San Jose wants industrial land exempt from housing law as deadline nears

With just five months before landmark housing legislation takes effect throughout California, San Jose officials are racing to exempt broad swaths of the city from the law.

Sen. Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79, signed into law in October, aims to encourage denser housing construction around transit hubs. In San Jose, the law would cover 40,000 parcels of land, in many cases pushing up the maximum height and density limits for newly constructed residential buildings, according to city officials.