Plans for a Coyote Valley suburb will move forward, but San Jose
won’t be rushing thousands of homes and jobs north of Morgan Hill
for at least three years.
San Jose – Plans for a Coyote Valley suburb will move forward, but San Jose won’t be rushing thousands of homes and jobs north of Morgan Hill for at least three years.
The San Jose City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday night to approve Mayor Chuck Reed’s recommendation to launch the city’s general plan update with a 34-person task force that will be named in August. The work on the general plan update is expected to last through February 2010.
Reed’s recommendation calls for the completion of the specific plan and the environmental review for Coyote Valley, but urges the council to only consider changing “triggers” for home building as part of the comprehensive general plan update.
As it stands, San Jose’s general plan calls for 5,000 jobs in Coyote Valley before homes can be built.
Long-term plans for Coyote Valley – which are still being developed – call for 50,000 jobs, 25,000 homes and up to 80,000 people. Build-out could take some 50 years. San Jose planners will begin revising the draft environmental report after the public comment period ends Friday.
In his mayoral campaign last fall, Reed stuck to his guns that jobs should come first in Coyote Valley and “triggers” for building homes should not be changed independently of the city’s overdue general plan update.
“It wasn’t a big surprise, but what did surprise me was the unanimity of the council’s position,” observed Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate, noting the only dissenting vote, San Jose Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, favored taking an even stronger stance against softening Coyote Valley’s housing triggers.
Tate said he hopes San Jose keeps the triggers in place because he thinks they will ensure there is an economic presence in Coyote Valley before thousands of people settle into the valley. Where those future residents work and how many use U.S. 101 during rush hour are prime concerns for Morgan Hill and Gilroy officials.
San Jose City Councilwoman Nancy Pyle, a member of the Coyote Valley task force, has repeatedly said she wants to see employers commit before workforce housing is built.
But developers favor flexibility for a project that requires more than $1.5 billion of infrastructure, with $500 million coming in the first phase of development. Financing will be provided through private builders.
Kerry Williams, president of the Coyote Housing Group, thinks housing and jobs should be built at the same time to give the plan its best chance of succeeding.
“Let’s wait and see what the (Coyote Valley) task force recommends,” Williams said, adding she’s pleased with the council’s decision to allow the specific plan to move forward, which could include a task force recommendation to alter land-use restrictions to allow high-density growth. “The key thing to remember is the triggers are about protecting the fiscal health of the city, making sure the project pays for itself and is not a drain on San Jose.”
