San Jose lets Clear Channel nearly double billboard height to 85 feet

San Jose
City Council Meeting
May 5, 2026

TL;DR

• The council let Clear Channel build its two approved digital billboards taller and larger than what residents first saw. One screen grows 50%. Heights jump to 85 feet. The vote was 9-0. Councilmember Mulcahy sat it out because Clear Channel pays him rent.
• The city will spend up to $7,950,000 on encampment cleanups next year. Three companies got the work. The deal passed on the routine items list with no discussion.
• The city's own library system is failing the city's own size rules at 20 of 24 branches. A new plan calls for adding about 400,000 square feet, nearly doubling branch space. No money is attached yet.
• Two new parks are coming to Communications Hill in District 7: a 1-acre dog park and a 1.72-acre lawn park. The bigger one will be called Azevedo Park.
• $1,000,000 was set aside to replace elevators at the airport terminal.

What happened

1. Bigger, taller digital billboards cleared at Mabury and Highway 87
   1. A year after the council first signed off on two digital billboards, Clear Channel came back asking to build them larger and roughly twice as tall as originally shown. The council said yes, 9-0. One screen is growing by 50%. Heights are going from 40 feet up to 85 feet at the Mabury Road site near Watson Park. Councilmember Mulcahy stepped out of the vote because Clear Channel leases space on one of his properties. Mayor Mahan was absent. Under the original deal, the signs still have to go fully dark between midnight and 6 a.m.
   2. What this means for you: The two signs going up at Highway 87 and West Mission Street and at 1404 Mabury Road will be visible from farther away than residents were told last fall. Lick Observatory and the group No Digital Billboards called the changes a "bait and switch." They said a change this big should not have been bundled with the routine items the council passes all at once. The city expects at least $6.8 million from Clear Channel over the first 10 years. 19 older billboard faces are slated to come down at a 6-to-1 ratio.
2. The city quietly approved $7.95 million in encampment cleanup work for next year
   1. A contract worth up to $7,950,000 passed without a word of discussion. The work runs from about July 1, 2026 through about June 30, 2027. Three companies will share the work: Hunter Consulting in Palos Verdes Estates, Sharjo in Benicia, and Tucker Construction in San Jose. The council can renew the contracts for up to six more years.
   2. What this means for you: This is the same cleanup-and-clearing program the city has run for years. The dollar figure is the ceiling, not what the city will actually spend. Encampment cleanups have been one of the most-debated city services in recent meetings, but this contract sailed through on the routine items list.
3. 20 of 24 city libraries are too small under the city's own rules
   1. A new long-range plan from the Library Department found that most San Jose branches do not meet the size-per-resident goal the city set for itself. Only one branch beats the national best-practice benchmark. The fix the plan recommends: add about 400,000 square feet across the system, which would nearly double branch space. The plan also recommends building a new branch in District 4. That is where the two smallest branches per resident, Berryessa and Alviso, sit on either side of an area planned for 24,000 new homes.
   2. What this means for you: Nothing changes at any branch today. The council accepted the plan as a roadmap, not a funding decision. Councilmembers said the most likely path forward is folding new libraries into private developments, alongside housing or childcare, because building libraries on their own is too expensive. Berryessa is the busiest branch in the system. Alviso has not been renovated in 27 years.
4. Two new Communications Hill parks cleared, including one named for a Portuguese-American dairy family
   1. Communications Hill is getting two new parks instead of $9 million in fees. KB Home will dedicate the land and build the parks. The 1-acre Phase III park will be a dog park with separate areas for big and small dogs. It will be called Communications Hill Dog Park. The 1.72-acre Phase IV park will have a lawn, a walking loop, picnic areas, and a cornhole area. It will be called Azevedo Park, after Manuel T. Azevedo, whose family ran the dairy that gave the hill its old "Dairy Hill" name. The city is also refunding $8,046 in park fees KB Home paid earlier.
   2. What this means for you: The dog park is targeted to open by June 2028. The larger park is targeted for December 2029. Communications Hill is on track for around 8,000 residents when it is fully built out.
5. $1 million set aside to replace airport terminal elevators
   1. The council pulled $1,000,000 from the airport's repair-and-replace savings to cover elevator replacements in the terminal.
   2. What this means for you: The money covers the elevator project specifically. It comes from existing reserves, not new revenue.

What residents brought up

• On the bigger digital billboards: A District 3 resident speaking with No Digital Billboards said one screen is growing 50%, and heights are going from 40 to 85 feet. He noted that the city only sent notices to people within 1,000 feet, while houses just off Jackson Street sit about 1,300 feet from the Mabury site. He said the Mabury location is less than a quarter mile from Watson Park, with Coyote Creek in front. Another speaker with No Digital Billboards called the changes a major rewrite of the deal, not a small tweak. He cited a 2023 court ruling that voided a Clear Channel airport deal over how the contract was awarded.
• On light pollution and health: A Lick Observatory representative asked the council to weigh research linking nighttime light exposure to hormonal cancers. He noted that the city's projected $1 million a year in revenue, divided across 11 districts, comes to about $91,000 each. A typical first-year breast cancer treatment, he said, costs about $83,000.
• On the foster care system: The director of development at Child Advocates of Silicon Valley said more than 150 Santa Clara County children are on a waiting list for a court-appointed advocate. Councilmember Campos cited the Latino Health Assessment finding that 7 in 10 children in the county foster system are Latino, while Latinos make up about a third of the county population.

Also happened

• The council approved the city's federal housing and community development spending plan for the year starting July 1.
• The council retroactively approved lighting the Tower and Rotunda red May 1 through May 3 for Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters.
• The council approved the Mayor's TogetherSJ Neighborhood Engagement Program as a city-sponsored event.
• Proclamations recognized May 5 as Cinco de Mayo Day, May 1-3 as National Fallen Firefighters Weekend, and May 2026 as National Foster Care Awareness Month.
• A request to waive the city's revolving-door rules for a former council staffer was pulled before the meeting.

For any updates or corrections, please email steven@polisdesk.com