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Coyote Valley
After five years of planning for a community the size of Mountain View
on farmlands and wetlands, the City of San Jose has closed the latest
chapter in the quest to develop Coyote Valley. Citing a downturn in the
housing market, a looming recession, and more planning delays, the developers
decided to stop funding the specific plan effort.
Last summer, hundreds of pages of comments on the Draft Environmental
Impact Report flooded the San Jose Planning Department, making it clear
that plenty of work remained in identifying the impacts of the proposed
project and the mitigations necessary to remedy them. A memo from
the Planning Department to the City Council gave a multitude of reasons
why
the draft report would need to be redone. Greenbelt Alliance submitted
one of the lengthiest comment
letters and, among other issues, questioned
whether frequent and reliable train service would come to Coyote Valley.
With so much untapped infill potential throughout San Jose near light
rail, making efficient use of existing infrastructure is the better way
to grow. A subsequent Greenbelt Alliance comment letter is also
available for review.
San Jose had envisioned Coyote Valley becoming a model for sustainable
development. However, true sustainable development would be to increase
homes and jobs along the North
First Street Corridor.
The proposed development also ignored a vital wildlife passage between
the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range. Students from DeAnza College
have been studying the diverse wildlife that traverses this valley, from
mountain lions and coyotes to badgers and more than 155 species of birds.
Development was also planned extremely close to Coyote Creek and intensive
sports facilities had been considered for the Laguna Seca, a historic
wetland. San Jose also had no intention of mitigating for the loss of
over 2,000 acres of farms. The piecemeal development of agricultural
lands has lead to the loss of 1,650 acres per year over the last two
decades in Santa Clara County alone.
For these reasons and more, San Jose recognized the need to redo the
Environmental Impact Report, pushing any possible review by the City
Council into 2009. Now, the future of Coyote Valley will be rolled into
the San Jose General Plan update, and Greenbelt Alliance will make sure
the City of San Jose focuses its efforts on making North
First Street a model for world-class
redevelopment.
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