The imaginary line around the proposed Coyote Valley development
is looking like a brick wall to property owners in the so-called
greenbelt just north of Morgan Hill.
The imaginary line around the proposed Coyote Valley development is looking like a brick wall to property owners in the so-called greenbelt just north of Morgan Hill.
Their neighbors to the north stand to gain from appreciating land values for the massive project that promises to bring 25,000 jobs and 80,000 people to Coyote Valley, but greenbelt owners are feeling fenced in by county zoning laws.
“Our neighbors across the way are getting development restrictions lifted, but no one is working with us,” said Eric Flippo, who farms 20 acres in the greenbelt. “They want us to continue farming, but that’s crazy. It won’t work.”
The 3,500 acres of the greenbelt are under Santa Clara County’s jurisdiction and zoning law. The land there may not be subdivided below 20 acres and no parcel of 40 acres or less may have more than one house. Only agriculture and agriculture-related businesses are allowed, but greenbelt owners say that previous development and population growth have left the land unable to support agriculture.
“The parcels have been divided to where it’s uneconomical to work and we’re unwelcome in the community,” said greenbelt owner Dan Carroll, who farms walnuts and almonds in San Benito and Merced counties, but his 10 acres in the greenbelt lay fallow.
Flippo said that the encroaching urban environment is ruining his business.
“I’ve been nearly killed twice driving my tractor across the road,” he said. “People are burning and dumping in my fields. There are too many people.”
Greenbelt owners are caught in a political maelstrom. Although their land is under county jurisdiction, it falls under San Jose’s “sphere of influence,” and under state law, city planners can direct the area’s growth.
“Owners are just now realizing what the zoning laws allow and they don’t like, but until there’s the political will to change it, that’s the way it is,” said Laurel Prevetti, San Jose’s deputy director of planning. “We’re just trying to be factual and honest with them about what the law is.
“We agree that traditional agriculture is not viable, for a number of reasons, but we will facilitate the kind of farming that’s been very successful in other parts of California.”
Carroll and Flippo and many other greenbelt owners want to get out, but they’re not willing to settle for the $20,000 to $30,000 an acre for which farmland in the area historically moves. They want commercial development rates, which hover around $100,000 an acre.
“It’s sad to say, but greed is what rules our society,” Carroll said. “We hear significantly higher numbers for developable property. We feel our land should be developable because it’s no longer viable for agriculture.”
But Reggie Knox of California FarmLink, a non-profit that works to preserve small farming operations, said Wednesday that if financing can be arranged, the region can be transformed from conventional ag industries to small organic and boutique farms.
“Unless you’re sitting on a whole pile of money you’re not going to be able to pay the mortgage at those rates,” Knox said, “but farms on the urban fringe can work very well because they can take advantage of direct sales to the urban marketplace.”
Knox said that his organization has a database of about 250 “aspiring farmers,” many of whom would be interested in farming in the greenbelt. One is David Tutee, high-tech sales executive who’s wanted to farm his entire life and been looking for land for almost 10 years.
“I’m at a point in my life where I want to slow down and have a slower, more robust lifestyle,” Tutee said, “but it keeps coming back that land is very expensive. If the greenbelt is affordable it might work.”
California FarmLink specializes in arranging financing for small and new farms.
“There is the possibility of creating a pool of funding,” Knox said. “If you have a potential buyer bringing in cash, you can get agricultural loans, and easement money. There may be “open spaces” groups willing to buy land or development rights. There’s a long history in this country of financing farmers.”
It could be, said County Agriculture Commissioner Greg Van Wassenhove, that most of the land is probably best for the hobby gardener.
“Whether you could do small-time organic gardening there is debatable,” he said. “I’m not sure that a living can be made at such a small scale. The logistics of a viable operation are hard to realize at that size.”
The costs of converting a traditional plot are daunting. It takes about three years of soil treatment before ground can be certified organic. But that time allows farmers to experiment with crops and lay groundwork for the direct sales they’ll need to survive, said Jake Lewin, of California Certified Organic Farmers.
“That area probably has some of the best naturally good farming soil in California,” he said. “At the same time, it’s near a bunch of great markets in the Bay Area and the central coast, and you can grow a lot of products.”
The next meeting of the Coyote Valley Task Force is 6:30-9pm Thursday, Jan. 6, at the Southside Community Center, 5585 Cottle Road, on the west side of Cottle Road, north of Poughkeepsie Road. Discussion on the greenbelt is among the items on the agenda. Background materials: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley/
Gilroy Dispatch reporter Matt King covers Santa Clara County. He can be reached at mk***@************ch.com or 847-7240.
