Planning

Saratoga Urban Village Plan

Shaping the Future of West San José

The Saratoga Urban Village Plan is a community-driven planning effort that will define a vision for future development along Saratoga Avenue — from Highway 280 to Lawrence Expressway — including the Westgate Shopping Center and surrounding commercial areas.

This is your home base for updates, resources, and opportunities to participate. Here you’ll find the project background, timeline, frequently asked questions, and information about how to share your feedback.

What is an Urban Village?

Urban Villages are a key part of San José’s Envision 2040 General Plan, which serves as the City’s blueprint for growth.

Urban Villages are:

Mixed-use neighborhoods combining homes, jobs, shops, and community spaces.
Transit-friendly hubs designed to reduce reliance on cars and support walking, biking, and public transportation.
Environmental strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, curb urban sprawl, and protect sensitive lands by focusing growth in established corridors.
Community-focused areas that balance new development with neighborhood character.

Learn more at City of San José Urban Villages.

Existing Urban Villages

Why Here? Why Now?

Saratoga Avenue today is largely commercial and auto-oriented, with shopping plazas, strip malls, and office uses adjacent to single-family neighborhoods and apartments.

The Saratoga Avenue area already functions as an unplanned urban village, with ongoing development pressures and projects shaping the corridor. This planning process does not open the door to entirely new types of development—it ensures that future projects follow a community-driven vision. For example, certain uses like drive-throughs are not permitted under the City’s Urban Village framework. By creating a clear plan now, we can guide growth in a way that supports housing, jobs, mobility, and amenities while preventing inconsistent or piecemeal development.

The City sees potential to:

Revitalize underused spaces such as large surface parking lots.
Create more housing to address affordability challenges.
Grow local jobs to balance where residents live and work.
Add public amenities like plazas, gathering spaces, and safe walking and biking paths.
Support sustainability goals by reducing car dependence and promoting walkability.

Project Specifics

The Saratoga Urban Village Plan envisions:

Planned Job Capacity: 2,400 jobs
Planned Housing Yield: 1,620 new homes
Area: Approximately 333 acres / 224 parcels (253 acres developable)
Uses Today: Shopping centers, office buildings, community-serving institutions, and housing.
Future Vision: A balanced, mixed-use community that provides places to live, work, shop, and gather.

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Planning Timeline

The planning process spans from concepts to final adoption in 2025, with multiple opportunities for community input.

December 2024 – Workshop 1 (Community Values): Gathered community values and vision priorities.
Spring 2024 – SJSU Capstone Study: Graduate planning students analyzed mobility, traffic, and circulation.
June 2025 – Workshop 2 (Plan Development): In-person + virtual meetings to review conceptual designs and hear feedback.
August 18, 2025 – Community Meeting: District 1 hosted a meeting at Cypress Community Center to share draft concepts and launch updated project FAQs and webpage.
October/November 2025 (Tentative) – Community Meeting: District 1 will host another meeting, closer to the Urban Village area, to test a “reverse Q&A” format and highlight how community input has shaped the plan.
TBD 2025 – Workshop 3 (Draft Plan Webinars): City staff will present the Draft Plan in three webinars; community members will have a final chance to provide feedback.

How to Participate

Your feedback is essential to shaping this plan.

Take the Community Survey:
View Presentation: f48a7c4f-79e9-4480-ae5a-c81e586efa73.pdf
Sign Up for Updates: Sign up for updates

Frequently Asked Questions & Concerns

The following questions were gathered during the Saratoga Urban Village planning process, particularly at our latest community meeting. This Q&A will be updated regularly as more community input is received.

Questions Related to Open Space/Parks

If San Jose doesn't take proper maintenance, then how will they take care of more parks & street scape. Is San Jose taking responsibility of street tree maintenance & concrete repairs?

As in many cities, per San José’s Municipal Code, all property owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalk, park strip area, and curb and gutter adjacent to their property.

To ask about repairs to any of these areas, or to request a permit to work on the sidewalk, park strip (and street trees), or curb and gutter area, please email TreesAndSidewalks@sanjoseca.gov.

Maintenance of street trees, including watering, pruning, and pest management, is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner. Per San José Municipal Code Section 13.28, a free permit is required before trees can be pruned, removed, or planted.

The City maintains trees in median island roadside landscapes and in special landscape districts
With 1600+ new units that calls for about 10 acres of Parkland based on the General Plan how do we get more Parkland? How do we avoid another El Paseo disaster from a Parks perspective?

Land dedication remains PRNS’s top priority, as it most directly supports our long-term goals for park access, equity, and livability. We also take a balanced approach when evaluating development proposals to ensure that our resources are used efficiently to support sustainable park development and maintenance citywide. The Department recognizes the importance of strategically managing our limited resources, and in certain cases, alternative solutions such as in-lieu fees or Privately Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) may better align with our goals given site constraints or department constraints.

For reference, this "land dedication first" strategy focused on securing parkland where it’s most needed, was applied in the case of El Paseo. However, during negotiations, site constraints limited the feasibility of land dedication, and the outcome was a Privately Owned Public Open Space (POPOS) to expand public access to outdoor recreational space.
The Saratoga Urban Village plan will consider a combination of improvements to leverage existing park assets and to provide new public outdoor recreational spaces at appropriate scale with the new development.

New residential developments are obligated to either provide parkland or park impact fees. The amount of potential new park area resulting from residential development is calculated from require parkland obligation and/or park impact fees per the Park Impact Ordinance (SJMC 14.25 PIO) and the Parkland Dedication Ordinance (SJMC 19.38 - PDO).

For example:
- Formula used to calculate the amount of required parkland: Minimum acreage dedication = .003 acres × Number of dwelling units × Average number of persons per dwelling unit.
- The Park Impact In-Lieu Fee is calculated by identifying the Real Estate Multiple Listing Service (MLS) area the project is in, the per unit fee associated with the housing type, and multiplying the two. For example, a 100 multi-family unit project in the Downtown would be $22,600 x 100 = $2,260,000 (MLS fee per unit × number of units.)
For more please reference this webpage on the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services.

Questions Related to Mobility/Transportation

How is the urban village design going to encourage pedestrians/cyclists/ public transport over current overwhelming vehicular traffic (especially around schools/neighborhoods)?

Typically increased proximity to local amenities, shopping, and services in addition to transportation related improvements support increased level of residents walking and biking within their neighborhood. Residents will be encouraged to walk and bike alongside improvements to make those mobility choices more comfortable and safe. Over time this will decrease dependency on local vehicle use and reduce traffic. You can find out more about how the City is addressing traffic safety here.

What about more affordable housing?

The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, Chapter 5.08 of the San José Municipal Code, was adopted on January 12, 2010 and recently amended in 2021. The IHO requires all residential developers who create new, additional, or modified For-Sale or Rental units to provide 15% of housing on-site that is affordable to income qualified buyers/renters specified below. The base obligation is where 15% of the Inclusionary Units are provided On-Site. The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance allows developers multiple option to satisfy the affordable housing obligation. Please see this webpage for more information.
What is the plan to support additional traffic with density increases?

When developers propose new housing or commercial projects, they have to also present a traffic study and follow council policies to prevent significant impacts to traffic. If there is a significant impact, typically projects will provide funding for new infrastructure to maintain or improve current conditions. This is the case before and after urban village plans are approved.

In addition, traffic impacts from housing projects allowed by Saratoga Urban Village plan will happen on a project by project basis. It is not expected that the proposed housing units increase scoped in the draft concepts will be developed all at once or in the immediate near future. As indicated in a market analysis of the area, current real estate conditions are not readily conducive for the development for denser residential developments.
Are there plans to improve interchanging at 280? Will the traffic flow on Saratoga Ave at 280/Moorpark area be addressed? i.e. the traffic backups with all the traffic lights?

Highways and freeways are under federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Proposal any changes to the 280 interchange is not within the scope of this plan.
What coordination is the city doing with VTA on transportation planning in this project?

The City and VTA are in communication with how Saratoga Urban Village is developing with regard to policies, guidelines and recommendations. VTA is aware of any new updates and is a partner in helping shape the plan given their expertise and perspective as transit service providers along the corridor.
Southwood Drive should not be turned into an alternative driving route for Saratoga Avenue. Please keep it available for pedestrians and cyclists.

The conceptual plan proposes traffic improvements as bulbouts, sidewalk widening, street trees and street art to slow down vehicle traffic in side streets such a Southwood Drive to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. There is no plan to make it an alternative driving route.
Where is the parking for all the new mixed-use buildings?

Residential development (26 or more multifamily units) are required to submit a Transportation Demand Management plan to demonstrate how the project will be offsetting traffic demands including providing on site parking, improve transit network improvements, provide transit fare subsidies, and provide alternative transportation options such as bike share. For more information, please see the latest Parking and Transportation Demand Management Ordinance update.
How will people who live around the corridor get to the corridor if cars aren't really allowed? Is it walking distance?

The final approved Saratoga Urban Village Plan will encourage a mixture of mobility, include cars. The goal of the final plan is to set up policies and guidelines to support the development of bicycle and pedestrian friendly infrastructure to allow for a greater mix of mobility types including driving, walking and biking.
Could it be possible to put in a trolley to carry people from their homes down to the near Westgate shopping area to Costco?

Exploring a trolley or any other significant capital improvement is not a part of the plan at the moment. VTA conducts regular service checks to monitor the efficiency of existing bus and light rail routes. If there is more usage along certain routes, then there is a higher chance that funds will be allocated to improve service on those routes.
How do we create a micro-mobility network? For example, how do riders on Southwood get over 280 or into the Saratoga Creek trail or into Baker West?

Establishing a micro-mobility network is a good suggestion. Bike and scooter share is enjoyed in various parts of San Jose and could be introduced to Saratoga Urban Village Plan. Implementing such a strategy would require new funding to implement such infrastructure. As part of the plan, we are looking at improving local pedestrian and cycle connectivity where possible.

Questions Related to Land Use/Urban Design

Are there considerations for further upzoning within the corridor? Why 1600 units and not more? Also, will this plan include neighborhood corner stores off the main corridor?

Parcels suitable for future redevelopment were identified as part of a market analysis that forecasted realistic development in the near future. 1620 units is the current target given that development forecast. We can explore the potential of corner commercial units as we develop the final land use plan.

Can we limit to less stories? How do you determine how big the buildings will be? How was 7-stories determined to be the right height? Why not higher?

The proposed land use changes including siting of mixed-use development and building heights came from doing an economic analysis of the urban village to see which sites may have development potential. We have excluded existing residential, essential services, and small businesses in our approach. We are primarily targeting sites such as large commercial parcels with large parking lots sizable enough to be redeveloped.

Potential building heights are then determined based on parcel size, development feasibility, proximity to adjacent low density residential, and other factors.
Can we achieve similar density with more 3-4 story buildings instead of few 7-12 story buildings?

The plan calls for a mix of new residential and mixed use buildings at various heights to achieve an even urban form that responds to responsible urban design and the real estate market.
Why is this plan not going to touch any single-family neighborhoods? They are a drain on city resources and need to be upzoned to reduced service costs.

The Urban Village Strategy was established in 2011 as part of the Envision 2040 General Plan. Through extensive community outreach and research, it was determined that urban villages would respect established single-family neighborhoods.
There should be a standard required Urban Village Boundry type between existing neighborhood and large development. Will Planning bake a standard requirement into the plan?

As part of the planning process, we at existing neighborhood character including the presence of established housing types, large and small businesses, and other amenities. We then analyze properties in the village that would be suitable candidates for mixed-use development without disturbing the existing character of the urban village. We have found that the majority of new development potential proposed should be focused on infill sites focused on the shopping centers in the Southern end of the village with regulations in place such as daylight planes to protect adjacent properties from shadow impacts.
What is the planned housing & job growth for Saratoga U.V? Q&A on planning website says: Planned Job Capacity: 3,000 jobs, Planned Housing Yield: 1,535 D.U. Is this correct for future plans?

The expected recommended updated capacity for Saratoga Urban Village is 1620 new housing units and 2400 jobs. This is based on future developable land and real estate market analysis.

Contact

Email: saratogauv@sanjoseca.gov or district1@sanjoseca.gov

This page will be updated regularly.

2023-2031 HOUSING ELEMENT

The Housing Element is part of San José's Envision 2040 General Plan, a community-based plan that serves as the blueprint for the City's growth. The Housing Element identifies the city’s housing needs and opportunities and establishes goals and strategies to inform housing decisions. Learn more at City of San José Housing Element.

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