What used to be tee boxes and fairways in East San Jose is now ground zero in a high-stakes housing fight. The Duino family is gearing up to sell the 115-acre former Pleasant Hills Golf Course, and before a single foundation is poured, the site is already caught in a showdown over how big, how tall, and how affordable the new neighborhood should be.
The development team, led by Mark Lazzarini and Tony Arreola, has floated an initial vision for roughly 1,700 homes on the property. As reported by San José Spotlight, their concept features taller buildings positioned toward the interior of the site, while keeping lower-scale housing along the edges to mitigate the impact on existing neighborhoods.
City's July 3 Letter Flags A Big Shortfall
City planners are not impressed with the current numbers. In a detailed July 3 staff review, officials informed the developers that the proposal would result in a Regional Housing Needs Allocation shortfall of 1,129 units, including 68 units for lower-income individuals. The letter from the City of San José also pressed the team to spread affordable units throughout all parts of the project and to target on-site affordability above the city’s 15% minimum.
Staff further urged stronger pedestrian connections to Lake Cunningham Regional Park and called for more public benefits to help justify any environmental or traffic trade-offs the project might bring.
Neighbors Want Low-Rise Homes
Locals, for their part, are not clamoring for towers. At community workshops, most public participants pushed for single-family homes and opposed buildings taller than three stories, according to The Real Deal. Many residents told planners they want small-scale neighborhood retail, parks, and open space, rather than big commercial blocks or high-rise apartments near Lake Cunningham.
Developers Say The Plan Is Practical
The developers are trying to thread the needle between market reality and neighborhood politics. They claim their proposal is designed to withstand financing and construction challenges while still addressing local concerns. "Our goal is a project that can actually get built and that the community feels good about," Lazzarini and Arreola told San José Spotlight. They expect to have a full entitlement package ready for City Council review in the second half of 2026.
Trees And Habitat Concerns
Environmental advocates are sounding a different alarm. They say tree removals have already begun on the old golf course and are urging the city to demand full mitigation before more habitat disappears. Green Foothills has posted photos of stumps on the property and called the early clearing "disturbing," asking planners to factor the site’s ecological value into the review process, according to Green Foothills.
Permits, Annexation, And What Comes Next
The project is also tangled in jurisdictional red tape. Because the land sits in unincorporated Santa Clara County, it must be annexed into San Jose before the city can issue building permits. The city’s project page notes that plan sets were submitted in May and that staff issued a full response on July 3, and it identifies an Environmental Impact Report scoping meeting as the next public step, according to the City of San José.
Between neighborhood resistance, environmental scrutiny, and the city’s affordability demands, Pleasant Hills is likely to sit in planning limbo for a while as the owners, developers, officials, and residents try to negotiate a path forward that people can live with, and that pencils out.
