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Five Wounds Urban Village Plan Update

Join us on April 20, 2024 for an Open House and final community workshop! See details on the Workshops page. 

The Five Wounds Urban Village Plan Update is a consolidation of four existing urban villages, updated to reflect the future "28th Street/Little Portugal" BART station locating in their vicinity. This is a collaborative effort of the City of San José, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), and community members. 

Public input across five community workshops will help us bring a proposed plan to public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council in late 2023; find the schedule at the Workshops & Hearings page.

Sign up for updates to receive emails about these meetings and progress on the plan update.

About the update

The Five Wounds Urban Village Plan Update is an "umbrella plan" that consolidates and updates four approved urban village plans, listed below, for the neighborhoods that are adjacent to the future 28th Street/Little Portugal BART Station. 

This update focuses on preserving existing neighborhoods, small businesses, and housing as new development occurs around the future BART station. Read more about the background to this project in our FAQs.

Honoring past planning efforts. This planning process acknowledges and seeks to honor the community engagement and public input of past planning efforts. 

  • 2002 - Planning and civic engagement in this area goes back to 2002 with the Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Plan. The plan reflected the community’s vision for multi-story, mixed‐use buildings; a town square and a pedestrian-oriented corridor with ground floor storefronts; and land use direction for the four original urban villages: Five Wounds, Little Portugal, Roosevelt, and 24th & William.
  • 2010 - As a BART station came to be envisioned for San Jose's east-central area, community engagement work began afresh to further refine the land use, urban design, circulation, and parks and open space recommendations for the Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace area. This was a CommUniverCity (SJSU) collaboration with the City's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. At the time, the future BART Station's potential name was "Alum Rock BART Station" but over time, this name was changed to "28th Street/Little Portugal as the site was not truly in Alum Rock. The vision, goals, and many policy recommendations of the CommUniverCity Plan was the starting point for the current Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. Read the 2010 plan: Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace BART Station Area Community Concept Plan

Today, while the proposed effort is to consolidate four small urban villages under an umbrella plan titled "Five Wounds," it is truly a plan for the areas of all four urban villages. 

Learn more about San José’s urban village strategy and how urban villages foster a mix of housing and work opportunities and reduce driving and emissions while promoting walkable and bike-able communities.

 PROJECT AREA

5Wounds map

Plan Goals 

The updated plan anticipates accommodating thousands of new jobs and housing units when fully developed. The plan updates the existing four urban village plans to identify how this growth would be accommodated through mixed-use, pedestrian, bike, and transit-friendly infrastructure.

Additionally, with full community participation, this project seeks to: 

  1. Maintain the character of each urban village. Local neighborhood identity is valued for creating community cohesion.

  2. Preserve existing small businesses with anti-displacement efforts. Local economies are key components of thriving and connected communities.

  3. Preserve existing housing and build more affordable housing with anti-displacement efforts. Maintaining the affordability of homes for residents during development can be challenging, and this project aims to minimize displacement of current residents while building more affordable housing.

  4. Plan for adequate parking strategies. We need to plan for parking in a ways that meets the needs of community members. The BART station is a major transit opportunity, and this requires balancing parking needs for existing residents.

  5. Plan the Five Wounds Trail. The update presents a great opportunity to plan for a park trail, providing more green space in the project area and promoting public health benefits.

  6. Consider the recommendations of VTA’s Transit Oriented Community (TOC) Playbook. There has already been a lot of community organizing and input for the development of the four urban villages and it is captured in the TOC Playbook. Please refer to the Playbook here. 

LANGUAGE TRANSLATION & ADA ACCOMMODATIONS

Spanish and Vietnamese interpretations will be provided at the community workshops. Other language assistance is available upon request by calling (408) 793-4100. See the Workshops page for details. 

For accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, call (408) 793-4100 or 7-1-1 (TTY) at least 3 days before a meeting.

For more information, email 5W@sanjoseca.gov 

Documents & resources