Supervisor threatens to clear the room during hillside
development meeting San Jose – Angry homeowners tried to shout down
Santa Clara County supervisors Wednesday prompting one supervisor
to threaten to clear the room during a meeting to discuss new
restrictions on residential development in the hillsides.
San Jose – Angry homeowners tried to shout down Santa Clara County supervisors Wednesday prompting one supervisor to threaten to clear the room during a meeting to discuss new restrictions on residential development in the hillsides.
Not satisfied with their two minutes at the podium, and peeved by Supervisor Liz Kniss’s repeated admonition not to applaud speakers, the homeowners began mocking Kniss, accusing her of wasting time and subverting their right to participate in a public discussion.
One speaker charged Supervisor Jim Beall with trying to enact a scheme to drive down property values so land could be scooped up by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority. Kniss, sounding like a frustrated elementary school teacher chastising a group of unruly students, threatened to clear the room. During the lunch break, County Executive Pete Kutras called for security, and the afternoon session was much less animated, due perhaps to the presence of two sheriff’s deputies.
But for all the smoke, there was very little fire. No decisions were made and none will be for months. But as county officials made their first move to clarify and potentially add rules governing hillside development – including the imposition of house size limits – there was ample rhetoric in the conflict between constitutionally protected property rights and romantic notions of preserving what remains of the Valley of the Heart’s Delight.
Supervisor Don Gage earned spirited applause when he announced that he would not support house size limits or a prohibition on ridgeline development.
“If you want to talk about the viewshed, what about the folks looking down on the valley floor,” Gage said, asking why people on high ground should be treated differently than residents in urban areas. “Some days there’s so much smog in San Jose you can’t see the buildings. Everybody talks about looking up. What about looking down? To me, a 4,000-square-foot house on a 5,000-square-foot-lot is more offensive than a 10,000 square-foot house on 100 acres.”
Most of the 50 landowners at the special meeting held at the Hyatt Hotel at the Minetta San Jose International Airport, were there to argue for the right to develop their property at their pleasure.
Paul Arpin has been trying for a year to build a 1,200-square-foot house in Paradise Valley, east of Morgan Hill, for about a year. He said the county has enough rules that limit development and drive up the expense of building even a modest home without adding restrictions to protect the viewshed.
“You can’t expect to have those views in a place where people live,” he said.
Changes seem likely because the county’s general plan is too ambiguous to direct hillside growth. Gage said he doesn’t want to see major revisions, but development rules do need to be clearer for landowners and supervisors.
“When we have to deal with things individually, they take a lot more time,” he said after the meeting. “We need to have a philosophy and criteria because it makes it a lot easier to do our jobs.”
And a series of controversial development projects, including plans for a 17,000-square-foot home in unincorporated San Jose and a proposal to shave the tops of several hills above Milpitas, have forced supervisors to make ad hoc decisions without developing a coherent strategy.
Matt King covers Santa Clara County for The Times. He can be reached at 847-7240 or [email protected].
What’s a Viewshed?
In planning terms, the viewshed is the scenic hillside area generally visible from the urban portions of the county. County officials are now trying to craft regulations that will balance the rights of landowners with the goal of preserving the scenic character of South Valley. By next year, there will be some new rules. Possible changes include:
• House color guidelines
• Heightened design review
• Maximum house size
• Density limit
• Creation of different guidelines for different parts of the county
