District slates workshop on massive development
Seeking more information and seeking community opinion, Morgan Hill School District School Board trustees are holding a workshop on the proposed Coyote Valley development Wednesday evening.
The public is invited to join the board for a presentation by representatives from the Santa Clara County Office of Education Center for Educational Planning and Jack Schreder of Jack Schreder and Associates. Bob Costamagna, of Magna Solutions, Inc., will facilitate the discussion.
Much of the evening is expected to be devoted to whether the School District should attempt to remove the Coyote Valley and south San Jose areas from within its boundaries.
The Coyote Valley plan is studying the area west of Monterey Road, largely south of Metcalf Road to just north of Burnett Avenue. Roughly, the northern sector is being considered as light industrial, the central sector as urban residential and the southern area closest to Morgan Hill will remain greenbelt.
San Jose plans to develop the area between the two cities with an eventual 80,000 new residents, 50,000 new homes and 25,000 jobs, a development more than twice the size of Morgan Hill. No Morgan Hill or South Valley resident sits on the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force (the main planning body) except County Supervisor Don Gage of Gilroy, who represents a much larger constituency.
Both Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy and School Board President George Panos have more than once requested in letters to San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales that the city and the school district have seats at the task force table.
Former School Board Trustee Russ Danielson, owner of Jody’s Junction Stationers in downtown Morgan Hill and a San Jose resident, was offered at seat at the planning table when he was a trustee. However, he was not re-elected in the 2002 election. He remains on the task force and regularly reports to city and school district officials during the monthly City/School District Liaison Committee meetings.
If district boundaries remain the same, all of the schools in the Coyote Valley development will be within the district. The boundaries extend to and include San Martin, north into south San Jose to Bernal Road.
Trustees and district administrators have attended Coyote Valley workshops and task force meetings to gather information about the plan.
“If you don’t jettison Coyote Valley, we will go down,” longtime board watcher Harlan Warthen told trustees at an earlier School Board meeting. “There’s no conceivable way for our district to handle the impact of Coyote Valley.”
Schools to support the population of the new development – a projection is 8-10 elementary schools, two middle schools and at least one high school –
Warthen and others are urging the district to consider requesting the formation of a new, Coyote Valley School District, or requesting another district, such as Evergreen or Oak Grove to the north, absorb the Coyote Valley development.
Trustees discussed the development during their regular board meeting April 26. They agreed to send a letter to San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales requesting formal representation on the task force.
One of the concerns he addresses in his letter is the density of the planned development as compared to Morgan Hill.
“Initial discussions that we have had with individuals from the City of San Jose have given us the impression that Coyote Valley planners are looking at allocating much smaller acreages for Coyote Valley schools than recommended by the state,” Panos wrote.
The next Coyote Valley Community Workshop, where the public can speak, is scheduled for Saturday, June 12, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at McEnery Convention Center on San Carlos Avenue at Market Street in San Jose.
Kennedy and a delegation from the South Valley summit plan, including – he hopes – Panos, would meet with Gonzales Monday, June 14, at 4:30 p.m., just before the Task Force meeting at 5:30 p.m.. 151 W. Mission St, San Jose, Room 202 a and b.
Wednesday’s meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m. in the board room at the District Office, 15600 Concord Circle.
