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The way south of San Jose
by Brian Schmidt
Santa Clara County is so large that people in the northern part of
the County often forget that the County's southern border extends far beyond San Jose, beyond Morgan Hill, and even considerably
south of Gilroy. The Committee for Green Foothills, however, has not forgotten; CGF is working to protect a number of areas south
of San Jose, where some of the County's most gorgeous -- and most threatened -- open space can be found.
Coyote Valley
While this undeveloped valley is technically part of San Jose, it should be well south of concentrated urban development for San
Jose. Unfortunately, the city continues to slate the area for massive development encompassing 50,000 jobs and 25,000 homes, despite the fact that the collapse of the dot-com economy
completely halted economic development in Silicon Valley. Before the collapse, the city appeared to say, "our fast-paced growth gives us no choice but to develop Coyote Valley to
accommodate growth." Now their argument appears to be, "our anemic economic state gives us no choice but to develop Coyote Valley to stimulate our economy." With opposing facts used to
justify the same conclusion, the city appears to favor development for its own sake. This is not smart growth.  San Jose appears to be taking one small step away from the "stupid growth" model in its 2001 General Plan by signaling that it no longer plans to separate residential and
commercial development in Coyote Valley. The separation into two zones would have guaranteed maximum loss of open space in the valley, as it would have made it impossible to scale down developments to more manageable
sizes. But even while taking this small positive step, the City acts inconsistently. It freely ignores the General Plan regarding how Coyote Valley should be developed, but fails to re-examine
whether anything else has changed in Silicon Valley since 2001 - a change that should be sufficient to scale back or completely eliminate plans to develop Coyote Valley.
Committee for Green Foothills continues to oppose plans to place a de facto city -- one bigger than Morgan Hill and Gilroy
combined -- into the stunning agricultural lands of Coyote Valley. Should San Jose make the mistake of developing Coyote Valley, it should do so in a way that maximizes open space preservation
and mitigates all loss of farmland. The Committee continues to monitor the proposed development and look for opportunities to encourage a reassessment of the whole bad idea. Morgan Hill
Committee for Green Foothills has been involved in two issues in Morgan Hill: fighting the environmental impacts of an illegally-constructed
golf course on the east side of town (discussed in the Fall 2003 Green Footnotes) and participating in discussions regarding a greenbelt and/or expanded urban limit line for the city.
In the last few months, Morgan Hill has issued a Draft Environmental Impact Report
to consider legalizing the golf course. Due to problems with the draft report, the city may face additional delays and possibly issue an illegal temporary permit --
again -- without completed environmental documentation. CGF is following this closely;
stay tuned for further developments. To study a potential greenbelt/urban line limit, the city
has established an advisory committee, with heavy representation from landowners who would like to bring their property within new urban limits, creating massive increases in land value. While the
idea of establishing a greenbelt may have some merit, depending on how it could be funded, the newly-expanded urban limit line seems like an invitation to sprawl and to litigation from those left
outside the limit. Committee for Green Foothills is attending
meetings and contributing to discussions with the aim of forestalling mistaken growth policies. Gilroy and points south
Many issues bear watching in Gilroy, and the Committee is constantly reevaluating which require the most attention. A
"Super" Wal-Mart is planned for the town outskirts, a continuation of the big box retail development that has sapped Gilroy's agricultural base. A plan to annex 660 acres of farmland for
development remains on hold, and we are hopeful that it ends up in the recycling bin. A plan to develop more than 1,000 homes in the Glen Loma area bears watching. A proposed "agricultural
mitigation policy" for the City is a welcome development (if it has real teeth). Also potentially encouraging is some interest in expanding the
Santa Clara Open Space Authority to encompass Gilroy, which could result in increased support and funding for open space preservation.
South of Gilroy, Sargent Ranch and Castro Ranch are constantly on our radar screen, and Castro Ranch landowners are jockeying to adjust their lot lines in a way that might facilitate development.
The Pajaro River watershed that Santa Clara County shares with adjoining counties is both threatened by development and targeted by conservation groups for land acquisition, making it a prime area
for us to watch. Directly across the county line, San Benito County is considering a historic initiative for growth control, one that could stop that County from terrible sprawl that jeopardizes Santa Clara County land.
In addition to our work defending against South County environmental threats, Committee for Green Foothills serves on the Environmental Advisory Committee for the
Santa Clara Valley Water District and engages with County staff and supervisors daily on issues affecting South County. Through our
work on South County land use issues we see the need for institutional reforms in land use regulations that could benefit the entire County. We hope to have more news on that front soon.
Published March 2004 in Green Footnotes.
Page last updated March 4, 2004 |
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