Santa Clara Agrihood: 44 townhomes face council Nov 10
Santa Clara council hears Core Companies' rezone for 44 townhomes on the Agrihood parcel Nov 10. Staff and the Planning Commission urge denial.
Illustration- Source Briefing
- Public record
Santa Clara’s City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Nov. 10 on a request from Core Companies to rezone the last unbuilt parcel of the Agrihood project from Planned Development to Medium Density Residential. The proposal, pending before the council, would allow 44 for-sale townhomes at 1816 Worthington Circle in place of a 160-apartment block that was approved in 2019 but never built. City staff recommends denial.
Why it matters
The parcel is a vacant 1.8 acres across from Valley Fair and Santana Row, and the 160 apartments sit in the city’s Housing Element sites inventory. Staff’s report says the swap would drop density from 88.88 to 24.44 units per acre on the project portion and conflict with Housing Element and General Plan policies. The Planning Commission voted 6 to 1 on Oct. 7 to recommend the council deny the rezone and the vesting tentative map. The applicant has said market conditions block the entitled apartments. More context sits on the San Francisco market hub.
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The numbers
- Proposal: five three-story buildings, one 12-unit and four 8-unit, up to 45 feet tall, each home with a two-car garage.
- Affordability: six moderate-income units (15 percent), plus an in-lieu fee for a 0.6-unit fraction. The approved apartments carried 16 affordable units.
- Site total: 245 units against 361 previously approved across the 5.8-acre Agrihood site, and 171 affordable units against 181.
- Santa Clara’s 2023-2031 RHNA is 11,632 units, 1,981 of them moderate income, per the staff report.
- Files: rezone PLN25-00390, map PLN25-00409, owner Agrihood Multi LLC.
What’s next
The hearing is item 5 on the Nov. 10 agenda, which starts at 5:00 p.m. Pacific at City Hall or virtually. Council must approve the rezone for the project to move forward, and an architectural review would follow only after that. If council denies the rezone, staff says the architectural application cannot proceed as proposed. Nothing has been decided; the outcome is not yet public.
Quick answers
- What is the latest on Agrihood, 1816 Worthington Circle?
- Santa Clara council hears Core Companies' rezone for 44 townhomes on the Agrihood parcel Nov 10. Staff and the Planning Commission urge denial.
- Who is developing Agrihood, 1816 Worthington Circle?
- Core Companies, according to City of Santa Clara (Legistar).
- What are the key numbers for Agrihood, 1816 Worthington Circle?
- townhomes proposed: 44; apartments replaced: 160; commission vote: 6 to 1.
On the record
Staff recommends denial of the rezone because 44 townhomes replace an approved 160-apartment block, cutting affordable units from 16 to six
Public record · santaclara.legistar.com
Primary record
- Public recordPlanning Commission voted 6 to 1 on Oct. 7, 2026 to recommend the council deny the rezone and mapView the record on santaclara.legistar.com