Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

yeah that'd be good because it's still warm nice yeah

jay did lillian have much uh feedback for you when she sat in for you uh no but she did you know tell me a little bit about the project and how that went and how the group yeah labor group came up yeah i thought at first i thought they were in support until you know and then i was like wait dude they haven't even put out bids for contractors yet you guys are already complaining

Fortunately, yeah, that kind of stuff happens.

Surprised to see that many people.

Thanks for that heads up. Calling the meeting to order. Welcome to the City of Milpitas Planning Commission meeting, September 24th, 2025. I'd like to read the public comment instructions. Oral public comments may only be provided live during the Planning Commission meeting in person. All comments provided should be limited to three minutes or less. as determined by the chair. All public members will be limited to one comment per agenda item and one comment for non-agenda items. Members of the public may submit written comments by email to planning department and peters.gov. Time for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let's all rise, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Albano. Roll call, may I ask the Recording Secretary, Ms. Medina, take the roll call, please.

Thank you, Chair. Good evening, Planning Commissioners. I will take attendance, starting with Commissioner Kong. She is absent this evening. Commissioner Awasthi.

Present.

Commissioner Medina Ashby president commissioner up on a press and commissioner go long is absent. Vice chair calkins I chair up to I thank you.

And quest attorney.

Thank you chair asked the chair and every other member of the commission whether he or she has any financial or personal conflict of interest related to any of the items on tonight's agenda.

Commissioner Westy?

None.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? None. Commissioner Albana? None. Vice Chair Calkins?

None.

And Chair Gupta?

None.

Thank you.

Thank you. I further ask the chair and every other member of the commission to please disclose any campaign contributions of $100 or more received within the last 12 months from any of the parties entering into contracts with the city on tonight's agenda or contributions received from development project applicants for development projects on tonight's agenda.

Commissioner Awasthi?

None.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? None. Commissioner Albana? None. Vice Chair Cokins?

None.

Chair Gupta?

None.

Thank you.

Thank you. Let the record reflect no reported conflicts. Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you, Attorney Creech. Next, approvals for the agenda for today. I ask Mr. Medina to ask... I have a motion for approval of agenda for tonight.

I make a motion to approve tonight's agenda.

I second. Thank you. Commissioner Wasti?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby?

Aye.

Commissioner Albana?

Abstain. I was absent.

No, for the agenda this evening.

Oh, for tonight? Oh, I'm here. I'm present. Aye.

Thank you. Vice Chair Culkins?

Aye.

And Chair Gupta?

Aye.

Thank you.

Next, approval of the meeting minutes for... Sorry, may I have a motion for approval of the meeting minutes for September 10, 2025?

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes for September 10th, 2025.

Is there a second?

I second.

Ms. Medina?

Who second?

I do. Oh, yes. Okay.

Thank you. Commissioner Awasthi?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? Aye. Commissioner Albana? Aye.

There you go. I'm staying.

Thank you, Vice Chair Calkins.

Hi.

And Chair Gupta.

Hi.

Thank you.

Next time for announcements, are there any announcements from the planning commissioners? Looks like no announcements from the commissioners. How about planning director, Mr. Lee?

Good evening, Chair Gupta and Planning Commissioners. I do have an announcement, just one. The meeting, the regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting on October 8th is canceled for a lack of items. So the next meeting, the Planning Commission meeting, will be on October 24th. And that is all.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Okay. Now, next, we're ready for the public forum. I'd like to read the statement about that. Members of the public, I invite you to speak on any item that does not appear on today's agenda. Comments will be limited to three minutes or less at the chair's discretion. When called to speak, you're encouraged to state your name for the record. As an item not listed on the agenda, no action can be taken. However, the Planning Commission may instruct the staff to place the item on a future agenda item. Now I would like to invite members of the public to address the commission. Ms. Medina, are there any members of the public who wish to speak?

CHAIR GUPTA, I have not received any speaker cards for this evening.

Thank you. Next, we go for the next item in the public hearing. We have a presentation from the planning director, Mr. Jay Lee, about the Gateway Main Street specific plan. I request Mr. Lee to initiate the presentation.

Thank you, Chair Gupta. I am excited to be here to present on the Milpitas Gateway Main Street specific plan. I'm also excited because it's not very often where I get to actually be the one presenting. So I will be giving the presentation today. I think as you already know, as we've had held previous study sessions, this is an important project for the city. It's also unique in that I think this commission typically sees development projects. However, today the item before you is a long-range planning project. So this is a project where the city with the commission and ultimately the city council and the community with staff can propose a policy or a plan that includes policies uh that helps establish the future vision of this key area in the city and i also just want to reiterate that today we are asking the planning commission to make a recommendation to the city council We also have here our consultants, Ascent Environmental, which is an interdisciplinary and well-regarded firm that does a lot of land use planning and environmental work in the Bay Area, California, and beyond. They have joined virtually, Christine Babla, Antai, and Claudia Watts. So they are all here and available. They will deliver a good chunk of this presentation and also will be available to answer any questions. Next slide, please. This is the agenda for tonight, I will begin with the project context, which includes an introduction to the specific plan area. summary of the planning process and timeline and also the plan priorities at a high level, then, for the rest of the presentation i'll pass it off to our consultants. So the next part is the specific plan overview. So going through the plan itself, the plan contents, going over the districts and neighborhoods within the plan, the vision and the big moves, the zoning, community benefits, and design standards, and then also the implementation priorities. Then we will briefly go over the environmental review and analysis that was done as part of this project required by state law, CEQA, and then conclude with the city's recommendations and of course leave time for discussion. Next slide please. So we will begin with the project context. One more slide. As you can see here, this map shows two of our specific plans. But before going into each one, I just want to briefly touch upon the general plan, which establishes the policy at a high level for the entire city. So everything else must follow the general plan and be consistent with the general plan and further the goals of the general plan. In our city, we have two specific plans. You can see them there. There is the metro-specific plan, which is shown in the blue slash green area. This area is centered around the Bar Station and the Great Mall. And this is where we have had the highest level of development activity in recent years, or actually not so recent anymore, for the last decade or more. And this is where we generally have the largest projects at the highest densities. This plan, which was formerly called or currently called the Midtown Specific Plan, is complementary to that Metro plan, but also different. So this Midtown Specific Plan was adopted originally in 2002 and updated in 2010 with some minor updates, but it hasn't been comprehensively updated since 2002, essentially. So this update is much needed. And a big part of this project is actually to adjust the boundaries of that Midtown specific plan to focus revitalizing historic Main Street and also Calaveras Boulevard. And to have this plan area serve as a gateway to the rest of the city and also a destination, a local one, but also hopefully a regional one. And I'll quickly summarize the boundary changes. As you see the orange border, there's one that has no color. That was already taken out of the Midtown specific plan area because a lot of redevelopment already happened there. So the plan did work for that southern area. For the rest of the plan, a lot of the development from the past remains, but the changing of the plan boundary also includes annexing a few areas. One area is the residential area to the north of the Great Mall, but south of this plan area. It was kind of on an island, so we thought it made sense to include it in the plan area. The same goes for the other residential area as you can see south of Calaveras to the west of Abel Street and east of 880. That area was also somewhat on an island being bounded by 880 freeway to the west. And then that commercial property in the northwestern corner kind of looks like a horn. That is also being included as it's a commercial area but wasn't included in the previous plan area. And also just the plan itself is being changed to really, you know, of course with the name, I should start with the name change. It's being called the Gateway Main Street Specific Plan now to reflect this new focus of this plan area as a gateway, but also that focus on Main Street, revitalizing Main Street. And then I do want to conclude this slide by just mentioning that ultimately this plan is meant to implement the general plan, which encourages compact walkable mixed use development in this area. Next slide, please. I won't go through everything, but this summarizes the planning process. It has been a long process, a multi-year process that started in late 2021. As with most long-range planning projects, we always start with an assessment of the existing conditions. It's important for us to understand the area before proposing any policies and developments. The next phase of the work was community visioning. This is where the bulk of the community outreach occurred, which helped inform the overall vision for this plan. The next phase was scenario planning where we continue to do outreach, but we also start to formulate what strategies we might want to implement in this plan. And then the next phase is the drafting of the actual plan and the environmental impact report. We went through multiple phases for both documents as the consultant prepared drafts and staff reviewed and the public reviewed and we made necessary adjustments. And now we are in the last phase of the plan. I would say the second to last step of the entire process, which is the Planning Commission's recommendation to City Council. Next slide, please. This slide summarizes all the community outreach that we've done. Actually, even before the plan began, we held a series of three community conversations centered around housing, business, and history. We received a lot of great feedback from the public, and that was passed over to the consultant, and it informed the visioning for this plan. We also tabled at various pop-up events we also held specific stakeholder interviews for key stakeholders where you know we would benefit from getting their input at a more intimate level we held study sessions with the planning commission city council larger community workshops for meant for the general public we even had an internal staff city staff technical advisory committee and held several meetings And then we actually, after drafting the plan, released the plan and the environmental impact report for public review. And also, of course, we have these approval hearings. Next slide, please. I want to briefly go over the formal public review that was done. So we actually released a public draft of the plan for 90 days from mid-April to mid-July of this year. And of course, we also had pop-up events. And this summarizes the input that we've heard, which is generally a support for a walkable mixed use downtown, especially gathering places and play areas. Calls for more landscaping, greening and shade trees, and also a desire for improved walkability, but also a desire for ensuring that development maintains enough parking to minimize traffic. We also received comment letters throughout this public review period or process from regarding both the environmental impact report and the specific plan. We received it from Caltrans VTA and the project applicant. To summarize, these comments ask for the city to collaborate with regional transportation agencies to plan future transit hubs, provide efficient bus service and develop programs to mitigate regional traffic in VMT, vehicle miles traveled, Also asking the city to work with applicants to help facilitate development plans consistent with the specific plan. Next slide, please. I want to summarize now some of the priorities that we've heard from both the Commission and Council. A focus on economic investment along Main Street. A desire to bring in new mixed-use residential infill and more commercial activity to preserve Main Street's small town local feel. Which involves allowing a moderate density of four to five stories along Main Street and also Calaveras Boulevard support for downtown area streetscape improvements To also address some parking challenges Especially as development occurs and to also support implementation with development impact fee program to fund future improvements next slide, please And these are the community and plan priorities, which are based off of the community input and all the other input we received, which is to create a downtown with more entertainment choices and places to go, to be, to spend time, to update and modernize the zoning in this area, to remove any development constraints, but also incentivize development. implement streetscape and branding improvements, work with area businesses and property owners, and also to prioritize necessary public improvements and funding and implementation strategies to realize these improvements. Next slide, please. So before passing it off to our consultant team, I do want to reiterate that staff believes that the plan in its current form does accomplish these goals and that it does further the desires of the community. So now I will pass it off to Christine Babla to go over the specific plan overview.

Thank you, Jay, and good evening. I am Christine Bubla. I am the principal for urban design and planning at Ascent. I've been the project manager leading the consultant team for the specific plan. So I'll start by sharing an overview of the plan. Next, okay, perfect. The specific plan content is regulated by state law and includes eight chapters. That is the introduction, the Gateway Main Street vision, the land use and zoning, objective design standards, mobility, public realm, infrastructure and public services, and the administration and implementation chapter. Excerpts from the document are shown at the right. Next slide. The specific plan focuses on four focus areas. These are the reddish colored boxes, one through four. The focus areas are Main Street, first and foremost, the Crossroads District, the Gateway District, and the Abbott District. These are really the areas that are the focus for the regulation and change. throughout the plan. Other districts that are discussed are the Library District at number five, Creekside Industrial at number six, and then there are three urban reserve areas shown in the blue hatch. This is the North Rail Yards District, the South Rail Yards District, and the Elmwood District. These urban reserve areas are intended as very long-term growth areas, so the plan does not propose any changes, but rather establishes policies for future change if redevelopment is at one point desired. desired in these areas. And then importantly, I want to mention the existing neighborhoods in the plan area. These are shown in the brown hatch at area 10 and 11. This is the West of Able neighborhood and the Curtis neighborhood. These are considered areas of preservation and the specific plan does not propose any changes to land use or zoning in those areas. The Gateway Main Street specific plan area is envisioned as a vibrant center for Mopitas where attractive neighborhoods and distinctive shopping streets provide a gathering place at the heart of the community. These images show some of the key principles behind the specific plan that were really key to what we heard from the community and the city. This includes creating a vibrant center, a place to be, a downtown that is a mixed-use destination, a walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible community, and providing diverse and meaningful public open spaces. The specific plan focuses around eight big moves, which are centered on the Main Street and Crossroad districts shown here. The eight big moves include redesigning Main Street as a slow street and a shared street, redeveloping the Sarah Center and the Crossroads as a new center for the community, prioritizing active building frontages and retail along Main Street and Sierra Way in particular, enhancing Calaveras and Abel as multimodal street corridors, creating a connected network of streets, new streets, paseos, alleys, and other linkages such as bikeways, developing a connected open space network with new urban-scaled parks and plazas, integrating streetscape, branding, and public art, and finally supporting district solutions, which include things like shared parking, mobility hubs, and coordinated infrastructure improvements. Going to Main Street. One slide back. Main Street is, as we've talked about, a really special center and a heart for Milpitas, the heart of the city. Main Street has been planned through the specific plan as a very walkable, pedestrian-friendly street. with a mix of retail storefronts, outdoor dining, and residential stoops to create a really active and vibrant environment. The plan includes regulations to support these kinds of changes and improvements to development character, as well as specific streetscape improvements such as upgraded lighting, landscaping, banners, sidewalks, curb extensions, as well as a flex zone to allow for a mix of parking and parklets. So this concept diagram on the left is a regulating plan that is used to provide direction on the kinds of improvements and connections through the specific plan. And you see a visualization of what Main Street could look like in terms of activity, um streetscape improvements. This next slide shows similar concepts for the Crossroads District. This Crossroads District includes an area really focused on Main Street and SARA and also includes the area at the SARA Center. This is envisioned as the highest intensity mixed use area in the plan area and includes an entertainment district focused along Main Street. Here are a couple of visualizations showing before and after imagery. On the left is the Calaveras and Sierra Gateway, so you can see the intensification of the plan area with the higher density mixed-use development, active retail shops, a focus around the Gateway with a plaza, new branding and landscaping, signage, and public art. And then on the right, another image of what Main Street could look like, again with active frontages, building fronts, retail, outdoor dining, and streetscape improvements. The specific plan includes a vision for Sarah Center. Sarah Center represents really what we think is a great redevelopment opportunity for the city. There are two potential options that are described in the specific plan to provide guidance on the type of redevelopment that the city would like to see. On the left is a concept for a series of linear spine park blocks. So at the center in green is a series of park blocks with mixed use and residential infill oriented towards those park blocks. And then in pink, you're seeing areas of retail nodes at the ground floor of this mixed use infill, again, addressing the park blocks. So that shows one opportunity. And also locating townhomes and row homes behind the development to the south is really a transition to the lower density adjacent existing neighborhoods. And then on the right, this is another concept for what could happen with the redevelopment of the Sarah Center. This is shown around an urban green or a central park with a mixed-use retail and entertainment core facing the park with corners that are activated again with retail and active uses and building entries really organized around and facing that central park amenity. So the specific plan provides guidance for how this could occur, how redevelopment could occur, including the land uses, the density, intensity, and other regulations, as well as some important criteria for requirements around the provision of parks and open space, as well as the design of building frontages and retail corners.

Excuse me.

So once the specific plan is adopted, the specific plan will function as the new zoning for the area. There will not be a need for a subsequent zoning update to implement the specific plan. That would be done with the adoption of the specific plan. So the specific plan... creates a series of four new mixed-use districts, one for each of the focus areas, Main Street, Crossroads, Gateway, and also the Library District. It provides a new business park zone for the Abbott District, as seen in purple along the 880 frontage. And then it provides another designation as an overlay for the Urban Reserve. Again, there are no changes being made to the zoning for these areas, but that Urban Reserve overlay does set up policy direction for what should occur with the master planning should redevelopment interest arise. This table shows a summary of the key zoning and development standards. Generally speaking, maximum building heights are set in the plan area at five stories for much of the plan area with increased height and intensity and density around the crossroads up to seven stories and the crossroads, including at the Sarah Center, which is where the highest density and intensity is envisioned. The specific plan also establishes minimum densities for conformance with the housing element, as well as maximum densities, and it regulates floor area ratios, building height, and number of stories. There are criteria for minimum ground floor heights also in key areas to ensure that really quality retail and mixed-use ground floors are developed. And then the next slide shows the Community benefits package, the specific plan includes six different incentive programs to allow ways for. Development to achieve an increase in density and exchange for Community benefits such as green building green roofs economic development actions such as business retention or lock consolidation or other options such as the provision of public parking or public open space. Getting to the last few slides here, the plan includes some pretty detailed objective design standards regulating the design of residential, commercial, and mixed-use development. Some of the key components that are regulated to ensure, again, really high-quality design include site planning and design, which addresses block size and building placement, special context conditions and transitions, site access, parking, and service. Another key component of what we call ODS, objective design standards, are addressing building design and architecture, so massing and form, facade articulation, and architectural details. And then finally, pedestrian level design, which addresses ground floor commercial, ground floor residential, outdoor dining, landscape, lighting, and signage. The plan includes a comprehensive chapter on mobility. Mobility improvements will be very important to the plan area. So the specific plan provides guidance for multimodal improvement, the creation of new streets and public parking among other items. The team has coordinated extensively with multiple city departments, including planning, public works, utilities, and fire to prepare standards for street cross sections and other mobility improvements to guide the redevelopment activity. And then finally, public realm design is something that is addressed in quite a bit of detail. This includes guidance for the provision of public parks and plazas, treatments for creekside open space, opportunities for privately owned public space, gateways, public art and murals, street lighting and furnishing, and also streetscape materials and design. And then I think this is the last slide coming up. This is on implementation, so I'll end here and take a moment to discuss implementation. The specific plan includes detailed infrastructure and implementation chapters. This list here summarizes some of the key activities that have been identified as near-term actions to move forward the specific plan. Top of the list is preparing a sense of place plan for the crossroads and Main Street districts that implements the marketing and branding strategies for the redesign of Main Street. I believe that has already begun and should be underway. And with that, addressing the localized flooding and infrastructure improvements that will be needed along Main Street. And then assembling a SPAR fund to strategically Acquire land to facilitate the redevelopment activities, as well as prioritizing things like retail shops in key areas such as Sierra and Maine. Establishing a parking district for shared parking opportunities to help facilitate the pedestrian-oriented mixed use and infill that we have planned for. And then implementing vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian mobility improvements along with new development plans. as well as preparing a nexus study to coordinate a development impact fee program to fund basic infrastructure and area-wide improvements. This will be a key to facilitating the sort of redevelopment that the plan has created. I think that's it. I'll end there and pass it to Pat Angel, who will talk next about environmental review. Thank you.

Good evening. Next slide, please. Again, my name's Pat Angel. I am the principal who is in charge of preparation of the environmental document for the proposed specific plan. In this circumstance, the general plan provided very explicit guidance to the development of the Gateway Main Street specific plan and covered quite a few of the environmental effects associated with the implementation of the specific plan. So therefore, we were able to prepare what's referred to as a supplemental EIR off of the general plan EIR to focus the analysis on things that were specific to what was being proposed under the specific plan itself. The environmental review process started with the release of the notice of preparation stating that we're preparing an EIR and looking to receive input on its scope. July of 2024. The public draft document was released in April 2025. We had a review period that went through July. And then earlier this month, we released the final EIR that responds to the comments that were received on the documents. The environmental document identified that there were less than significant impacts or impacts could be mitigated to less than significant effect, except for a handful, which consisted of historic resources, archaeological and tribal cultural resources, transportation noise, and vehicle miles traveled. Now, while these significant and avoidable impacts were identified, the city can still move forward and adopt the specific plan. It requires an adoption of a statement of overriding considerations, identifying that the project's benefits outweigh these environmental effects. It's important to note that these environmental effects were also identified in the general plan EIR as well, so they're not exactly new issues, but in some circumstances, particularly with the historic, archaeological, and tribal cultural resources, there was some increased severity of impact associated with this project. And that is the description on the environmental document. And I think someone is, Jay, I think you're taking it from here.

Thanks, Pat. All right. And now, finally, for the city staff's recommendations. Next slide, please. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission open and close the public hearing, adopt resolution number 25-014 to approve the following, specific plan amendment number SP20-002, zoning text and map amendment number ZA25-0002 and general plan amendment number GP25-0002. and also determine the subsequent environmental impact report to the Milpitas 2040 General Plan EIR, adequately analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with the specific plan, general plan, and zoning amendment pursuant to CEQA. I also, before turning it over for discussion, I also want to just show a couple of slides. The action includes a general plan map amendment. This map amendment is really to just change the boundaries of the plan or of the general or change the boundaries as shown in the general plan map. to be consistent with the specific plan boundary change. So what this means is that some of the areas that are being annexed into the plan will have a new land use designation, which will be the Milpitas Gateway Main Street specific plan. The general plan map already has one designation for the entire plan area and simply alludes to the specific plan. So we will be continuing that strategy. Next slide, please. There is also a zoning map amendment to also reflect this boundary change. The zoning map similarly will defer to the specific plan for the zoning, as Christine mentioned earlier. Yeah, similar strategy to the general plan land use map. Yeah, so that concludes our presentation, and we are here to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lee, Christine, and Patrick. Thank you for the nice presentation. And I'd like to start off by asking the fellow commissioners if they have any questions or comments. Yes.

Vice Chair Hawkins.

Yeah.

Jay, I don't know if this one would be to you just as part of the planning overall. on page 18 on the slide presentation page 18 it was basically showing kind of the sierra main street area and it was given two different options in there and i was curious are those options things that are suggestions at this point or is that like in the future when it comes time to start developing those areas more specifically that's when you'll kind of address which type of option would go would be suggested

I'll take a stab at answering that question. Yes, these are options in the event that the current property owner or another developer comes in and wants to redevelop this property. This gives city staff the ability to point to these options and work with the property owner or developer, the applicant, to fulfill the intent and the vision of what you see here. So we won't, you know, in all likelihood, I mean, these are just diagrams.

We are not going to be

you know, super, super strict that it has to look exactly like that. But this establishes the basis for what kind of development we want to see. And we want to provide two options because we want to provide some flexibility and we think, you know, either option has its merits. So I think ultimately city staff would be pretty pleased with either option.

Thanks. That's part of the reason for the question is looking at the pictures on the screen, the one on the left, it kind of shows a nice flow. and obviously a lengthy project, the one on the right looks more like a gathering area. And it kind of posed the question for me looking at the rest of this, is there like an anchor Plaza, a place where you could think of as a gathering place, you know, in these plans, um, you know, where, I don't know, a band could set up and not necessarily needs to be that huge, but most of the things that I'm seeing are more like the slide on the left where it's got good flow. It's gonna be beautiful and nice the way it's envisioned, but where's an area for, you know, a bunch of people to get together and hang out.

Commissioner Albano, if I can get you to turn your microphone on.

Sorry, that was me. I was just making a comment about something like a music in the park, which I like the right, the right side. I can see that, but I also like the flow of the kind of the walkway or walk-through plaza. Just my two cents, but I love it.

And my apology, I think I say Commissioner Albana and then Commissioner Medina-Ashby. I apologize.

It's all right, attorney. We're both the queens of . We're only the two here in the all-male panel.

Any more questions?

Not a question. I was just still looking for the anchor plaza for just what we discussed there. But no, thank you guys. It looks like a lot of work and a lot of thought went into this. So I just want to say good job to Jay and Christine and Patrick and you guys for all the work that you guys have put into this because it looks really good. I like the visions.

Any more questions from anybody?

One question. I'm just concerned about, I know it's owned by a certain person. Have there been talks about selling it and acquiring the property? Is it the same person that owns land all the way up to 880? Is that correct?

I don't think it goes all the way to 880, but it is a large area that is under one property owner. I will just say that city staff have met with the property owner, of course, because they are a key stakeholder in all of this. And I think there is some desire at some point, you know, to have some redevelopment, you know, something new here. But I think at that moment, it's kind of undetermined. These are very preliminary, so there isn't much more I can share about that.

Thank you.

Chair, if I may respond to Commissioner Culkin, sorry, Vice Chair Culkin's comment. Just to make sure that you have it, for the SARA Center in the, the specific plan it's specifically the standard it sets the vision it sets states that the sarah center will be a vibrant contemporary mixed-use community anchored by public open space and civic outdoor gathering spaces so the standard adopted reflects the vision that you were talking about The options that are shown are described as potential things that might recognize that vision, but ultimately whenever a proposal for redevelopment came forward to both the Planning Commission as well as the State Council potentially, it would be up to the body at that time to say, is it fulfilling that vision? But the vision that you're talking about is incorporated into the specific plan. Thanks for the clarification.

Anybody else have any questions?

Thank you, Director Lee, for giving us insights beforehand and talking to every commissioner. That was very nice of you, and you answered most of the questions when we were on the Zoom call. One of the things which I see on the Sierra way, the center where they have the diner and everything, which connects Sierra Way and Calaveras on the other side. Is it owned by one owner and the redevelopment takes place, or there are several owners like we have on Main Street?

So I'm not certain which area. I think you're referring to still the Sierra Center?

Yeah, the one behind the gas station, the 76 gas station on Calaveras and Sierra. The small... Yeah, I think so.

I think he's talking about where Foster Freeze is.

No, no, before that.

Yeah. Sierra Center is where the theaters are. Oh, that's the theater.

Let's call it the Sierra Center. There is another small... lot where they have the PO boxes and everything. But is there something to be done over there too?

Are you talking about the 76 gas station and Black Bear Diner?

Yes.

Oh, okay. So that area is also in the Crossroads District, a different property owner. We didn't give perhaps the same level of attention to some of the other areas because I would say the Sarah Center is like the key catalyst site in the plan area. But as you can see in these diagrams, we do propose some connections. Not every area on the plan has new connections or connections. you know called out for new parks or new plazas i think the property it's shown on this map to the west of able so we are you know wanting to see a trail along able in keeping with our master ultimately active transportation plan. And then there's also a connection, like a street or an alleyway that breaks up that block. And then you see a plaza focal point on the southwestern corner. So we do have some level of, I guess, improvements or things that we'd want to see in that area. But it's ultimately it is up to the the property owner. But we do allow for the same level of intensity, same uses. So you would be able to do a similar type of development there as well.

Thank you.

Okay. There are no other questions from other commissioners. I have a few questions. So, you know, we had one one email from from the public from a builder i suppose regarding increasing the the density minimums for the main street and the cross district cross road districts to 30 dwelling units per acre now if i look at table that was presented here and also table 3-2 in the in the report, I mean in the present, all the background information that was sent to us, I thought this was already covered because there is minimum and the maximum in developing units per acre. So can you tell me if we already comply with what the builder is asking or they're not

Yes, and I think you're referring to the letter from SV at Home. It's a well-meaning and well-intentioned letter. Staff generally agrees that we're trying to meet our Reno numbers, and it's always good to have more density, especially in these areas. And also, I think you point out a good point. is uh the cross so they're asking for a minimum density the the lowest you can have of 30 dwelling units per acre in both the crossroads and the main street districts and i think you point out the crossroads district already has a minimum density of 40 dwelling units breaker so even higher than what they're proposing so i think that would address that concern and actually you know make them happy because the crossroads area is where we want to see the highest activity and and the highest intensity However, for Main Street, the reason why we didn't propose a similar minimum density is because Main Street is very challenged just from a site perspective. There are many site constraints. The sites are small. They are shallow at some points or irregularly shaped or very narrow. On those kinds of lots, most of them owned by different property owners, it's very difficult to determine build a larger development with that higher density. So we want it to be flexible and allow for townhouses. That's why we set the minimum density, I believe, at 20 dwelling units per acre. So you'll still get townhouses and get some density, but we wanted to give that option to either do townhomes or an apartment building because the danger of setting the minimum density too high in an area like Main Street is that it would prohibit development then we would get no housing units and it would not help in any way in achieving arena allocation. So we think it's kind of a middle ground approach. So just considering the local context, I think that's why we ended up with this number instead.

So make me understand better. So on Main Street, there's a minimum of 20 in your plan and maximum of, I think, 40 or something. So it's still 30 that they're asking for is within that range. So do they...

lose anything in terms of their project if they come up with a project if they do 30 dwelling units per acre to still within the range that's correct that the developer could still choose to develop at that density or even higher i think what sv at home is proposing is that we increase the density such that townhouses are not even an option and that's something that staff was not is not recommending i see okay all right so next question is uh

We talk about Main Street and you want to make it walkable. How will you really make it walkable? Because to my understanding, there's not even a single block there which can be walkable unless you start a lot of businesses to move away.

That's a great question. During the existing conditions analysis, one of the constraints that we found is that there were really large blocks. So the way that you would break up those blocks is as development occurs, we would require new developments to include either like alleyways or private streets or walkways. to break up the blocks. So having smaller blocks allows for an area to be more walkable. You have more options to get to where you want to, rather than having to walk several hundred feet to get to maybe the other side of, to a parallel street or so. So that's one way, but that wouldn't necessarily result in losing businesses. That's not the goal of making a place more walkable. I think another way is, as development occurs, to require wide sidewalks. This can happen by having an access easement that requires also a small setback. from your private property line to get that extra width. But it also includes going more further into the actual street. And that's why we're looking at Main Street differently, where we're saying you don't need to have bike lanes here. We want to have street parking here. And then also in some areas, rather than having street parking, you can actually have a parklet. Where you can have or outdoor dining in those areas so it can go both ways a little bit into private property and also into the the street and These things I don't think are in conflict with you know Retaining businesses or having commercial activity on these streets actually this will help facilitate pedestrian activity which is beneficial for businesses and

Thank you. So next question. I saw that your original Midtown specific plan adopted in 2002 and updated in 2010. So I'm assuming that since 2010 you actually had several projects which are implemented in this territory that you're talking about since 2010, even though as part of the Midtown plan. Is that correct?

That is correct. A lot of that redevelopment actually happened further south in that tail where we removed that plant area. There are also a few projects that happened along Main Street. So, yeah, I wouldn't say there was no development. There was one project in particular that was built, a mixed-use townhouse development on Main Street. There also were a couple of others that were entitled, really small mixed-use projects, but haven't been built. So that's kind of the extent of the development that was facilitated by the Midtown Plan, at least further north. In the southern portion, we've had some good redevelopment.

So are there any sort of what you will call low-hanging fruits in terms of projects which you can envision that can come up very quickly after the approval by the city council?

Yet another great question. There are actually a few projects in the pipeline that are waiting for this plan to be adopted because their ability to develop the number of units and actually have residential in some areas depends on this plan. So we have a few. There's one at 600 Valley Way that's in the Gateway District, closer to the 880. Currently, it's commercial zoning. So mixed-use zoning would allow for the development that they want to have there. uh there's another um there's a preliminary review application that that is on main street um just north or really close to calaveras overpass and there's another one in that area as well that was previously entitled but was wasn't built and the the um or the applicant is considering, you know, redesigning because of the additional density that you can have here. And there's another one that we received recently further south where they, you know, because of the increase in density, they can get some more units. So yeah, there's actually a handful of projects that are waiting on this plan.

Okay, that's nice to know. I had no idea. So final question. So What in your plan will actually attract builders to come to Milpitas and take up these projects compared to the rest of the surrounding cities? What is the main incentive for somebody to come here compared to the rest of Silicon Valley area?

Another good question. And I don't want to necessarily overstate how much zoning can do. It won't magically automatically transform an area because there are a lot of market factors that matter, as I'm sure many of you know. But I think just generally speaking, allowing for more development or higher densities is a good start because right now our current zoning is overly restrictive. It only allows for three stories, 45 feet. And also, I think the dwelling units per acre, the density is only... I think either 20 dwelling units per acre or a third dwelling units per acre. So it's very limiting. So allowing for more, I think, will spur on and attract developers to come here. In terms of from a commercial business perspective, I think as... As businesses consider areas, they look at foot traffic, they look at how many people are there, the demographics. I'm not an expert, but that's generally what I know. I think with this plan, which will help facilitate public improvements as development occurs, bring people who live here, and if you have mixed use, you know that you'll have at least a certain base of customers that live right above you. Those kinds of things can attract certain businesses to come to this area. We also have our zoning is I wouldn't say it's necessarily I wouldn't say it's cutting edge anymore, but it is still relatively a new strategy of having incentives based zoning. So what this means is you have the zoning that allows a certain number of units. But what this what cities do is we allow for more development beyond that if you provide Community benefits so kind of like more development and exchange for benefits for the community the categories include You know sustainability business retention or economic development historic preservation There are a number of things actually it's on the it's on the list now so You know, it's a way to allow for more, provide these development incentives, but also get something out of that so that it benefits the community. And these, of course, have to be, these benefits have to be above and beyond the minimum standards or else, you know, they're not really benefits.

So could you maybe say that even though these benefits are the type of densities you talked about, may already be offered by the surrounding cities, possibly, so you may not have anything unique, but perhaps you could say the surrounding cities are already developed maybe more than Milpitas, so for somebody who wants to be closest to Silicon Valley, Milpitas is a good target to have come up with these developments.

Yes, I think you're getting to kind of the market impact as well, because it's not just the development, the regulatory framework, but it's also like the cost of land, right? And those are things that developers have to consider. You know, perhaps you could say Milpitas is, I'm sure, more expensive than other areas, but also cheaper than other areas. So that's a consideration. But what this does is it at least gives us a better chance. And also right now, what I'm hearing from a lot of developers and applicants is that high density is just not penciling because of the rising cost of land and construction materials and labor. But let's say, as we know, the market changes constantly. So let's say the market comes around and higher densities are more feasible or pencil out better in the future, we'll already have the standards in place to allow for that, whereas right now we don't. But you're right in that this does not guarantee in any way that all of a sudden all these developers are going to flock to Milpitas. But I think it's going to hopefully attract more development than it is currently attracting.

Chair, may I say something? With Director Lee, I think to add to that, am I correct to say that with the adjustments we did in the boundary, moving of the boundary, it has helped us maximize what Milpitas, the city of Milpitas, can even provide for companies to come in, investors.

I think that's accurate because what I think we can say is inclusion of these parcels will not only benefit those parcels, but hopefully the larger area. So for example, 600 Valley Way. If redevelopment happens there, which will be more possible now that it's included in the plan area, I think once developers see one area develop, right, property values may go up. This is kind of speculation, but these sites can serve as catalyst sites, right, or there's some synergies to be gained. So I would say generally that is accurate.

So we had moved some boundaries. We had included and expanded our boundaries for certain areas, right, for the mixed use.

There are a couple of residential neighborhoods that have been included. We're not proposing the change of zoning, but they will still benefit because the plan calls for public improvements, which could also benefit those residential neighborhoods.

Are there any more questions from any commissioners?

Yes. Not on today's agenda, but kind of relatable. There is a development coming up on Main Street where the 76 gas station is 207 behind that, the Bay Area Tech Center, and they are doing community outreach. I live close to that area in the Pines. This is a mixed-use area with a little bit of retail, and it has some other office buildings, a lot of other things. And one of the community outreach, which I also attended as a resident of the area, So there is no retail. So it's all being converted. The whole area, which is right now offices and some retails and that is going to go away and there will be no no retail, just 272 townhomes and condos. And that is going to come up and they are still working with the planning department. So is there any way that some of the things can come up here? They can say, OK, we don't want any retail now. We want just the housing. Is there any way that they get some kind of incentive or any way that we can have a mixed use, which means that we can have some retail and, of course, the housing which they need?

And that's a very valid concern, which we also share. But the plan is intended to facilitate mixed use redevelopment. So we aren't requiring ground floor commercial in every area, but we are requiring it along activity streets, what we call activity streets, important commercial corridors, and also at retail priority corners. So when there's an intersection, typically, um that's an area where we want to say hey that's where retail should be not just for a little first a certain distance right along that intersection both ways um so in this way we're hoping that um we at least maintain a minimum amount of retail um throughout the corridor but it's also a very long corridor so like for example further south on main street um that's where we might be more open to like townhouses right that have stoops that go right onto the street we don't necessarily think that you need to have ground floor retail along all of main street um but certain areas that we think you know should kind of be that commercial center that entertainment district that's where we would require the retail all right thank you okay uh i assume there are no more questions um thank you mr lee um

So I guess we are ready to move forward. Would one of the commissioners like to make a motion? Sorry, we do need public comment. Oh, OK. Ms. Medina, are there any public comments?

There are no speaker cards for this item. Thank you, Chair.

I know I always forget something. OK, would one of the commissioners like to make a motion now?

Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the following.

So I think traditionally we close the public hearing before we take motions.

OK. So let's close the public hearing. So is there a motion to close the public hearing?

I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. Is there a second?

I second. Thank you. Commissioner Awasthi?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? Aye. Commissioner Albana? Aye. Vice Chair Calkins?

Aye.

And Chair Gupta?

Aye.

Thank you.

Okay, now we're ready to make a motion for the main item. Is there a motion?

Yes, I'd like to thank everyone who put in so much all these years making our city and the residents should be very happy that we will be a very vibrant city in the coming future. So yes, I'd like to recommend adopting resolution number 25-014 to approve the following, the specific plan amendment number SB20-002, the zoning tax and map amendment number Z825-0002 and the general plan amendment number GP25-002. And determined the SEIR to the Milpitas 2040 general plan EIR adequately analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with a specific plan, the general plan and zoning amendment pursuant to the CEQA.

Is there a second, please? I second. Ms. Medina, please take a vote.

Commissioner Awasthi?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? Aye. Commissioner Albana? Aye. Vice Chair Calkins? Aye. And Chair Gupta?

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion carries. We are recommending this plan to the City Council. Thank you. Is there any new business item? Anybody with any new business item?

Chair, Attorney Kritz, can I say something? Yes. I was wondering if I can bring it up and maybe ask the team here if maybe beginning once it's approved in our next meeting, is it possible if I suggest like at least after our Pledge of Allegiance, before we start the meeting, we can have at least a one-minute invocation to make our decisions and suggestions, having more wisdom, you know, and just encouraging a note of invocation before we start the meeting? Is that something I could suggest? When do I make a suggestion?

So, if I understand you correctly, you have a suggestion. The proposal would be a change to the Planning Commission's bylaws. So, that would be the process, right? The meeting process. The bylaws for the Planning Commission are recommended and approved by the Planning Commission, then go to the City Council, and then the City Council would have to approve them. So, if If this body wants that to suggest that, and there was a desire by the body to have that put on for a future agenda item for this body to consider, you could ask for that by motion to be put on a future agenda item, if you so wished.

All right. Just as a two-cent suggestion. It's up to the team. Yes. But you've been suggested. I just suggested, yeah.

Can you explain exactly what you mean by invocation? I didn't quite follow.

Well, I don't know. Are there other commissions that do that, attorney? That, like, at least a one-minute invocation, like, we're grateful for, you know, for everything, and we just pray we have wisdom as we make our decisions? You know, it's more as something of...

And change it?

Of course, of course, there will be also, we're sensitive to the diverse beliefs. Basically, it's an invocation, like we have invocations when we have meetings, assemblies.

I guess city council also does that.

Yeah, like we're grateful that, you know, for the people and also that we pray for wisdom and guidance. It solemnizes something. It embodies like... something where we invoke wisdom upon each one of us. I wish you blessings today, a good day. It's more like blessing the meeting. That's it. That's all. That's all I was thinking.

So if I, we can't have too much of a discussion, right? Because it's not an agenda item. If someone wanted to ask for a motion for an item we put on a future agenda, you could do that tonight if you so wished. We could take a consensus vote on that. What I would say for context is that the city council is currently the only body that does that. They do an invocation that rotates among the various council members each meeting, and the council member is allowed to select whatever invocation they want. None of the other commissions currently do that as part of their regular process. However, the Planning Commission's bylaws, they can suggest changes to the City Council if they so wish. So if you want us to bring back a discussion item on that subject, you could ask for that to be agendized.

Thank you, Attorney Creech. Well, maybe I can make that suggestion, and it may or may not be approved.

If it is a second, then I can second that.

Okay, so are we saying we'll include that in the agenda item for the next meeting?

Yes.

And then have a discussion and decide at that time?

Yes. So you would need a vote. So it doesn't strictly speaking require a motion, but you could have it by a consensus vote. So if you want to ask if the Commission would like to have placed on a future agenda a discussion of an amendment to the bylaws to allow for an invocation, then we could take a vote on that.

Yeah.

So I'm assuming you are suggesting that. So let's take a vote.

A consensus vote.

A consensus vote, yeah.

Commissioner Wasti?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? Aye. Commissioner Albana? Aye. Vice Chair Calkins?

Aye.

And Chair Gupta?

Aye.

Thank you.

Are there any more items for new business category? Okay, so in that case, it's time for government, and I'd like to read the declaration about that. Any person, by any final decision of any board in our department, The time limit shall be strictly enforced.

I have a motion.

I have a motion to adjourn the meeting, please.

Motion to adjourn?

I second.

I second. Commissioner Elasti?

Aye.

Commissioner Medina-Ashby? Aye. Commissioner Obana? Aye. Vice Chair Calkins?

Aye.

And Chair Gupta?

Aye.

Thank you so much.

Thank you all. The meeting is adjourned.