City leaders want to redevelop a strip of land underneath the flight path of San Jose Mineta International Airport, shrinking the amount of nearby parkland and open space.
San Jose business owners will be encouraged to set up shop on Coleman Avenue between West Hedding and West Taylor streets after the City Council voted unanimously May 6 to rezone about 10% of the 120-acre Guadalupe Gardens land. The San Jose Airport Commission brought up the idea last year and the Planning Commission recommended it last month.
Existing business owners previously told San José Spotlight they’d like to see city officials address homeless residents living near the airport amid any redevelopment. City officials struggled to sweep the land of homeless encampments after the pandemic, and though most have been cleared, a row of RVs remains.
District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy represents the area and said city employees, including workers at the airport, have been working on the proposed redevelopment for years. He said future businesses would complement the recently-approved $24 million revitalization of the nearby Columbus Park. The new 9.4-acre park design will restore that function for the community, featuring synthetic soccer fields, courts for horseshoe and more.
“This is just another step in the renaissance of that area that has had such a big question mark for so many years,” Mulcahy said at the meeting. “The commercial activity will benefit the city (and) complete that side of the street, which is now a little difficult to drive by and look at.”
Environmental and green space advocates argue too much of the Guadalupe Gardens land will be erased by future businesses. Guadalupe River Park Conservancy representatives previously said they don’t support the rezoning of land that eliminates open space.
“The General Plan talks about the possibility for the city to purchase more of the land along Coleman Avenue to actually expand the park. So this seems, contrary to previous city plans, to actually do the reverse of that (and) decrease the size of the park by a pretty sizable amount,” downtown resident Jordan Moldow said at the meeting.
Five of the seven plots of land set to become commercial space would fill the vacant fronts down Coleman Avenue alongside existing businesses. Types of businesses allowed under the future rezoning include auto shops, offices and retail spaces, among others.
Ryan Sheelen, airport senior planner, said they expect businesses to start joining the area by next year.
“Over the past five years, staff has continued to progress efforts to activate this property with open space, recreational uses and commercial development,” he said at the meeting. “We’ll take one step closer leading us to the actual project, the Coleman and Hedding Commercial Development.”
Just a block from the SJC runway, all but one of the parcels are considered to be at safe airplane noise levels.
The California Airport Land Use Handbook classifies an airport’s inner safety zone as having a “high” risk for potential aircraft accidents, though there have been no recorded crashes in the area since SJC opened in 1939.
“I think this will go a long way to complete the whole view and aesthetic of that area,” Mulcahy said.
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
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