover gradually while grocery stores will continue to remain strong. However, internet sales will likely reduce the demand for many brick and mortar retailers.
Retail within the Specific Plan area is doing well with respect to maintaining high occupancy rates, but sales volumes are less than industry standards. There are no large sites (approximately 20 acres) remaining to accommodate the development of large anchor tenants and many of the remaining retail properties are too small and shallow to meet current market requirements.
Santa Clara Town Center, the last large site on El Camino Real, was redeveloped in 2014 with a total shopping center square footage of 280,000 square feet including a 140,000 square foot Target department store, and a Sprout’s Farmers Market, but no on-site housing. No site of comparable size is currently available in the Specific Plan. Although the Trade Area is largely built out, its population is projected to grow by 11,244 residents by 2032, which will provide some additional support for new retail within the Specific Plan area. However, opportunities are constrained by competition from the Valley Fair Mall and Santana Row. Leakage analysis indicates that the primary market segments with growth opportunities are grocery stores and eating and drinking establishments.
Given the current market trends and site attributes, the retail market demand analysis concluded that the best approach to strengthening the retail base of the Specific Plan area is to:
1. Support intensification of retail development at major intersections, with an emphasis on grocery anchors.
2. Encourage the re-purposing of existing retail space for local-serving tenants, such as ethnic restaurants, fitness centers, and services-oriented retail.
3. Reduce the number of properties for which commercial use is a requirement; and develop a strategy to retain and enhance existing commercial businesses.
These recommendations for positioning new retail along the El Camino Real corridor remain unchanged in the post-pandemic context.
As a part of the Specific Plan revision process the City engaged a second economic consultant, Seifel Consulting, to review the Land Use Plan and its commercial square footage requirements. Based on this review, the commercial square footage in the Corridor Mixed Use land use designation has been removed and is now proposed as optional, except for properties within the Ground Floor Commercial Overlay. These properties are generally located at major intersections and will be required to provide ground floor commercial for 50% of their property frontage on El Camino Real. This requirement is supported by existing vehicular traffic and pedestrian activity, which is necessary for commercial uses to remain viable.
Objective Design Standards
Chapter 4, Development Standards and Guidelines, establishes objective design standards (ODS) and guidelines for new land development to achieve the future vision for El Camino Real. These standards and guidelines apply to all new development in the El Camino Real Specific Plan Area, as well as to public improvements and substantial renovations to existing structures. They build on basic design standards or regulations, such as setbacks, height limitations, parking requirements and signage regulations already contained in the Zoning Ordinance by providing more detailed and specific requirements within developments on El Camino Real Specific Plan area.
Recent changes to State Law necessitated a shift to establish objective design standards. The Housing Accountability Act and the Housing Crisis Act require expedited processing of qualifying residential projects and limit the City’s ability to deny or reduce the density of housing projects that meet locally adopted objective standards, such as those set in the Zoning Ordinance. Objective Standards involve no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant and public official prior to application submittal. As the City has increasingly needed to rely on objective standards for the review of projects where discretionary design review is limited, establishing objective standards is essential to ensuring that new development aligns with community objectives.
A primary motivation for the preparation of the Specific Plan was to establish design standards to address and improve the interface between new development and adjacent single-family neighborhoods. Throughout the planning process, the community continued to voice this concern. In response to community feedback, the Specific Plan includes objective standards that ensure appropriate and sensitive transitions in height and scale between new development to existing neighborhoods with the goals of preserving neighborhood character and protecting light and privacy. These transition standards limit building heights and require taller buildings to step down toward existing neighborhoods. Other design requirements or policies, such as deeper setbacks, and required landscaping, will also help to buffer existing homes from new development.
The Specific Plan provides objective standards to address the following:
• • Building Height (maximum, interface, transition)
• Landscape setback areas (including a build-to requirement)
• Sidewalk width
• Private Open space (shared and individual) - amount, dimensions, visibility, amenities
• Publicly accessible private open space - dimensions, accessibility, amenities, lighting
• Ground floor commercial use at specific locations
• Block size
• Maximum limits on a building façade length without a break
• Minimum amounts of building façade articulation - architectural elements and rhythm
• Requirement for differentiation of vertical façade elements
• Window design requirements
• Variation in building materials
• Building entries (location, frequency and architectural treatment)
• Commercial space - minimum depths, façade transparency, interior heights, grease traps,
• Awnings, etc.
• Live/workspace - minimum dimensions, façade treatment
• Parking access
• Passenger pick-up locations
• Pedestrian circulation path dimensions, materials, etc.
• Driveways and curb cuts
• Private street design standards (dimensions, street trees)
• Utility locations
• Screening of storage and service areas
• Limitations on parking and garages along project frontages
• Signage
• Fences
Commercial Space Design Requirements
The draft Specific Plan establishes a set of requirements that ensure new commercial spaces are well utilized. The Plan allows most retail and commercial spaces by right in order to streamline review. The design requirements address interior column spacing and façade transparency, as well as provisions that support outdoor dining, including design standards for awnings, planters and railings. The Plan also directly supports creating a “warm retail shell” where the developer has a space ready for a restaurant. For example, future food service uses will be required to have access to necessary infrastructure such as grease traps and venting. While these measures may increase costs or require specific design approaches, they are critical to ensuring that future commercial spaces are well utilized and contribute to a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly environment.
Affordable Housing
An objective of the Specific Plan is to promote a range of housing options and affordability levels to realize the vision for a mixed-use, mixed-income community along the corridor. To achieve this, the Plan includes an inclusionary housing policy that exceeds the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance by requiring the provision of units at deeper levels of affordability within the Plan area. Specifically, the Plan requires that 15% of the new units be designated as affordable rental units with a mix of affordability levels for extremely low, very low, low, and moderate-income households. The mix must be structured such that the average household income across all affordable units does not exceed 80% of Area Median Income (AMI). This inclusionary requirement represents a deeper level of affordability than the citywide ordinance, which requires 15% of units be affordable at an average of 100% of AMI.
Complete Streets for El Camino Real Right-of-Way
The vision for the El Camino Real right-of-way is to transform the auto-oriented arterial into a multimodal “complete street” designed to accommodate all travel modes. Complete streets provide safe mobility for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit vehicles, and motorists regardless of age or ability. The Plan Area’s proximity to the Santa Clara Caltrain station and future BART station presents a unique opportunity to further promote transit trips by improving the multimodal functionality of the corridor.
The Plan establishes concepts for both interim and final right-of-way configurations for El Camino Real that strengthen bicycle and transit infrastructure beyond what exists today. In both right-of-way configurations, the curb-to-curb dimension remains the same, as will the center median. Both configurations take advantage of the removal of on-street parking, and the Caltrans restriping completed last year, which narrowed the travel lanes. On average, only 31% of on-street parking spaces are utilized along the corridor, providing an opportunity to remove this space to accommodate a separated bike lane. Consistent with proposed right-of -way concepts in the Specific Plan and the Santa Clara Bicycle Plan Update (2018), the City Council adopted Resolution No. 22-9047 on January 25, 2022, modifying parking regulations and establishing a "No Stopping Anytime" zone on El Camino Real between Halford Avenue and Alviso street. This action enables the design and construction of a Class IV separated bikeway as a future capital project.
Publicly Accessible Open Space
Many valuable open space amenities can be found just outside the El Camino Real corridor; however, the corridor itself currently lacks dedicated public open spaces. The Specific Plan seeks to create new public and publicly accessible, privately-owned open spaces that promote and support community gathering, enjoyment, and a broad range of active uses.
Adding public open spaces within the corridor presents challenges. The City’s primary mechanism for securing open space is through development requirements, specifically requiring a new development project to dedicate a portion of the site as open space, and the corridor is composed primarily of smaller parcels. While all new residential development will be required to contribute toward parkland per the City’s Park and Recreational Land Ordinance, the Specific Plan adds a unique requirement for certain commercial properties. New commercial development within the Regional Commercial Mixed-Use land-use designation (Activity Centers) will be required to provide 10% of the site area as new publicly accessible privately-owned open space.
The specific size, location, and configuration of these urban park or plaza sites will be finalized as future development projects moves forward. As redevelopment occurs under the Specific Plan, the corridor will gain new open spaces that may either be traditional public parks or smaller, publicly accessible privately owned open spaces.
Community Benefits
The Specific Plan includes a Community Benefits policy that allows developers to obtain additional development rights in exchange for voluntarily providing additional benefits to the community, beyond those already required by City ordinances or the Specific Plan. Potential community benefits that could be provided include greater amounts of affordable housing, bicycle and pedestrian amenities or public art. As drafted, these benefits would be implemented through a Development Agreement giving the City the discretion to determine the appropriate level of community benefits required and the corresponding amount of bonus granted in return.
Community Outreach
The El Camino Real Specific Plan Community Advisory Committee (ECRCAC) was reconvened in December 2024 to review and provide feedback on the revised Draft Specific Plan document. Between February and April 2025, additional community outreach activities were undertaken to collect more feedback. Staff also conducted a study session with City Council on June 24, 2025. A summary of community outreach is provided below.
The final revised version of the Plan was published in April 2026 and is available on the El Camino Real Specific Plan website, also accessible via the weblink included in Attachment 7.
Staff have conducted a robust and continued community outreach to receive feedback on the revisions.
• On December 16, 2024, the ECR CAC met and provided input on the added land use designation to allow for townhome development on specific sites.
• On February 24, 2025, an open house was held at the Mission Branch Library, attended by approximately 40 community members. Attendees acknowledged the revisions and asked questions of staff, and the consultant related to parking and public right of way improvements on El Camino Real. No significant comments on the revisions were provided.
• On April 2, 2025, a second community meeting was held at the Senior Center with approximately 15 attendees. No significant comments on the revisions were provided.
• On March 25, 2025, staff presented a summary of the Specific Plan to the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce.
• October 2025: Pop up event at the Art & Wine Festival
• Additional outreach included social media posts on the City’s Instagram and Facebook pages, as well as information about the revisions to the Plan in the City Manager’s weekly email.
• May 2026: Informational display at Central Library
June 24, 2025 City Council Meeting Feedback
On June 24, 2025, the City Council held a study session to review the revised Specific Plan. Key topics discussed by the Council included the need for sufficient parking for retail uses, applicability of the State Density Bonus law, retail preservation in key locations along the corridor, regulation of window placement in taller buildings overlooking single-family residences, and the appropriate approach for measuring the daylight plane specifically whether it should be measured from the lower grade of adjacent single-family homes rather than from parcels along El Camino Real.
The following summarizes the key City Council questions received, organized by topic area and staff responses (in italics):
1. Specific Site Land Use Designation: parcels at the northeast corner of San Tomas are designated as lower-density townhomes - it was suggested that a higher density land use be applied given their adjacency to the creek trail and intersection location.
These sites are located adjacent to single-family rear yards and are small in size - approx. 12 to 15,000 square feet size, which makes it challenging to develop as higher density. Therefore, no changes were made to the land use designations.
2. Measurement of Daylight Plane: Consider measuring the 30-degree daylight plane from the lower grade of adjacent single-family homes rather than from El Camino Real parcels.
The daylight plane regulates the shadow and bulk of a building. The 6-foot privacy fence creates its own shadow; therefore, the measurement starts from the top of the fence. Grade difference along the corridor is limited and varies 1 to 2 feet and would not be a perceivable difference.
3. Stacking of Bonus Programs: Can a developer stack the State Density Bonus Law with local incentives (e.g., LEED, transit, and affordability bonuses in the General Plan)?
Yes, a developer is allowed to use State Density Bonus Law with local incentives where feasible, based on the specific provisions of each program.
4. Vacant Retail, Retail Preservation, and Current Market Conditions: There were concerns about preserving existing retail, having vacant retail, and current market conditions when implementing the Plan.
Per the growth projections developed for the plan, the current commercial/retail space is 2 million square feet and with the implementation of the Specific Plan the loss is 289,000 or 10% loss. It should be noted that the loss of commercial space could be higher than anticipated, given that projects under current market conditions are unable to build the required commercial space.
In development of the Specific Plan, the project team, including the City’s retail consultant KMA, performed a retail market demand analysis of retail market conditions across the City and along the El Camino Real corridor. This effort aimed to ensure that the Plan’s land use requirements, policies, and design standards aligned with best practices for attracting and maintaining a vibrant retail environment.
Supported by the retail market demand analysis findings, the revised Plan requires commercial uses in two instances:
1) Regional Commercial Mixed Use land use designation with a 0.2 FAR requirement; and
2) On properties with the Ground Floor Commercial Overlay, where ground floor commercial is required for 50 % of the project frontage.
As a part of the revision process, the City’s second economic consultant, Seifel Consulting, reviewed the Plan, original market analysis, and present-day conditions, and affirmed that the components of the revised Draft Specific Plan, including proposed land uses and design standards, would encourage successful commercial/retail.
Considerations
The City Council’s primary considerations in evaluating the proposed Specific Plan are consistency with the General Plan; and the strength of the Plan’s policies and standards to implement the Plan vision. The City Council can identify areas where policies and standards may be enhanced or modified to align with City objectives and priorities and can be included in the City Council action to be incorporated into the final, adopted version of the Specific Plan.
General Plan Consistency
The General Plan envisions transforming the El Camino Real Focus Area from a series of automobile oriented strip malls to a tree lined, pedestrian and transit-oriented corridor with a mix of residential and retail uses. Key General Plan goals for the El Camino Real Focus Area include:
• 5.4.1 G1 - An economically viable mix of uses along El Camino Real that attracts upscale retail uses.
• 5.4.1 G2 - High quality design that respects the scale and character of adjacent residential neighborhoods and historic resources and creates a walkable environment.
• 5.4.1 G3 - Concentration of higher intensity commercial and residential development at key intersections with Regional Mixed-Use designations.
• 5.4.1 G4 - Pedestrian, bicycle and transit priority for mobility in the El Camino Real Focus Area.
The proposed Specific Plan achieves these goals by introducing additional land use designations that provide clearer differentiation of land uses and a stronger correlation to anticipated development types. The Plan establishes detailed land use policies that require commercial uses in key locations where they are most viable and can support destination shopping and placemaking. It further includes design standards to guide new development and improve the interface between new and existing land uses. Finally, the Plan provides a concept for the improvement of El Camino Real right-of-way to better serve pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
General Plan Amendment
For consistency between the General Plan and the Specific Plan, the City is proposing a General Plan text amendment creating the Regional Corridor Mixed Use (55-100 DU/AC; 0.2 Commercial FAR); Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 DU/AC); Corridor Residential (26-45 DU/AC); Corridor Residential - Low (12-25 DU/AC); and Ground Floor Commercial Overlay land use designations. This amendment also includes updates to the General Plan Land Use diagrams for Phases II and III to reflect the land use designations in the El Camino Real Specific Plan and to remove the El Camino Real Focus Area.
Creation of the ECR Zoning Districts
As a part of the Specific Plan planning process, the City is proposing to create four new zoning districts that align with the five land use designations of the Specific Plan:
• Regional Commercial Mixed Use,
• Corridor Mixed Use,
• Corridor Residential,
• Corridor Residential-Low, and
• Ground Floor Commercial Overlay.
These zoning districts allow residential and commercial uses and include provisions allowing existing uses to remain until properties are redeveloped. Each zoning district includes development standards for maximum height, density, setbacks, and requirements for both common and private open space. Rezoning properties in the Plan area to these new zoning districts, consistent with the Specific Plan land use plan framework, is proposed as a part of this project. The application of these new zoning districts will facilitate a more streamlined review process, by enabling qualifying residential projects to be approved through the City’s architectural review process.
ALUC Review
The El Camino Real Specific Plan was referred to the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) for review as the Plan includes properties within the Airport Influence Area (AIA) of the San Jose International Airport. At the March 24, 2020 ALUC meeting, the ALUC determined that the Specific Plan is consistent with the policies of San Jose Airport Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), noting that the Plan Area is located outside both the airport safety zone and the airport area noise contours. As part of its review, the ALUC recommended adding a policy to the Specific Plan requiring any new development on properties within the AIA dedicate an avigation easement to the San Jose International Airport.
The revised draft Specific Plan was subsequently submitted to the ALUC for their review. However, since their initial review, the AIA boundaries have changed, and the Specific Plan Area is no longer within the referral area. As a result, ALUC staff stated that review of the revised Specific Plan was not needed.
Planning Commission Recommendation
On April 8, 2026, the proposed Specific Plan, accompanying Zoning Districts, and associated actions were presented to the Planning Commission for their review and recommendation. The Commission commented that the Plan followed an intentional process for planning for future development, asked clarifying questions and discussed the following:
• Parking requirements and providing adequate parking for commercial uses, and new residents;
• Providing art with new development;
• Walkability along the Specific Plan Area;
• Possibility of a local trolley or shuttle service given the length of the corridor;
• Ability to protect small businesses;
• Ensuring viable commercial areas;
• Increase density along the South side of El Camino Real due to limited availability of land and the projected population growth.
There were two public speakers who spoke on the item. One speaker was concerned about their proximity to El Camino Real (0.1 miles away) and noted that they had not received notice of the Plan. This speaker also emphasized the importance of providing adequate parking for vehicles associated with new development, as well as maintaining the existing number of vehicle travel lanes on El Camino Real.
Following public comment and Commission discussion, the Commission voted 6-1 (with Commissioner Bouza dissenting) to recommend that the City Council certify the EIR, adopt the Specific Plan and General Plan amendments and create the accompanying El Camino Real Zoning districts.
Conclusion
The draft El Camino Real Specific Plan, accompanying zoning districts and project EIR have been prepared through an extensive community-based planning process that has provided substantial time for discussion and refinement of the Plan’s various components. The Specific Plan will provide a land use policy framework to support the development of a mixed-use, multi-modal corridor anchored by vibrant shopping destinations and public open space consistent with the City’s vision and the goals and policies set forth in the General Plan.
Proposed City Council Actions
The project is presented to the City Council for consideration and action. The following specific actions are required:
1. Adoption of a resolution certifying the EIR, MMRP and related CEQA documents.
2. Adoption of a resolution approving the El Camino Real Specific Plan, a specific plan consistent with CA Government Code Sections 65450-65457.
3. Adoption of a resolution approving a General Plan text amendment creating the Regional Corridor Mixed Use (55-100 DU/AC; 0.2 Commercial FAR); Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 DU/AC); Corridor Residential (26-45 DU/AC); Corridor Residential - Low (12-25 DU/AC); and Ground Floor Commercial Overlay land use designations, and amending the General Plan Land Use diagrams for Phases II and III to reflect the land use designations in the El Camino Real Specific Plan and remove the El Camino Real Focus Area.
4. Introduction of an Ordinance amending the zoning code to create the El Camino Real Zoning districts.
The decisions on the Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment, and Zoning Ordinance are legislative actions. The decision on the EIR is considered an “administrative” action, which is neither quasi-judicial nor legislative, but nevertheless requires specific findings, including that the EIR complies with CEQA and reflects the independent judgment of the Council.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was prepared for the El Camino Real Specific Plan and related approvals (the “project”) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR analyzes program-level impacts of the El Camino Real Specific Plan. The EIR and Notice of Availability (NOA) were circulated for a 45-day period from December 12, 2025 to January 26, 2026 in accordance with CEQA requirements. The EIR provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts for the project.
The EIR found that any potentially significant impacts can be mitigated to a less than significant level. The mitigation measures are included in their entirety as a part of the proposed Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP). A detailed discussion of the potential impacts and mitigation measures to be applied to the project is specified in the EIR and would be implemented through the MMRP for the proposed project.
During the Draft EIR comment period a total of eleven comments were received. None of the comment letters identified a new significant impact, or have provided substantial evidence that the CEQA analysis is otherwise inadequate. Responses to the Draft EIR comments, as well as minor text changes and clarifications, in the form of a Final EIR, were made available to the public through the City’s website on March 30, 2026, and have been forwarded on to the commenters on the Draft EIR.
The environmental impacts of redeveloping an existing commercial corridor and state highway were analyzed at a program level. It is intended for the Final EIR to be used by developers as a starting point for the environmental clearance of their individual development proposals, which will further facilitate redevelopment of the area.
FISCAL IMPACT
As part of the adoption of the FY 2022/23 and FY 2023/24 CIP Budget in June 2022, $1.0 million was appropriated for the El Camino Real Specific Plan project. The City Council approved the carryover of the project’s remaining balance ($0.7 million) as part of the adoption of the FY 2025/26 and FY 2026/27 Biennial Operating Budget on June 10, 2025.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and the City Manager’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.
On March 16, 2026, the notice of public hearing for this item was mailed to 5,782 property owners and tenants within 300 feet of the project site. Newspaper notice of this item was published in The Weekly, a newspaper of general circulation, on March 18, 2026. At the time of this staff report, one comment was received by the Planning Division in opposition to the proposed Specific Plan (Attachment 8).
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Adopt a resolution certifying the EIR, MMRP and related CEQA documents;
2. Adopt a resolution approving the El Camino Real Specific Plan, a specific plan consistent with CA Government Code Sections 65450-65457;
3. Adopt a resolution approving a General Plan text amendment creating the Regional Corridor Mixed Use (55-100 DU/AC; 0.2 Commercial FAR); Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 DU/AC); Corridor Residential (26-45 DU/AC); Corridor Residential - Low (12-25 DU/AC); and Ground Floor Commercial Overlay land use designations, and amending the General Plan Land Use diagrams for Phases II and III to reflect the land use designations in the El Camino Real Specific Plan and remove the El Camino Real Focus Area; and
4. Waive first reading and introduce an Ordinance amending the zoning code to create the El Camino Real Zoning districts.
Staff
Reviewed by: Afshan Hamid, Director, Community Development Department
Approved by: Jovan Grogan, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. El Camino Real Previous City Council Actions
2. El Camino Real Land Use Plan
3. El Camino Real EIR City Council Resolution
4. CEQA Facts and Findings
5. El Camino Real Specific Plan CC Resolution
6. El Camino Real General Plan Amendment CC Resolution
7. El Camino Real Zoning Districts Ordinance
8. El Camino Real Specific Plan Web Links
9. El Camino Real Public Comment