Council approves Related Santa Clara land‑use changes, adds new affordability target; scheme C advances with 4–3 vote

The City Council on Tuesday approved a package of amendments to the long‑planned Related Santa Clara project that redraws where office, retail and industrial uses may be built on the 240‑acre site across from Levi’s Stadium.

The council voted to adopt an environmental document addendum, a General Plan amendment, zoning/Master Community Plan revisions to add a new “Scheme C,” and amendments to the developer agreements that implement the new scheme. The motion passed 4–3 after a substitute motion to add a carbon‑free‑power requirement for data centers failed.

What changed: Under the approved Scheme C, the northeastern Parcels 1 and 2 (the parcels nearest Tasman and Lafayette) may be developed with light‑industrial uses — including advanced manufacturing, research and development, and potentially data centers — rather than the large office campus originally approved in 2016. The plan preserves the project’s intended “city center” — Parcels 4 and 5 — for condensed office, retail, housing and hotel uses and retains the requirement for at least 800,000 square feet of retail (with a best‑efforts goal at higher retail…