City Politics

Planning Commission Approves Laurelwood Site Return to Light Industrial Zoning At its Jan. 15 meeting, the Santa Clara Planning Commission unanimously approved a development proposal for the property at 2121 Laurelwood Road – currently a furniture store – that would allow the property to be leased to U-Haul. The project involves an interior conversion and … Read more

Golf Course Parking for Stadium Approved At the Jan. 14 Santa Clara City Council meeting, another milestone in the Levi’s Stadium project was reached when 49ers VP of Stadium Operations, Jim Mercurio, announced that the stadium had exceeded its parking goal of 21,000 spaces. With the addition of the proposed parking arrangement with the Santa … Read more

Santa Clara Rated a Top City for Young Professionals A November 2013 study by financial website CreditDonkey.com ranks Santa Clara as one of its top California cities – number 4 out of 130 – for young adults in California. The ranking is based on median salary for college graduates, percent of residents between 20 and … Read more

Electric Rates Up 5 Percent When your next electric bill comes, it will be five percent higher. So you may want to think about dialing down your electricity use now. After three years of flat rates, the 2014 increase results from increases in Silicon Valley Power’s operating costs. Looking ahead over the next five years, … Read more

Postponement of Development Project Hearing Raises Question of CEQA “Greenmail” The City Council was ready for a full hearing on a high-density residential infill project, 45 Buckingham/66 Saratoga, last Tuesday night, when the project’s developer, Prometheus Corp., asked at the last minute that the hearing be continued until Jan. 7, 2014. The Council’s action would … Read more

Council Approves Climate Action Plan Add-On to 2010 General Plan At the Dec. 3 meeting, the Santa Clara City Council unanimously approved a Climate Action Plan (CAP) as an addition to the city’s 2010 General Plan. There was considerable opinion on the part of the public and environmental groups that the plan should be more … Read more

Design Principles for Montana-Lowe and Related Development Projects Approved Following an hour-plus study session on the conceptual designs for the Centennial Gateway (Montana-Lowe) and City Place Santa Clara (Related Companies) projects at its Dec. 3 meeting, the Santa Clara City Council unanimously approved a set of design principles for the development proposals for the developments, … Read more

The dispute about the 1091 Harrison St. restoration project could be interpreted as a proxy for other complaints. One is from Old Quad owners who’ve had to face innumberable HLC and Architectural Committee reviews and revisions of their renovation projects. Another is the increasing pace of conversion of historic homes (including the Morse Mansion) into … Read more

Santa Clara Fire Museum Long Awaited Opening This Friday Every year, the first Friday in December inaugurates the start of the holiday season in Santa Clara. This year, however, will be notable for the long-awaited opening of the Santa Clara fire history museum at 1900 Walsh Ave. For Ray Gamma, who was hired by the … Read more

Sports Complex Feasibility Study Gets Council Go-Ahead At last week’s meeting the Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to conduct a feasibility study of a new Youth Sports Complex. The council articulated the principles to guide the efforts, identified stakeholders in the ultimate decision, appointed a working group, and set a $25,000 budget to hire … Read more