When it comes to Coyote Valley development, we
’ve got two words: Sue ‘em. OK, maybe that’s a word and a half.
No matter how you count them, the process for planning development
in Coyote Valley has us so frustrated that we think lawsuits are
the only viable option.
When it comes to Coyote Valley development, we’ve got two words: Sue ‘em.
OK, maybe that’s a word and a half. No matter how you count them, the process for planning development in Coyote Valley has us so frustrated that we think lawsuits are the only viable option.
We believe our society is overly litigious, and have editorialized on that issue. However, the Coyote Valley planning process has been so egregious in so many ways, yet it roars forward. Now that out-of-control planning process involves the city breaking a long-standing process to build houses only after sufficient jobs are in place in Coyote Valley. We hate to be at this sad point, but it seems to us that lawsuits, and lots of them, are the only way to get the attention of San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his cohorts at City Hall.
Lots of groups have lots of reasons to sue.
Environmentalists ought to sue. Water issues and pollution issues, just to name a couple of items, should be enough to get the environmentalists and their lawyers in court to stop Coyote Valley development.
The Morgan Hill School District and Gavilan Community College ought to sue as well. Both of these agencies have no representation on the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force, but both will be required to educate the students of Coyote Valley.
Since Gonzales and Councilman Forrest Williams have removed the decades-old requirement for 5,000 jobs in Coyote Valley before housing development can occur are successful, paying for those students’ educations gets a lot harder.
Businesses pay property taxes but don’t have any children associated with them, like many houses do. If San Jose removes these triggers, Gavilan and MHUSD lawyers ought to be at the courthouse the next day with lawsuits in hand.
Not only that, there are questions about the number of schools and the sizes of the campuses that are being planned in Coyote Valley.
Some Morgan Hill and San Martin residents, all part of MHUSD, have begun advocating that the school district split, forcing Coyote Valley to form its own district or join another district. They’re concerned, and justifiably so, that when Coyote Valley is built out, its residents will outnumber (and outvote) residents in Morgan Hill and San Martin.
But deciding whether to split the district should be done only after reviewing costly studies conducted by expensive consultants. There are important financial considerations and complicated future scenarious that must be weighed. MHUSD ought to be conducting those studies and billing the City of San Jose. And if San Jose balks at paying for studies its development process necessitates, then, you guessed it, sue ‘em.
The cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy, also unrepresented on the planning task force but hugely impacted by Coyote Valley development, and Santa Clara County ought to sue as well. All will be impacted by the new residents, increased traffic, noise, and pollution Coyote Valley development will bring.
We’re sad that it has come to this. But given the shabby treatment of South County by San Jose, in general, and Gonzales, in particular, it’s not an outlandish recommendation.
Before it’s too late, anyone who will be harmed by reckless Coyote Valley development, please, sue ‘em.
