In one hour Mayor Dennis Kennedy did, as promised, collect
worries over and suggestions for Coyote Valley development from
South Valley stakeholders. A local task force met Wednesday for the
first time and decided to join together to be heard, if not to get
a seat at the planning table.
In one hour Mayor Dennis Kennedy did, as promised, collect worries over and suggestions for Coyote Valley development from South Valley stakeholders. A local task force met Wednesday for the first time and decided to join together to be heard, if not to get a seat at the planning table.
Not content to sit on the sidelines while the all-San Jose Task Force made plans that would have a huge impact on them, Kennedy brought together representatives of the City of Gilroy, San Martin, Gavilan College and Morgan Hill School District. Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage and former MHSD trustee Russ Danielson, who are on the San Jose Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force, also attended the meeting.
Task force members worried over traffic, housing, schools (K-14), greenbelts and habitat preservation, sewer capacity, medical facilities and commercial and retail development.
An area of major concern surrounds schools. Gavilan President Steve Kinsella said the Coyote Valley plan fully expects Gavilan to build – with its own resources – a full, technological-oriented campus in San Jose because Gavilan’s boundaries extend north to Bernal Road, as do those of MHSD.
South Valley and San Benito County voters just approved in March a $108 million bond issue (Measure E) to upgrade the main Gilroy campus and build permanent campuses in Morgan Hill and Hollister. Kinsella said that part of that money would need to be used for the northern campus.
Kinsella explained on Thursday that money for to start a Coyote Valley campus was indeed included in the Measure E bond and that only about $40 million of the $108 million was designated for new campuses in Morgan Hill, Hollister and Coyote Valley. The remaining $68 million would renovate the Gilroy main campus.
“Of the $39.596 million, $12 million is designated for San Benito County, $18 million to expand the Gilroy campus and $8.4 million to split between Morgan Hill and Coyote Valley,” Kinsella said. “That will allow us to get started.”
The remainder of building funds would come from the state, from donations and grants and other, non-property tax sources. Buildout of a new campus would take between 15 and 20 years, he said.
Kinsella wanted to put South Valley taxpayers’ minds at ease.
“As Coyote Valley builds out,” he said, “the property tax revenue (from those new houses) will come into Gavilan’s operating budget.”
MHSD Superintendent Carolyn McKennan questioned the number and size of schools planned. At least eight new schools, and most likely several more, would need to be built by MHSD to educate these new San Jose residents. New houses would be assessed a – so far undetermined – parcel tax for schools but the bulk of the work dealing with new schools for this San Jose community would be performed by MHSD and its trustees, most of whom are Morgan Hill residents. Transportation is also a concern in a district that has limited busing.
At least one of the three scenarios touted by San Jose Task Force members shows multi-story schools (up to 10 stories) with playgrounds on the top floor, a situation expected in New York City but not in rural South Valley which MHSD trustee Shellé Thomas questioned.
“We’re still a rural district,” Thomas said. “They are looking at an urban fix.”
Though there is a move afoot to separate Coyote Valley from MHSD, until that might be done, the 80,000 Coyote Valley residents will produce far more voters than Morgan Hill’s 35,000, potentially moving control of the district north.
Congestion from Coyote Valley workers commuting from South Valley and possibly as far as Los Banos is expected to be greater than San Jose planners predict. Gage wondered who would help Morgan Hill and Gilroy pay to repair potholes caused by the additional traffic. SV Task Force members, most of whom have been following the SJ Task Force closely, said the traffic modeling was not realistic and only reflected movement within the valley itself, excluding traffic in other feeder areas.
Coyote Valley transportation planning is not coordinated with that of other agencies.
Housing is another area of concern. Should it exist before the expected 50,000 jobs turn up and is the stated 25,000 number of units realistic? And since the 50,000 job number just includes industrial-technology jobs and not the many service workers required to run such a large development, will the usual 20 percent devoted to affordable housing be enough?
The Coyote Valley Task Force is planning on workers living near their jobs.
Councilman Greg Sellers said Thursday to remember that, of the people at Wednesday’s task force meeting, Gage, Kennedy, Councilmen Steve Tate and Larry Carr and Sellers himself all moved to Morgan Hill and Gilroy – 30 years ago – in anticipation of the IBM plant opening in Coyote Valley and on Santa Teresa.
“They won’t necessarily live in Coyote Valley,” Sellers said.
During public comment Brian Schmidt of the Committee for Green Foothills asked if the participants were willing to litigate to delay the planning until it could be more inclusive and based on more realistic numbers.
Sellers, at the council meeting later on Wednesday, asked that a potential lawsuit be placed on a future agenda. Schmidt also proposed that the planning be slowed down; the race to approval, he said, was because San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales wanted the plan finished before his term ends. Gonzales has refused several requests for a Morgan Hill resident to have a seat on the task force.
The South Valley task force casually decided to request more frequent meetings with the San Jose Coyote Valley Task Force, the technical advisory committee and Gonzales so they are up to date on developments and to pass on South Valley concerns and suggestions.
Audience member, Rebecca Van Dahlen said Gonzales was looking for a Board of Realtors member to serve on the Coyote Valley Task Force and offered to encourage a South Valley resident to fill the seat. Gage, who lives in Gilroy and represents a much wider area than South Valley is the only task force member to live locally.
The City of San Jose did not send a representative to the meeting.
The formal comments from the South Valley task force will be compiled and delivered to the appropriate authorities in San Jose, before which the task force will meet again.
The next step for the Coyote Valley Task Force is to consider three alternative land use plans at a June 12 workshop and a June 14 meeting. They will then draft the final plan for an Aug. 14 workshop and an Aug. 16 meeting with final decisions being made on Sept. 13 and the plan going to the San Jose City Council on Sept. 21 with final approval expected in early December.
Details on the Coyote Valley Specific Plan: Sal Yakubu, sa***********@*******ca.gov; Susan Walsh, su*********@*******ca.gov; or call 277-4576. The plans can be viewed at www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/coyotevalley/
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
