San Jose planning commission recommends council approve 108-unit Camden Avenue project despite unavoidable GHG and traffic impacts

The San Jose Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council approve a 108-unit residential project on the former Cinnabar Elementary site at Camden Avenue and Singletree Way, even after staff said the project's environmental impact report (EIR) identified significant and unavoidable greenhouse-gas and vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) impacts that require a CEQA statement of overriding considerations.

Jason Lee, the city planning division project manager, told commissioners the proposal would create 108 condominiums in 32 three‑story buildings, reserve 7.4% of units for extremely low‑income households, remove 41 trees and require demolition of Little League fields on site. “The application before you tonight is located at the northeast corner of Camden Avenue and Singletree Way,” Lee said during staff's presentation.

Court Hitchens, the city's environmental project manager, summarized the EIR findings: “The EIR found that the project would result in significant and unavoidable impacts to greenhouse gas emissions and to transportation from VMT,” and that, after mitigation, those two categories remain cumulatively…