In a rare 3-2 split, the City Council declined Wednesday night
to reduce or remove a $1,084 fee paid by the Santa Clara Valley
Audubon Society and the Committee for Green Foothills when
environmental organizations appealed the issuance of a temporary
use permit granted the controversial Math Institute Golf
Course.
In a rare 3-2 split, the City Council declined Wednesday night to reduce or remove a $1,084 fee paid by the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Committee for Green Foothills when environmental organizations appealed the issuance of a temporary use permit granted the controversial Math Institute Golf Course.
The appeal was denied by the Planning Commission in October on a 7-0 vote.
SCVAS and CGF presented several reasons why the permit should not have been allowed, bringing, as they did so, the course’s environmental encroachment and violations to the attention of the city.
Craig Breon, Audubon Society executive director, and Brian Schmidt, legislative director for the CGF, argued that the appeal fee was much higher than other cities – San Jose’s fee is $50. They pointed out that a $1,084 fee effectively means the public must pay a high price to participate in the permit review process.
“Members of the public would be surprised to learn that they can’t participate without paying $1,000,” Schmidt said.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy suggested reducing the fee by 50 percent, a motion supported by Councilwoman Hedy Chang, but was overruled by Council members Larry Carr, Steve Tate and Greg Sellers. The three no votes, they said, were based on the fact that the fees were already set and, if reduced, the costs would have to be taken from the already stressed general fund.
“The system needs to be changed and, perhaps, the city might thank us for having pointed that (the violations) out,” Breon said.
Community Development Director David Bischoff told the council that his department was reviewing the entire permitting process, with results due in the spring, but was not planning to recommend changing the fees, which are set by the council. He did acknowledge that the city bases its fees on 100 percent cost recovery.
The golf course permits and appeals used far more city resources than were covered by either fee, Bischoff said. He did not know exactly what the Institute paid as a permit fee but estimated that it was slightly less than $1,000.
The golf course was built without the proper permits on former Flying Lady property on Foothill Avenue in the east foothills. The property was bought and developed by John Fry of Fry’s Electronics as a recreational facility for the American Institute of Mathematics, which he founded and plans to move from Palo Alto onto the site.
The city, Green Foothills and the Audubon Society have been wrangling, in their separate ways, with the Institute over environmental issues. A formal Environmental Impact Report on the course is due soon.
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Santa Clara County officials trotted out their revised plans and color schemes for the 80,000-square-foot, $40 million courthouse, planned for Butterfield Boulevard and Diana Avenue. In response to citizen and council comments, the architects adjusted fencing, added a sidewalk along the Diana side of the property, altered the tree pattern to improve security sight lines and warmed up the white stucco.
A French gray was tweaked into taupe. Mallory Cusenbery, of DrulisCusenbery Architects, showed off terra-cotta tiles of a dark orange that he said will cover all horizontal surfaces such as window sills.
Council reaction was different from last time the plans were displayed.
“I like it,” Kennedy said.
Council voted 5-0 to appropriate $72,000 the strengthen a driveway the courthouse will share with a fire station the city plans to build just north of the site.
At a meeting last week the county Board of Supervisors voted to sell $50 million in bonds to pay for the courthouse. Voters do not have to approve the bond sale and the expenses will come from the county’s general fund.
An appeal to allow the Generations Four Square Baptist Church to buy an Anritsu Corp. building in the Morgan Hill Ranch Business Park was on the agenda but not acted on because the church has withdrawn its offer to buy the building.
