Santa Clara begins scoping for Station Area Specific Plan EIR studying up to 5,950 homes and 2.2M sq ft of commercial space

The City opened a scoping meeting to begin the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Santa Clara Station Area Specific Plan, which sets guidance for development around the Santa Clara transit station and will analyze up to about 5,950 residential units and approximately 2,200,000 square feet of commercial space.

Rebecca Bustos, the city’s principal planner overseeing the specific plan, said the plan area covers roughly 244 acres around the transit station, which is served by Caltrain, the Altamont Commuter Express, Valley Transportation Authority buses and will be the future terminus for the BART Silicon Valley Phase 2 extension. Bustos said the specific plan is intended to guide public and private investment in the area over the next 25 to 30 years.

Fiona Fung, project manager with consultant David J. Powers, said the lead agency issued a Notice of Preparation (NOP) that began circulating on June 12 and told attendees that written scoping comments would be accepted during the NOP period and considered in the draft EIR. Fung outlined CEQA’s purpose — to disclose impacts, identify mitigation and alternatives, and enhance public participation — and said the EIR will be program-level, analyze about 20 resource areas, and focus on reasonably foreseeable direct and indirect physical environmental effects that could result from the specific plan.

Fung said the draft EIR is anticipated to circulate by winter 2027 and that a 45-day public circulation period will follow, with the final EIR and public hearings expected by spring 2027. She also described multiple opportunities for input: verbal comments at the scoping meeting, written comments to the city during the NOP circulation, and later comments at planning commission and city council hearings.

Bustos reiterated how to participate: attendees may submit written comments to the planner listed on the NOP and may provide verbal scoping comments at the meeting; staff will include written and verbal scoping comments in the administrative record and respond to comments during the draft-to-final EIR process.

Why it matters: The specific plan frames long-term land-use and density choices around a major transit hub; the EIR’s program-level assumptions set the bounds of environmental review and therefore influence how future development proposals in the area will be assessed.

Next steps: The consultant and city will prepare the draft EIR for public circulation (targeted winter 2027). The city will accept written scoping comments submitted by the NOP deadline and will announce the draft EIR circulation and hearing dates when available.