San Jose Industrial Land Supply and Fiscal Impact Analysis
City of San Jose
San Jose, California June 2003 to March 2004
Under pressure to convert industrially zoned land to residential uses, the City of San Jose hired Strategic
Economics to develop a framework for making systematic land use decisions. The City sought a framework that
ensures an adequate supply of land for its key employment sectors over the next 20 years while also meeting the
needs of current and future residents for housing and retail. Strategic Economics’ study, conducted parallel to the
creation of a new Economic Development Strategy, projected land demand for employment uses and determined
which areas would be most important for San Jose's long-term competitiveness, particularly in the high-tech
industries in which it specializes. Strategic Economics then developed a fiscal model to examine the impact of
different development scenarios in those areas on the city's service costs and revenue base. Both the land supply
analysis and the fiscal model were built on a geographic information system providing the City with a spatial
understanding of their economy and a clear understanding of how place/location impacts fiscal considerations.
Strategic Economics ultimately made recommendations about development mixes and densities that would use
the city's land resources efficiently, intensify development in the areas served by light rail, provide a positive fiscal
outcome, and support long-term economic development while meeting the city's need for new housing.