|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
San Francisco Chronicle Coyote Valley in South San Jose -- the planned site of a new Cisco Systems campus -- is one of the 10 most endangered landscapes in America, environmentalists will announce today. The 2001 designation
by Scenic America, a nonprofit group in Washington, D. C., whose goal is to preserve the scenic character of America's communities, recognizes the "significance of protecting Coyote Valley from urban and
industrial sprawl." For environmentalists, designating Coyote Valley as one of the "most endangered" scenes in the country is still another way to keep the developers on the run. They hope.
Covering more than 3,000 very pristine acres, Coyote Valley extends south to Morgan Hill and mostly consists of small farms with rolling hills to the west. But there is strong pressure from development at the
northern end. Last month, Cisco, in a retrenchment reflecting a brutal business year, announced it would hold off construction of a new office complex in Coyote Valley and cut the project's overall size
from 6.6 million square feet to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million square feet. "The more people are aware of how beautiful this valley is, the more chances that it will be protected," said
Ernie Goitein, a member of People for Livable and Affordable Neighborhoods, which nominated Coyote Valley. Today, several environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Santa Clara Valley
chapter of the Audubon Society and the Committee for Green Foothills, plan to celebrate the award at a farm field in the heart of Coyote Valley. The nine other "2001 Last Chance Landscapes of America the
Beautiful" named are the entire state of Oregon; Washington, D.C.; the Marsh Islands of coastal Georgia; Red Rocks Scenic Road, Sedona, Ariz.; Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island; St. Croix Valley Scenic
Corridor in Minnesota and Wisconsin; Harpeth River Valley in Williamson County, Tenn.; Lynville Mountain Landscape, Roanoke, Va; and Woodberry Watershed Forest, Baltimore, Md. The criterion for designation
is that the site contain "unique beauty or distinctive community character with both a pending threat and a potential solution," said Steve Strohmeier, program associate for Scenic America. There were
more than 60 applications. "I don't think you can say nothing should be done in Coyote Valley, but there are alternatives that include far less landscaping and land use," Strohmeier said. "The
smallest possible development makes the best sense." David Vossbrink, a spokesman for San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, who has pushed for approval of the Cisco campus development plan, said naming Coyote
Valley a special scenic place in America would be "useful if it promotes a dialogue between groups on design issues to make sure views remain open." "But whether this will change any specific
plans for Coyote Valley, that, I think, is highly doubtful," he said. |
|
|
|
||||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
