SPUR Comments on Santana Row/Valley Fair Urban Village Draft Plan

Letter offering specific recommendations regarding urban design, financing and implementation of the Santana Row/Valley Fair Urban Village Draft Plan.

Advocacy Letter

SPUR offers specific recommendations regarding urban design, financing and implementation of the Santana Row/Valley Fair Urban Village Draft Plan. We believe that this urban village has the potential to serve as a model for suburban retrofits in San Jose and across the nation.

SPUR's recommendations are:

1) We strongly recommend retaining a two-tier system of minimum standards that would be codified in a zoning district, as well as a set of guidelines.

2) Instead of adopting standards and guidelines for each urban village, we recommend that the city adopt a small, streamlined set of minimum expectation for urban design standards as a special Urban Village Zoning District that applies to every urban village.

3) We strongly support that the implementation plan proposes to develop a zoning district that would support the planned capacity of jobs and housing, as well as some physical controls that will create great places.

4) We strongly encourage that the Implementation Chapter include a table that provides greater specificity about the implementation of this plan.

5) We support Mayor Liccardo's direction to create an urban village fee that would raise new revenue for the public benefits outlined in the plan. However, it is critical that this urban village fee be set based on what is economically feasible.

6) We encourage the addition of an implementation action to establish a transportation demand management program based on performance targets for this urban village.

7) We encourage the Planning Commission to work with City Council and others to identify funding for these implementation actions.