Campbell office park could flip into large housing development

Campbell’s Technology Parkway could become home to one of the city’s largest developments in recent years.

The Campbell Planning Commission initiated the community feedback process Jan. 28 for a proposed 290-home development located between 635 and 695 Campbell Technology Parkway. Campbell-based Bay West Development submitted the site’s plans in 2023, including 27 single-family homes and 263 attached condos in 3- and 4-story buildings, along with more than 700 parking spots. The roughly 17-acre site is the former home of the Winchester Drive-In near Edith Morley Park. Four office buildings sit there now.

The development is Campbell’s only project using builder’s remedy, a state law allowing developers to bypass local zoning and development standards to get projects swiftly approved. The provision, which was enacted during the few months Campbell was late submitting its state-mandated housing plan, means the city has less control over the development. The developer’s plans include 20% affordable housing and fewer total homes — less affordability and density than the city wanted for the large site.

Community Development Director Rob Eastwood said Bay West Development will pay $2.5 million into the city’s housing assistance fund if the project gets approved. The city and developer came to an agreement on the fees in 2024 to account for the lower density project that will bring fewer affordable homes. The planning commission is slated to review the project and its environmental impact report in late summer or early fall before it heads to the Campbell City Council for approval.

“More housing is better, because we have a lot of folks that just keep coming into the city to work,” Eastwood told San José Spotlight. “It’s really the affordable housing that helps most of our population.”

Bay West Development did not respond to requests for comment.

The city identified the Campbell Technology Parkway site, which borders Highway 17, as a prime development location in its eight-year housing plan. Campbell has to build 2,977 homes by 2031, 1,186 of which must be deemed affordable to low-income residents, to meet state mandates.

Eastwood said the vacancies in the parkway’s office buildings have been on the rise. The companies still there will likely have to move if the development goes forward. Those businesses include accounting and consulting firm Moss Adams; software companies Centric Software, Forcepoint and Dasher Technologies; solar power company Tigo Energy; and medical technologies companies Zimmer Biomet and Relign Corporation.

Joy Robinson, operations manager of Moss Adams, said the property owner informed the company they were selling the land some months back. Moss Adams plans to move in October after more than a decade at that location.

“We don’t have challenges with the idea that this is being converted to housing. We need housing,” Robinson told San José Spotlight.

Residents raised concerns about the project’s potential effects on traffic and noise at the planning commission meeting.

Planning Commission Chair Matt Kamkar said before the meeting, he would have wanted higher density. After the meeting, he said if the community’s concerns aren’t or can’t be addressed, the smaller project is suitable.

Other West Valley municipalities have more builder’s remedy projects. Los Gatos has more than 10, including controversial plans to put more than 175 condos at the Ace Hardware location.

Kamkar said because the city is losing out on affordable homes in the parkway development, officials should be more open to putting housing at smaller sites.

“I’m sure if (the developer) felt they could squeeze more units, they would have,” he said. “The nature of development is trying to make the investors happier. Many times (the developers) don’t own the land, so now they also have to make the landowner happy. That’s a pretty difficult task.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.