City of San José

200 East Santa Clara Street

San Jose, CA 95113

City of San José

Agenda

Joint Meeting for the Rules and Open Government Committee and

Committee of the Whole

Committee Members

David Cohen, Chair

Rosemary Kamei, Vice Chair

Pam Foley, Member

Bien Doan, Member

Domingo Candelas, Member

Committee Staff

Lee Wilcox, Assistant City Manager

Joy Rodriguez, Assistant City Clerk

Kevin Fisher, Assistant City Attorney

Rachelle Blattman, City Manager's Office

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

2:00 PM

Council Chambers

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Fill out a Yellow Speaker's Card and submit it to boxes at the bottom of the Chambers.

A. City Council (City Clerk)

1. Review Final Agenda

ROGC

26-194

Review May 12, 2026 Final Agenda.

a. Add New Items to Final Agenda

b. Assign "Time Certain" to Agenda Items (if needed)

c. Review of Notice of Waiver Requirements for Agenda Items or

Documents (if needed)

Attachments

Agenda for May 12, 2026 (to be updated on 5/6/26)

2. Review Draft Agenda

ROGC

26-195

Review May 19, 2026 Draft Agenda.

a. Add New Items to Draft Agenda

b. Assign "Time Certain" to Agenda Items (if needed)

c. Review of Notice of Waiver Requirements for Agenda Items or

Documents (if needed)

Agenda to be posted on the day of the meeting.

Notice to the public: There will be no separate discussion of individual Consent Calendar items as they

are considered to be routine and will be adopted by one motion. If a member of the Committee requests

debate, separate vote or recusal on a particular item, that item may be removed from the Consent

Calendar by the Chair and considered separately. The public may comment on the entire Consent

Calendar and any items removed from the Consent Calendar by the Chair.

B. Consent Calendar

ROGC

26-196

Monthly Report of Activities for April 2026. (City Auditor)

Recommendation:

Approve the Auditor’s Office Monthly Report of Activities for the

month of April 2026.

Attachments

Memorandum

END OF CONSENT

C. Rules Committee Reviews, Recommendations and Approvals

Recommendation:

Direct the City Manager’s Office to work with the appropriate

departments, including but not limited to, Planning, Building, and Code

Enforcement, the City Manager's Office of Economic Development and

Cultural Affairs, and the City Attorney’s Office, to return with an

analysis and options for potential administrative, regulatory, and

programmatic actions to support the activation of vacant commercial

storefronts and reduction of blight citywide. This referral is intended to

initiate policy analysis and return with recommendations. The analysis

should include identification of workload impacts, fiscal implications,

and alignment with existing departmental work plans.

The analysis should include, but not be limited to, evaluation of the

following:

1. Evaluate potential amendments to San José Municipal Code

Section 20.150, as well as any other relevant ordinances, Municipal

Code sections, or City Council policies, to extend the allowable period

for reestablishing a legal nonconforming use without requiring a new

Special Use Permit from six months to up to three years. Additionally,

evaluate appropriate limitations, safeguards, or categorical exclusions

that may be necessary to address potential impacts associated with such

an extension.

2. Evaluate existing restaurant and small business programs within

the City Manager's Office of Economic Development and Cultural

Affair and the Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Department

to identify opportunities to strengthen interdepartmental coordination

and better align program resources toward the activation of vacant

storefronts. The analysis should assess program effectiveness,

administrative feasibility, fiscal impacts, and policy implications and

return with recommendations and implementation direction informed by

these considerations.

3. Evaluate potential amendments to San José Municipal Code

Section 20.80 and relevant City Council Policies, including 6-28, 6-29,

and 8-14, to determine whether establishing a ministerial stand-alone

demolition permit process for certain vacant industrial and commercial

buildings is legally feasible and advisable. This evaluation should

consider applicability only where California Environmental Quality Act

permits ministerial approval and where the building is not a designated

or potentially historic resource, and should preserve environmental

screening requirements for polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known

as PCBs (as referenced in City Council Policy 6-28) and maintain waste

diversion obligations under Section 9.10 of the San José Municipal

Code.

a. The analysis should be options-based and may identify and

assess a range of potential regulatory and implementation approaches

for City Council consideration, without presuming a preferred outcome.

Such options may include, but are not limited to, alternative

post-demolition site management pathways and compliance or

monitoring frameworks. The analysis should assess legal, fiscal,

workload, and policy implications before recommending any

amendments.

Attachments

Memorandum from Tordillos, Cohen, Ortiz, Mulcahy, and Doan

ROGC

26-202

Prefab Factory-Produced Housing Structures. (Foley, Ortiz, Tordillos,

and Candelas)

Recommendation:

1. Direct the City Manager to:

a. Explore opportunities for the City of San José to support the

advancement of modular, factory-built housing construction methods

for both single-family and multi-family housing that deliver housing

more efficiently while maintaining strong labor standards comparable to

traditional construction.

b. Return with an information memorandum that includes, but is not

limited to, the following:

i. An analysis of the opportunities and challenges to utilizing

modular factory-built housing with labor standards;

ii. A comparative evaluation between modular factory-built

housing with labor standards and standard stick-built construction;

iii. Recommendations on potential methodologies for

incentivizing the use of modular factory-built housing in the City’s Gap

Financing Program rolling request for proposal process;

iv. An assessment of opportunities to support the development

of modular housing manufacturing facilities within San José, including

potential economic and workforce benefits; and

v. An analysis of challenges and opportunities around

steel-framed modular construction to achieve taller, denser multifamily

housing than can be achieved through traditional wood-framed modular

construction.

[Referred from 4/22/26 - Item C.4 (ROGC 26-180)]

Attachments

Memorandum from Foley, Ortiz, Tordillos, and Candelas

D. Open Forum

Members of the Public are invited to speak on any item that does not appear on today’s Agenda and

that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Committee.

E. Adjournment

The Code of Conduct (https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/12901/636670004966630000) is intended to promote

open meetings that welcome debate of public policy issues being discussed by the City Council, their Committees, and City Boards and

Commissions in an atmosphere of fairness, courtesy, and respect for differing points of view.

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providing excellent services, in a positive and timely manner, and in the full view of the public. The City Code of Ethics may be viewed

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