Mayor Chuck Reed's economic stimulus plan, as part of the proposed Redevelopment Agency's 2008-09 capital budget, offers recommendations to build the city's economic base.
Those include speeding up development projects by removing roadblocks that impede projects from moving forward and working with clean-tech companies that want to expand and add jobs.
An expansion of the San Jose BioCenter is recommended, along with the creation of a Clean Tech Jobs Investment Fund to attract new companies.
Reed also suggests using additional Redevelopment Agency funding to accelerate housing projects to create construction jobs, to help residents buy homes, and to upgrade parts of the downtown including the McEnery Convetion Center, according to the mayor's office.
The City Council, which acts as the Redevelopment Agency's board, will vote on the budget at today's meeting, according to the mayor's office.
The council is also set to review a proposed citywide inclusionary housing ordinance.
Current policy, which requires developers building market-rate housing to build 20 percent inclusionary housing, applies only to redevelopment project areas. The proposed ordinance would create a citywide policy.
"Any ordinance should be citywide, and not located only in parts of the city, to ensure that all developments have the same requirements," a memo from Housing Department director Leslye Krutko to the City Council states.
Goals of the proposed ordinance as laid out by the Housing Department include increasing rental opportunities for lower-income families, increasing homeownership opportunities for moderate-income families, spreading affordable housing throughout the city in mixed-income neighborhoods and providing housing for the city's workforce.
The Housing Department recommends developers be able to choose from two options ranging from 15 to 20 percent inclusionary housing in rental or for-sale developments depending on whether the affordable units are built on-site.
The council meets at 1:30 p.m.
