With Google project looming, San Jose adopts new downtown design guidelines

With a wave of new development — from a massive Google campus to new Adobe towers — set to arrive in San Jose in the coming years, the nation’s 10th largest city has set new downtown design guidelines that aim to give it a “more human centric” feel.

Initially created more than 10 years ago, the guidelines have been updated and now spell out everything from how signage should be placed — perpendicular, so pedestrians can see it — to where parking structure entrances should be located — not near pedestrian building entrances. Taken one by one, the updates seem relatively minor. But all together, they signal city leaders’ desire to make San Jose more walkable, more visually interesting and generally more urban.

“We want the city to be cool,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said, “more human centric.”

While the guidelines are tied to strict building rules and regulations, some are softer suggestions meant to give developers and others a more predictable, clearer sense of what the city wants and is likely to approve. The city’s director of planning, building and code enforcement — currently Rosalynn Hughey — also will now have the authority to make “minor” updates to the guidelines.

“We’re trying to retrofit a city built for automobiles into a city built for people,” Liccardo said.

But the changes have left some groups concerned. Environmental groups like the local Audubon Society and Sierra Club are worried the guidelines could allow developers to build with reflective materials harmful to birds, and the historical landmarks commission fears they will permit new buildings to dwarf and overwhelm historic structures.

“If you want to build a beautiful city there are many ways to do that without killing birds,” said Shani Kleinhaus, with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.

The council agreed Tuesday to have staff do more outreach and get more feedback from developers and others about bird-safe design.

“We have already seen current proposed projects such as the Boston Properties’ Woz and Almaden project and Adobe Tower 4 project taking voluntary steps to incorporate bird safe features in their design,” Councilman Raul Peralez wrote in a memo. “While we are fortunate that these two major projects along the riparian corridor have taken the initiative to promote conservation in their design, we may not be as fortunate in the future with other developments.”

The guidelines, which take effect mid-May, will apply to new projects and major exterior modifications in the area between Interstate 280 north to Coleman Avenue and Diridion Station east to San Jose State University.

In the past, Liccardo said, “the idea was you had to build these fortresses…That thinking has changed dramatically.”

Now, the guidelines call for design that fosters connection and easy transport across barriers such as creeks or roads. Long, uninterrupted facades will be discouraged. While they acknowledge that the nearby airport flight path limits building heights and a high groundwater table makes putting parking and other utilities below ground challenging, “this area is rapidly developing and affords opportunities to develop great civic spaces.”

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San Jose unveils new plan to clean up ‘stratospheric increase’ in illegal dumping Google is expected to design a major campus near Diridon Station, which itself is set to undergo a major renovation. In the core of downtown, developers like Gary Dillabough and Jay Paul are redeveloping major properties such as the Bank of Italy building and CityView Plaza, respectively. A broad coalition is rethinking how the Guadalupe River front should look, and many are embracing the previously verboten idea of allowing restaurants or shops along the water to attract more visitors.

“This is the work of a generation,” Liccardo said, “building a city.”

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