Despite months of fervent opposition from local residents, the San Jose City Council has approved plans for a new hotel that is part of a wave of development happening around Highway 85 near the western edges of the city.

Like other projects across San Jose, the fight pits residents who think the city is moving too quickly and haphazardly in approving new development against a City Council looking to attract businesses to the area and stop urban sprawl.

“It’s sort of like talking to a wall,” Shelley Giles, who lives near 1090 S. De Anza Boulevard, where a Hampton Inn is slated to be built in the coming months, said of residents’ attempts to convince the council to reject the proposal.

Throughout the city, there are plans to build “urban villages,” walkable mixed-use spaces that are bike-friendly and close to transit. There’s a plan to build such a village along S. De Anza at some point in the future, but not right away.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, some 20 residents and the area councilman, Chappie Jones, said they want to see a plan in place before more development is approved, rather than one-off projects getting the green light.

“I kind of equate this to death by a thousand cuts,” Jones said.

“I’ve been supportive of development,” he continued. “But it’s part of a bigger picture….We need to have a plan in place that shows the overall vision of what that neighborhood, what that community, what that street is going to look like.”

Right now, there are several other developments planned for the area, including a five-story, 125-room hotel and a six-story, 85-unit apartment building next to each other just two blocks to the south, and a 99-unit memory care facility just south of the freeway. Each proposal is set to be considered individually.

“None of us are anti-progress,” said Margaret Metcalfe, who lives nearby. “We simply wish for a more planned community.”

But the idea of halting development until an urban village design can be formalized, several council members said, doesn’t make sense.

“I personally think that’s too long to wait,” said councilman Lan Diep.

Mayor Sam Liccardo, who is typically restrained during council sessions, wasn’t having it either.

“My mother would always say, ‘Be careful what you ask for in life, you might get it,’ and if you ask for an urban village plan on this, you might get it,” Liccardo said.

Where such plans are already in the works, buildings are slated to be taller and more dense.

The city, Liccardo continued, needs to provide amenities, like hotels, to companies looking to do business in San Jose or they’ll go elsewhere. He was concerned, he said, that voting down the hotel proposal would leave companies considering investing in the city thinking twice.

“I have concerns about pulling the rug out here,” he said.

That’s a risk that could be elevated in west San Jose, one of just a few places in the city where it still makes financial sense for developers, plagued by high construction costs, to build.

In the end, all but Jones and Councilman Raul Peralez voted to allow the hotel to move forward, with a few specific requirements, including that the developer preserve some trees on the property and provide on-site security.

The developer plans to build a four-story, 90-room Hampton Inn with 51 underground parking spaces that could accommodate up to 79 cars using a valet system and tandem parking. Right now, the site houses a gas station and car wash.

“A hotel is less toxic, it’s less potential danger,” said Jim Rato, an architect with RYS Architects, who spoke on behalf of the developer at the council meeting. “Your favorable vote on this project will add to the investment of the future of San Jose.”

While there are shops and restaurants surrounding the lot, there are also town homes and apartments close by, and some residents are nervous the hotel will cause traffic and parking problems and disrupt the suburban community they love.

“I’m certainly disappointed, not surprised,” Giles said. “I think the city is looking for money and trying to find it wherever they can.”

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“We did our best,” Wong said, “and we kind of built up a camaraderie.”

That could come in handy in the future. This hotel most certainly won’t be the last development proposed in the area.