After months of neighborhood pushback, Willow Glen residents watched the San José Planning Commission shut down their appeal and keep a controversial housing project on track. On Wednesday, commissioners denied a challenge to a previously approved seven-story, 126-unit development at 940 Willow Street, clearing a key hurdle for Redco Development's plan to replace an existing commercial block with new housing and ground-floor retail.
The decision came at the commission's March 11 meeting, where staff urged commissioners to adopt a resolution denying the appeal and upholding the Planning Director's earlier approval, according to the meeting agenda from the City of San José. As reported by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, commissioners voted to affirm the prior site development permit approval, leaving the item listed as File No. H23-030, in place.
Redco's proposal would transform the retail strip at the southeast corner of Willow Street and Kotenberg Avenue into a mixed-use building with about 1,626 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and two levels of parking. Updated plans call for a unit mix heavy on studios, with roughly 52 studios alongside one- and two-bedroom apartments, and a rooftop setback design intended to soften the building's presence along the street, according to SF YIMBY. Project drawings also show demolition of an approximately 5,500-square-foot commercial building and the removal of six trees to make way for the new structure.
Who Appealed and Why Neighbors Objected
The appeal was filed by a former San José planning commissioner, who argued that the seven-story complex was out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood and raised alarms about traffic impacts, sewer capacity and tree removal, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The developer told city staff it would reserve roughly 15% of units for very-low-income households and another 15% for moderate-income households, or about 30% of the building overall, per the Business Journal's reporting.
Opponents have rallied around a petition website and neighborhood messaging that frame the building's size and massing as inconsistent with Willow Glen's small-town character. Supporters counter that the corner is underused in its current form and argue that the project would add badly needed housing in a walkable area.
Why State Law Matters
Redco submitted the project under state housing laws that sharply limit local discretion, using what is commonly known as the "builder's remedy" after San José failed to have a substantially compliant housing element in place when the application was filed. As detailed by San José Spotlight, that legal posture, combined with the company's request for a state density bonus, narrows the legal grounds the city can cite to deny the project.
The commission agenda also notes that the proposal was processed under Assembly Bill 130's California Environmental Quality Act provisions, which treat certain qualifying housing projects as statutorily exempt from additional environmental review. The agenda is available through the City of San José documents.
What Happens Next
With the appeal denied, Redco can move toward building permits and final design sign-offs. The city's development activity report currently lists File No. H23-030 as approved in its tracking system. On the developer's project page, Redco highlights ongoing outreach to neighbors and shares design materials, but no construction schedule has been posted yet.
If project opponents decide they are not done fighting, the next move would most likely be a legal challenge seeking judicial review of the approval. In the meantime, the decision underscores the growing friction between statewide housing mandates and neighborhood preservation efforts in San José, and it sets up Willow Glen's downtown strip as a high-density test case that residents, developers and city officials will be watching closely in the months ahead.
