Join the community effort
Figures above may be found in the complete 28th St/Little Portugal Station Transit-Oriented Development Design Development Framework beginning on page 56.
Should the City of San Jose allow buildings as tall as 300 feet behind Five Wounds Church?
The City of San Jose is in the process of modifying the Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. The current plan allows buildings as tall as 120 feet to be built behind Five Wounds Portuguese National Church. This community-approved policy has been in effect since 2013. The draft Five Wounds Urban Village Plan currently awaiting submission to the Planning Commission and City Council seeks to modify that policy from 120 feet to 300 feet.
The diagrams above come from the 28th St/Little Portugal Station Transit-Oriented Development Design Development Framework. This is a Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) document currently in draft form. Though the tallest building depicted is 234-feet tall, the draft Five Wounds Urban Village Plan allows for buildings as tall as 300 feet.
The draft Five Wounds Urban Village Plan is not available online. You may see the current plan of record by clicking here.
Analysis
The Five Wounds Urban Village Plan that is the current plan of record since 2013 specifies for the 28th St/Little Portugal Station Area:
- 1,215,000 sq. ft. of commercial/employment space (p. 9)
- 845 residential units (p. 10)
- Park land along the entire length of the former Union Pacific right-of-way from East Santa Clara St to East Julian St (p. 15)
VTA’s draft Transit-Oriented Development Design Development Framework on page 5 specifies:
- 400,000 to 600,000 sq. ft. of large format office or institutional uses
- 800 to 1,200 units of housing. Including five 85-foot-tall residential buildings on the former railroad right-of-way from East Santa Clara St to East Julian St
- 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of ground floor commercial or community-serving active uses (which may include retail, services, and small format office or institutional uses)
As you can see above, commercial square footage has decreased by 500,000 sq. ft. from the current plan of record 2013 Five Wounds Urban Village Plan to the draft Design Development Framework. And although the number of residential units has increased from 845 units in the FWUVP to between 800 and 1,200 units in the DDF, the difference in units will be easily offset by the units in the five residential buildings on what was supposed to be park land on the former railroad right-of-way.
This is a fair question to ask of both VTA and the City of San José: Why are 300-foot-tall buildings being proposed in the draft Five Wounds Urban Village Plan and buildings as tall as 234 feet being shown in the draft Design Development Framework? Both VTA’s and the City’s goals for commercial and residential uses can be met within the parameters set in the 2013 Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. That is, with 120-foot-tall buildings along N 30th St.
News
On September 18, 2025, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) comment period ended for its 28th St/Little Portugal Station Transit-Oriented Development Design Development Framework. Every one of your opinions entered into the form below was copied to VTA, to the city planner in charge of the Five Wounds Urban Village Plan, and to the City Clerk.
Furthermore, we submitted 416 emails submitted by YOU to the City Clerk for the September 18 Joint Study Session between the City Council and Planning Commission during which they discussed land use issues going into the General Plan Four-Year Review that will start in Fall 2025 through Summer 2026.
Through October 25, the total reached 487 opinions opposing the proposed 300-foot-tall buildings.
As a result of our voices being heard, VTA is now delaying and aligning its timeframe for approving the Design Development Framework with the timeframe for the City’s Five Wounds Urban Village Plan.
Let’s Not Allow What Happened to the Cathedral Happen to Five Wounds Church
The buildings near the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in Downtown San Jose are nowhere near the 300-foot height being proposed along N 30th St behind Five Wounds Church, which is just 106 feet tall compared to 148 feet for the Cathedral.
IT’S NOT OVER YET
Please continue to submit your opinions using the form below. We will collect them and forward them to VTA and the City of San Jose as they are about to hold their public meetings to discuss and vote upon both the VTA 28th St/Little Portugal Station Transit-Oriented Development Design Development Framework AND the city’s Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. The urban village plan will become part of the city’s General Plan, while VTA’s Design Development Framework will be added as an appendix to the Five Wounds Urban Village Plan. Here are the upcoming meetings that are anticipated to occur in November and December:
VTA Board of Directors
City of San Jose Planning Commission
San Jose City Council
If you oppose 300-foot-tall buildings behind Five Wounds Church, have your voice heard!
We will continue to collect your opinions until all public meetings have been held. Currently, that is anticipated to be by year’s end.
Read what others have said:
The Catholic Church is not a building alone. It is the People who sit in pews in churches and halls and every kind of building around the world. In my 85 years, Five Wounds Church, the building AND the people, has played a central role in my life. I was baptized there. I received my First Holy Communion there. I was Confirmed there. I married my husband of 67 years there. And my funeral will be there. My parents were married there; we held their funerals there. My grandmother’s funeral was there. My children have received their sacraments there. Four generations of my family have crossed the threshold of Five Wounds Portuguese National Church since 1919.
The building that is Five Wounds Church is a living symbol. It is a symbol of immigrants who came to a new land who wanted to maintain a little piece of their homeland and their language in their lives through the celebration of their faith with their families, friends, and fellow immigrants. Celebrating the milestones of their lives in community. Seeing those magnificent, red-topped towers from a distance give us pause to think of those who came before and those who will come after us. Five Wounds Church is history writ large. A community’s history. San Jose’s history that still lives today. Valuable in and of itself. Its prominent place in San Jose’s skyline should not be diminished by buildings 3X its height.
I attend Five Wounds Portuguese National Church. I can’t imagine buildings of this height towering over this beautiful and historic Icon of San Jose and the surrounding neighborhood that is known as Little Portugal. Five Wounds Church is the heart and soul of the Portuguese community in San Jose.
This historic church is not only a cherished landmark of our community, but also a sacred place of worship, tradition, and beauty. For four generations, my family has celebrated weddings within its walls—beginning with my grandparents—and my great-grandparents were among those who collected donations to help build it. Five Wounds Church is a living testament to their sacrifice, their faith, and the deep roots of so many families in this city.
To overshadow this beloved landmark with towering high-rises would be to diminish both its presence and the heritage it represents. The church was built to stand tall as a beacon in our community; it should not be dwarfed and hidden in the shadows of glass and steel.
We implore the city to preserve the beauty, dignity, and visibility of Five Wounds Church. Protecting it from encroachment by massive new development is not only a matter of honoring the past—it is an act of respect for future generations, who deserve to inherit a city that values its history as much as its growth.
Aside from destroying the historical visual aspect of the church and school, the need for such office space in today’s technological age does not make sense. Also, the roads around that area cannot support the extra traffic that these offices would generate.
I am beyond dumbfounded that this would even be considered in a historic area. It feels like let’s decimate the area and make it yet another cookie cutter monstrosity. I was in education in the neighborhood for most of my teaching career, and this breaks my heart. It is hard-enough to keep historic areas alive, and San Jose is alright with doing away with one? Not cool. I am willing to bet that this is the idea of some big corporation that is being sucked up to just like with tech firms. I am willing to bet that if this nonsense was proposed in, say, Willow Glen or Almaden Valley, that it would not get past the lawyers hired by the local community. Funny how the neighborhood that doesn’t have the resources to fight get mowed over for “progress”. Pretty soon the valley I grew up in (four generations no less) especially San Jose will be one big, gentrified business park with never-ending strip malls except in those areas that have the means to protect their wealthy neighborhoods. San Jose used to be better than this. Shame on the powers that be in San Jose.
Two and a half times the current allowable size is ridiculous. Taking away the sightline of the church would be bad, look at the beauty of the cathedral downtown negated by all the tall buildings around it. Stick to the original plan.
I was raised in San Jose, went to San Jose High School, and married at the Five Wounds Portuguese National Church. I oppose the planned project at many levels. First and foremost, skyscrapers will negatively affect this iconic San Jose treasure. This place of worship for over 100 years – along with the I.E.S. Hall next door – was built by the Portuguese of East San Jose. For generations, these two structures have been the heart of the Portuguese community in this city. Skyscrapers will not only interfere with the ability of people to appreciate the beauty of this magnificent temple, but the church will literally forever be under the shadows of 30-story high-rises. San Jose needs more housing, for sure. Why not give the tony precincts of the city the opportunity to also enjoy those gleaming skyscrapers in their backyards? The East Side deserves better.
The Five Wounds Church is a historical site in San Jose. We should not take away from its beauty and historical presence in Little Portugal, but work hard to keep it for future generations. There should not be buildings with a height that disturbs the view.
The original plan called for 100- to120-foot tall buildings — a scale that balanced growth with respect for the character of our community. Increasing this height to 300 feet not only disregards that agreement but also threatens to overwhelm and overshadow one of the city’s most treasured historic landmarks.
This church is not just a building; it is a cultural and spiritual home, a connection to our heritage, and a place that has stood for generations. To place towering development directly behind it would be to sacrifice history and community values for profit. We are not against thoughtful development, but we believe that it must be done responsibly — with respect for our shared history, our community’s voice, and the commitments already made.
We urge city leaders, planners, and developers to reconsider this proposal and honor the original plan for 120-foot max height buildings, ensuring that growth in San José does not come at the cost of our cultural and historical identity.