Milpitas council adopts NCMU zoning and Housing Opportunity Districts after months of outreach; residents voice traffic and school concerns

The Milpitas City Council on April 15 adopted a general plan amendment and zoning changes that establish Neighborhood Commercial Mixed Use (NCMU) subdistricts and Town Center subdistricts — collectively described by staff as Housing Opportunity Districts (HODs) — intended to direct housing and mixed-use redevelopment to commercial corridors and aging shopping centers.

Planning Director Jay Lee told the council the HOD ordinance translates policies from the city’s 2040 General Plan and the 2023 housing-element update into zoning rules the city can apply consistently. Lee said the amendments were drafted in part to meet the state and regional regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) for Milpitas for 2023–2031, which the planning director said totals 6,713 units. Lee warned that failing to rezone appropriate sites could expose the city to state penalties or developer-led projects under a so-called “builder’s remedy,” which reduces local land-use discretion.

The HOD changes divide town-center and neighborhood-commercial parcels into subdistricts (for example, NCMU‑1, NCMU‑2 and NCMU‑3) with different height, density and commercial-retention rules. Staff said the revisions reduce maximum density and height in some NCMU subdistricts (for example, lowering the previously proposed maximum density from 65 to 60 dwelling units per acre and cutting maximum height by a story and about 15 feet in certain NCMU areas) while increasing density allowances in selected town-center sites. The draft also increased setbacks adjacent to single-family zones and removed two parcels (a public storage site and the Bolero site) from the NCMU rezoning following property-owner and community conversations.

Principal Planner Lillian Van Hua reviewed community outreach that preceded the proposal: multiple stakeholder and public meetings and three community workshops in 2024. Staff said community feedback focused on traffic, school capacity, parking, privacy, and impacts to existing small businesses, and that staff revised standards accordingly.

The council heard several hours of public comment. Dozens of residents urged the council to delay or reject the rezoning, saying existing traffic congestion, school overcrowding and insufficient infrastructure made the Landis Avenue and other commercial corridors unsuitable for dense redevelopment. Other commenters urged the council to approve the changes, saying the city must plan for housing and that the state RHNA obligation requires action.

Planning staff and the city’s consultant explained the legal and environmental basis for the amendments: an addendum to the city’s certified 2040 general‑plan EIR prepared under CEQA sections 15162 and 15164, and a site-by-site analysis of parcels most likely to redevelop. Staff said the rezoning would identify sufficient capacity to help the city meet the sixth-cycle housing goals while allowing the council to retain design standards and controls where feasible.

After deliberation the council voted to adopt the EIR addendum, approve the general-plan map and text amendments, and introduce (waive further reading of) an ordinance to adopt the zoning changes. The roll-call votes were affirmative. Council members said they had heard the community's concerns and asked staff to monitor outcomes, pursue multimodal transportation and infrastructure funding, and return with implementation details and annual progress reports.

The council’s action implements Program 15 of the housing element (rezoning town-center and NCMU sites to encourage housing), sets objective design standards for future projects and preserves the city’s ability to negotiate community benefits should redevelopment proposals arrive.