Salvage, Incentives to be Explored in Wake of Donner House Fire – In the early morning of July 19th, a fire consumed the Donner-Houghton House leaving behind the charred remains of one of San José’s City Landmarks. “Obviously we’ve suffered a very significant historical loss,” says Sally Zarnowitz, the City’s Historic Preservation Officer, “but our hope is that we can save what we can from the building and improve what we’re already doing to protect our existing and irreplaceable landmarks. Read More...

Schools Study Needs to Better Reflect North San José Housing Density – A new analysis designed to determine how many students the residential development in North San José would generate is underway by the Santa Clara County Unified School District. Our initial assessment is that the study will need to be significantly revised to provide relevant projections for the policy area. Read More...

Behind-the-Scenes Race Ensures Grand Prix is Safe for Fans – Months of preparation with Grand Prix organizers leads to a real behind-the-scenes race as the infrastructure for the event is constructed. “It really is a race against time,” says Mark Crain, Chief Building Inspector. Read More...

‘As I See It…’ is an occasional series of articles about life and development in San José as seen through the eyes of our employees who live, work and play here. This month, Senior Planner Michael Bills talks about the evolution of North San José. Read More...

New Shear Wall Design Method Likely to Require Fewer Hold Downs –  The 2007 California Building Code is introducing a new method of shear wall design commonly referred to as Perforated Shear Walls (PSW). Read More...

Proposed Local Amendments to Codes Available in August – Over the coming months, the City is preparing to adopt the new California Building and Fire Codes which will become effective on January 1, 2008. For a detailed adoption schedule, information on local amenddments and training dates... Read More

What’s Your Sign? “Vibrant, Creative, and Effective” Of Course – Our local businesses can now take advantage of some recent changes to the Sign Code aimed at having more creative and effective signage. Read More...

The Special Tenant Improvement process worked very well for us. We got our permit in a couple of weeks saving us a lot of time. Joyce Liu and her team did a great job. San José has demonstrated best in class performance when it comes to supporting business. We are glad we chose San José as our place to expand.  [survey comment from Nextest]

I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and report on your findings and that of Code Enforcement Inspector Pierre Schutz. Your report and remarks on the way tenants should handle code enforcement violations within their apartments and the apartment building and reporting method and what the different types of enforcement and remedies were very well received and appreciated. Our thanks also for the fine job Pierre Shutz has done on the inspection and follow-up. He has shown the tenants here you all really care.  [letter excerpt to Code Enforcement Inspector Mollie McLeod from San José resident]
Read more letter excerpts..

Vibrant, Safe Downtown the Goal with New Proposal and Pilot – Along with our involvement in the extensive residential and commercial development occurring in downtown San José, our Department is actively participating in several other efforts to continue bringing an exciting future for our City to fruition. Read More...

For Now, Lights Are Out For Electronic Billboards – Neighborhoods have been spared a constant barrage of flashing billboard advertisements thanks to some recent action on the part of our staff, the City Attorney’s Office and the City’s Legislative Representative in Sacramento. Read More...

Taking the Neighborhood Clean-up Program "Green" – In the last year alone, the City collected over 37,500 cubic yards of refuse and debris from residents through the Neighborhood Cleanup Program and recycled 85% of it. Read More...

“Live” Calls, Faster Call-back Times Give Customers Quick Responses – A few months ago, if you needed to call us for answers to zoning, regulations, and other planning questions, you would have been forwarded to a voice-mail and had your call returned in a day or two. “We knew we could do better,” Read More...

Building Permit Activity for June – Residential activity was moderate (339 units). Commercial activity fell to its lowest level in 18 months and industrial activity was moderate with a total permit valuation (new construction and alterations) of $8.2 and $17.4 million, respectively. Read More...

Fiscal Year Summary of Building Permit Activity – Total construction valuation during fiscal year 2006-2007 amounted to $840 million, a 5.4% increase from the prior year. Read More...

August Winners of the Director’s Customer Service Award – Congratulations to Greg Rose, Mary Jane Jepson, and Philip Vera Cruz. Thank you for jobs well done! Read more...

Gene Goes Green for Being Supreme (and Lucky) – Gene Tague’s name came out of the hat and he now gets first dibs on our newest, greenest fleet vehicle – a hybrid Ford Escape. Read More...

After 37+ Years, Planner with Longest Service Record Retires – Larry Bohannan always said he would work for 50 years, but fishing and family called him sooner. Read More...

Mark your calendars with upcoming meetings, events, seminars, and more...

• August 7th, Neighborhood Roundtable, City Hall Tower, Room T-332, 7:00 – 8:30 AM

• August 23rd, Construction Roundtable, City Hall Tower, Room T-332, 8:30 – 10:00 AM.

• August 24th, Developer’s Roundtable, City Hall Tower, Room T-332, 8:00 – 10:00 AM.September 14th,

• September 14th, Roundtable – Code Adoption, location/time TBD, Special session to discuss proposed California Code Amendments