SAN JOSE — A developer is eyeing a “builder’s remedy” gambit to fast-track well over 700 affordable homes in north San Jose’s Alviso district — but city planners have raised objections to the attempt to streamline.
The proposed development of 780 affordable residences would sprout next to the popular Topgolf entertainment and sports venue near North First Street, according to plans on file with San Jose city officials.
The project’s developer, Cloud Apartments, hopes to determine whether the north San Jose project might land city approval through a fast-track builder’s remedy or a streamlined proposal.
When cities or counties in California are out of compliance with state rules because they haven’t met their housing approval obligations, the builder’s remedy approach gives developers a way to overcome local barriers that can throttle affordable housing proposals.
The 780-unit affordable housing proposal would be built on a 3.2-acre site at 7 Topgolf Way in Alviso, the planning documents show.
Years ago, the development site was part of the land that would have been needed for an “entertainment district” of restaurants, shops, hotels, and lively gathering places near the interchange of State Route 237 and North First Street.
For an array of reasons, the entertainment district proposal fizzled, and the plans fell by the wayside.
Now, this housing development and a nearby data center complex are poised to sprout on sites that would have provided the land for the entertainment district.
Cloud Apartments, which uses modular construction techniques to save money and speed up production of affordable housing, is the developer of the proposed 780-unit complex.
The housing developer is attempting to use provisions of two different state laws in hopes of a successful navigation of San Jose’s complex approval process.
City planners have sent a letter to Curtis Wong, chief executive officer and founder of Cloud Apartments, to list certain objections on technical grounds to the use of the builder’s remedy for this project.
“The project site does not have any residential density,” city planners stated in the letter.
This means the maximum allowable units would be roughly 144 homes, or about 82% less housing than what Cloud Apartments has proposed.
City planners also requested the applicant to determine if the project site is free of pollutants and to investigate whether the project might disturb any burrowing owl habitats at the project site.
Cloud Apartments is a Bay Area company that produces factory-built modular apartments that can be snapped together at a project site.
This proposal has emerged at a time when affordable housing is in demand in the Bay Area and San Jose.