Almaden Resident

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Almaden's Matt Kamkar joins San Jose planning commission

By Monica Heger

Almaden resident Matt Kamkar recently took a position on the city's arguably most influential commission--the planning commission. Kamkar is a civil engineer who has been living in San Jose for the last 20 years.

He emigrated with his father and brother from Iran in 1976 and is now married with two children. He earned a bachelor's degree in transportation engineering from San Jose State University and a master's degree from Stanford.

Kamkar likes being involved in local government.

"I feel society works best when all members of society help run it," Kamkar said. "Since being a kid, I always wanted to be a factor, a difference in society."

He has spent the last eight years serving on different city commissions--first on the traffic appeals commission, then on the small business development commission and now on the planning commission.

As a planning commissioner, Kamkar said his main goal will be to preserve the quality of life in San Jose.

He recently visited Los Angeles and found their hillsides completely covered with homes.

"Development should be planned to keep these things in mind," Kamkar said. "You don't want to have to drive four hours to Tahoe to see nature."

One of the biggest issues he said the planning commission will face is the conversion of industrial land to residential land.

"Industrial land generates dollars for our city," Kamkar said. "With residential land, you get the upfront fees, but you're giving away the annual income."

He said a solution was more mixed-use developments.

"It's the best of both worlds," he said. "You have the income producing on the bottom floor and residential on the top floor."

He said mixed use was also ideal because parking could be shared. During the day, when residents were at work, extra parking would be freed for the businesses, and at night, there would be more residential parking.

Kamkar said European cities give a good indication of what local life will be like in 100 years. European cities have more mass transit and higher density around transit lines. Kamkar believes eventually this is how San Jose will look.

"But until we get there, we should try to preserve as much hillsides as we can, and slow the urban sprawl," he said.

Although, he added, if a developer wanted to go beyond the urban boundary, but was willing to pay for it all, then he would keep an open mind and consider the development.

Kamkar believes the development of Coyote Valley will help transportation patterns. He said he's noticed people drive from the south, through San Jose, to jobs in North San Jose. If a job center could be created in Coyote Valley, some of the traffic driving through San Jose would be alleviated.

"There should also be room for residential," he added. "Not low density, but higher density near transit. Like a mini city center," he said.

The planning commission is often a stepping stone into the realm of elected public office. Council members Linda LeZotte, Chuck Reed and Forrest Williams all served on the planning commission prior to running for council. Kamkar, too, has aspirations of running for city council. But right now he looks forward to his role on the planning commission.

The planning commission advises the council on what many consider to be the most contentious local issues--land use. The role of the commission is to provide the council with independent advice.

Kamkar said it was important to take the role seriously because the decisions affect residents' quality of life.

"A decision one way or another could increase or decrease land value," he said. "We make our decisions based on things we see as fact or truth, independent of developers, neighbors and city staff."