San Jose has a government that is working against itself—and a State government that is working against the city. You can imagine how bad it is for the private sector, having to work against all government. Now you know why it costs so much to build and why it takes so long.
“The San Jose Planning Department has rejected a proposed project because it was filed at 1.2 inches instead of 1 inch, leaving the developer stunned.
Real estate developer Donovan Adesoro said the planning department denied his housing proposal over incorrect paper sizing, a rejection that can create unnecessary setbacks when city standards are so rigid. To right this problem the city has been passing regulations to make it easier for developers to move forward with projects, but Adesoro still got caught in the web of regulations.
Why would anyone want to do business in San Jose or California? Imagine what is going to happen in L.A. when those folks are allowed to rebuild—which could be years from now.
San Jose rejects development due to ‘ridiculous’ red tape
by Vicente Vera, San Jose spotlight, 2/19/25 https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-rejects-development-due-to-ridiculous-red-tape/
The San Jose Planning Department has rejected a proposed project because it was filed at 1.2 inches instead of 1 inch, leaving the developer stunned.
Real estate developer Donovan Adesoro said the planning department denied his housing proposal over incorrect paper sizing, a rejection that can create unnecessary setbacks when city standards are so rigid. To right this problem the city has been passing regulations to make it easier for developers to move forward with projects, but Adesoro still got caught in the web of regulations.
“I understand the importance of these requirements at the end of the day, but the big thing cities and the state should be looking for is if the building safe to live in,” Adesoro told San José Spotlight. “Rejections should come from more than just if the margin’s off, and this happens a lot.”
He shared his frustration on social media, catching the attention of Mayor Matt Mahan, who responded.
“I’m sorry we rejected your map. But if we hadn’t, the County would have rejected the map later and then added the time and cost of doing the entire process twice, so our team was trying to get ahead of that,” Mahan said on X. “That said, we should have better communicated why we did this and obviously we need to work together to improve the upstream regs and/or downstream process at the County.”
Adesoro moved to California from Houston, Texas about six months ago because of Senate Bill 684, which streamlined the approval process for development projects of 10 or fewer homes on urban lots under 5 acres. This motivated him to moved to the Bay Area to create more infill housing developments, among other projects. He said small paperwork errors that delay projects put time-sensitive loans in jeopardy and stall housing needs.
“I feel like all developers have been treated like big developers and people think, ‘Who cares if they need to wait or spend a little extra money,’ but then there’s little developers,” Adesoro said. “Small-time developers like ourselves, we’re on the same team as the city and our goal is to get more housing built.”
Mahan pointed out Santa Clara County might have rejected Adesoro’s plans as well, over incorrect margins, pen color and more.
“This is the kind of needless bureaucracy that’s contributing to our housing crisis and eroding confidence in government as a good partner,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “When legislators make rules and regulations, they should make life easier, not harder — and in San Jose, we’re digitizing much of our approval process to make it easier than ever to build and do business here.”
Nolan Gray, senior director of legislation and research for California YIMBY, said he doesn’t think the rejection solely based on a paper sizing error is justified, and the action goes against San Jose’s purported goal of increasing housing by any means.
“It’s the sort of behavior you expect from a jurisdiction when they are begrudgingly allowing housing,” Gray told San José Spotlight. “The sort of things that the department was flagging for (Adesoro) in that case are just so ridiculous and so not necessary.”
Housing planning stages that take just weeks in other jurisdictions are taking months and even years in California, he said, and many of the planning issues can be resolved with simple communication.
“Having things be digital, having the process be streamlined and having opportunities for individual parts of applications to be fixed without requiring the entire application to be completely thrown out — those feel like very, very low hanging fruit,” Gray said.
John Gregorchuk, a multifamily housing developer with YIMBY Action Los Angeles, said it’s heartbreaking to see a developer who moved to California in hopes of addressing the housing crisis hit such a bureaucratic nightmare.
“One of the things that we’re super passionate about, and we think a lot of pro housing groups are missing, is the pro business side of the equation, where it’s a business to actually build and develop homes,” Gregorchuk told San José Spotlight. “A lot of investors and housing providers are feeling attacked by the politicians, so they’re putting their hands up and leaving.”
He said it’s refreshing to see elected officials like Mahan actively engaging with developers to increase housing supplies across the Bay Area.
“The way we solve the housing crisis, in my opinion, is with the help of a lot of little developers like myself,” Adesoro told San José Spotlight. “But there may be other planners and jurisdictions who don’t feel that way.”
