Gavilan College announces plans to develop a Coyote campus
Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella said Friday the community college will open a campus in Coyote Valley whether or not the City of San Jose approves the controversial development that could bring as many as 50,000 new jobs, 25,000 new homes, and 80,000 new residents to an area just north of Morgan Hill.
“It’s obvious higher education had not been considered when San Jose planned to plop about 80,000 workers into the northern portion of our district,” Kinsella said. “We’ve felt compelled to respond.”
Kinsella said Measure E, which voters approved last spring, will fund the college’s efforts to find land and conduct the necessary studies to build the campus. Currently, Kinsella said the college is considering a 55-acre parcel of land on Bailey Avenue near Santa Teresa across from IBM. Negotiations on the land are still in its early stages, Kinsella said, but if the property is secured, he hopes to seek help from the state to fund construction.
“We’re probably a year away (from finalizing the plans),” he said.
Kinsella discussed Gavilan’s Coyote plans during a presentation at the Chamber of Commerce’s quarterly business forum Friday at Golden Oak Restaurant. The impact of the Coyote Valley Specific Plan on Morgan Hill was the topic of presentations during the luncheon.
Kinsella addressed a crowd of local business leaders, along with former city planner Dave Bischoff and Mayor Dennis Kennedy. The presentation, called “Coyote Valley Specific Plan the Morgan Hill Perspective,” gave the audience an update on the city’s and college’s negotiations with the City of San Jose regarding Coyote Valley planning.
Bischoff and Kennedy gave the city’s perspective of San Jose’s Coyote Valley plan. Kennedy said the city doesn’t oppose the plan and applauds the smart-growth approach of integrating jobs and housing, an internal transit system, walkable neighborhoods and open space amenities. They said the plan presents benefits for Morgan Hill businesses. However, the city also has major concerns.
Bischoff outlined five main concerns – traffic, housing, water supply, the greenbelt, and schools.
Morgan Hill city officials anticipate at least 43,000 people will have to commute into Coyote Valley, and it is likely that more than 20 percent will commute into Coyote Valley from the south. The area will need mitigations such as the road widenings, or even one additional lane in each direction on U.S. Highway 101, and improvements to mass transit, including double tracking CalTrain.
“Some mitigation will require a regional approach, but we hope San Jose will pay its fair share,” Bischoff said.
Water supply will also be impacted by the development. At build out Coyote Valley would need 16,000 to 20,000 acre-feet of water per year. Current groundwater supply is just 8,000 acre-feet per year. San Jose suggests extensive use of recycled water and some other options, but city officials said, the bottom line is, the plan does not show any guaranteed source of water supply.
“Coyote Valley can’t develop at the cost of the water supply,” Bischoff said.
The proposed development will also impact housing costs, as more jobs than housing units would increase demand and drive up home prices. While good for homeowners, it would be difficult for businesses seeking to expand their workforce or children who want to live in the area, because house prices will skyrocket, said Bischoff.
With regard to the greenbelt, city officials want San Jose to provide this, and they said it looks like it will do so.
Kennedy explained the process and the city’s frustration in trying to become part of the task force, so the city finally tried the “in your face approach to force our message upon San Jose.” He said they are developing a more effective a dialogue. The South County Stakeholders, which involves agencies like the Santa Clara County, the Morgan Hill School District, Gavilan College, the City of Gilroy, San Martin Neighborhood Alliance and Open Space Authority of Santa Clara County, are sharing their concerns with the San Jose task force. The task force is currently studying the environmental impact of the plan and Kennedy said the city plans to closely monitor and participate in the process.
The fifth concern, that of the schools, focused on Kinsella’s talk about Gavilan College’s future plans.
Kinsella said building a Coyote campus is essential to meeting the college’s mission of providing higher education to residents in its district comprising 2,700 square miles and serving residents of Morgan Hill Gilroy and San Benito County, and capturing the population venturing north to other colleges.
“We could handle 10 percent more,” said Kinsella, but he noted, “we are losing a third of the students in the area to San Jose colleges to the north.” He believed in Morgan Hill alone, the college is losing 50 percent of potential students to other colleges north of the city.
“We’re going to do what’s necessary. Its not our intention to wreck anyone’s plan, but we need to be recognize us and work together,” Kinsella said.
Rose Meily covers politics for the Morgan Hill Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 or at rm****@*************es.com
