Kudos to County Supervisor Don Gage for establishing a task
force to study industrial and commercial land use issues in San
Martin. One of Gage
’s frequent and vocal critics, San Martin Neighborhood Alliance
President Sylvia Hamilton, agrees.
Kudos to County Supervisor Don Gage for establishing a task force to study industrial and commercial land use issues in San Martin. One of Gage’s frequent and vocal critics, San Martin Neighborhood Alliance President Sylvia Hamilton, agrees.
“It’s fantastic the supervisor has approved this task force to look into reviewing the rules and making them more appropriate for a rural environment,” Hamilton told reporter Jonathan Jeisel.
San Martin, an unincorporated hamlet home to approximately 4,200 residents, relies heavily on Gage, its only local elected representative, to look out for its interests. Emotions frequently run high during debates on land use issues affecting San Martin. A recent example is the lawsuit Hamilton’s group recently filed to force new environmental review of plans to add 100 hangars to South County Airport. Gage voted to support the additional hangars, and is opposed to further environmental review.
Some residents say San Martin has become a dumping ground for undesirable development in Santa Clara County. They cite proposals for an RV storage lot, a hazardous waste storage facility, expanded waste transfer stations and junkyards and a proposed fish cleaning and packing plant to make their point.
While we don’t agree entirely with that characterization of San Martin, we certainly concur that it’s a good idea, as Gage said, to make sure everyone understands what the rules for business and industrial development are.
“We can tweak (development criteria) and add some more specificity to it so people don’t get confused as to what is and isn’t allowed to be in those zones,” Gage said of the task force’s work.
We hope the task force is a first step in bringing a new collaborative climate to San Martin politics – something that’s been sorely lacking in recent years. Gage has extended an olive branch with this task force. Let’s hope San Martin’s leaders and residents will respond in the same spirit.
The task force will be comprised of San Martin folks – business people, members of community organizations and residents. If you’re interested in serving on the task force – especially if you’re interested in fostering a much-need cooperative spirit in San Martin politics – we encourage you to contact Supervisor Gage’s office. His San Jose office phone number is 299-5010; his San Martin office can be reached at 686-8742.
