San Jose Standard

Pursuant to Section 15164 of the CEQA Guidelines, the City of San José has prepared an Addendum to the San José Downtown Strategy 2040 Final Environmental Impact Report (Downtown Strategy FEIR) and addenda thereto because minor changes made to the project, as described below, do not raise important new issues about the significant impacts on the environment.

SP22-021, SP22-025 & ER22-190 – Hillbrook High School Project. The project comprises the reuse of two historic landmark structures (National Guard Armory and the St. James Hotel/Moir Building) as a private high school on two non-continuous parcels that make up the approximately 0.94-gross acre project site. The project’s construction would occur over two phases. Phase I would consist of interior and exterior renovation of the Armory Building over a period of eight months, and Phase II would consist of interior renovation of the Moir Building over a period of 10 months. At full operating capacity, the project would serve a total of 300 students with approximately 70 employees.

Location:  240 North 2nd Street and 227 North 1st Street in San José

Assessor’s Parcel Number: 467-01-028, 259-33-058, 259-33-059, and 259-33-060

Council District:  3

The environmental impacts of this project were addressed by the following Final Environmental Impact Report:  "The Downtown Strategy 2040 Final Environmental Impact Report," adopted by City Council Resolution No. 78942 on December 18, 2018; and addenda thereto. 

The proposed project is eligible for an addendum pursuant to CEQA Guidelines §15164, which states that “A lead agency or responsible agency shall prepare an addendum to a previously certified EIR if some changes or additions are necessary but none of the conditions described in CEQA Guidelines §15162 calling for preparation of a subsequent EIR have occurred.” Circumstances which would warrant a subsequent EIR include substantial changes in the project or new information of substantial importance which would require major revisions of the previous EIR due to the occurrence of new significant impacts and/or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects.

This IS/Addendum has been prepared as part of the supplemental environmental review process needed to evaluate the proposed project and is available at the following link: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/environmental-planning/environmental-review/active-eirs/hillbrook-high-school-project/

The project will be heard at a Director’s Hearing on June 28, 2023 at 9:00 AM. The hearing documents and meeting link will be made available here closer to the hearing date: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/commissions-hearings-and-developers-roundtable/planning-director-hearings/planning-director-s-hearing-agendas-minutes

Original source can be found here.