Home > Resource Center > In the News Home > Greenbelt Alliance in the News

Greenbelt Alliance In the News

June 13, 2004

DIVERSE 20-MEMBER GROUP FACES PRESSURE FROM MANY INTERESTS

Advisory panel has large task

"For five minutes I felt great and danced for joy," Carruthers said. "And five minutes later I wondered, 'What have I got myself into?' The challenge is immense."

Immense is a good word to describe what confronts the 20-member Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force, a group of property owners, developers, labor and business representatives, planners and open space advocates tapped by San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales with the assistance of City Councilman Forrest Williams to help determine how the semi-rural valley is developed in the years to come.

Immense also describes what the city has in store for the stretch of land from Tulare Hill south to Palm Avenue: an entire town within city limits.

The task force immediately came under attack. Environmentalists accused the panel of favoring development interests. Leaders from neighboring cities complained they were excluded even though their communities also would be affected by the valley's growth. And some critics said the members were handpicked by Gonzales simply to carry out his vision for the valley.

Gonzales said he is proud of the way the process has gone so far. "I think we have the right people at the table," he said.

The task force was assembled according to council guidelines established in 1994 that say such advisory bodies should represent various segments within the community: property owners, school districts, businesses, the planning commission, the district council member, the neighborhood and housing interests.

While the job of designing Coyote Valley's master plan has been handed to the Dahlin Group, a San Ramon-based architectural, design, and planning firm hired in January by the city for $2 million, the task force's role has been to offer feedback to the planners along the way and help refine the alternative they will recommend to the city council in August.

The pressure to develop Coyote Valley is nothing new. Most recently, it surfaced during the brash days of the dot-com boom when Cisco unveiled plans in 1999 for a sprawling business campus for 20,000 workers. Two years later, the souring economy forced Cisco to drop its plans.

The doldrums bought time for the city to revisit its dream of creating a community that would offer public transit and be friendly to pedestrians. "No way it could have been done under the heat of the Cisco era," said deputy planning director Laurel Prevetti.

In August 2002, Gonzales, along with Williams -- whose district falls within Coyote Valley -- kick-started the valley's specific plan process and nominated 20 people to the task force who were eventually approved by the city council.

San Jose has been responding to some of the initial criticism by reaching out to its neighbors to the south. Last month, San Jose planners met with leaders of Morgan Hill and Gilroy. In addition, Gonzales has agreed to sit down with them to discuss traffic and school issues, said Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy.

"I think we're on track to resolve some of those concerns," Kennedy said. "I'm optimistic we can get together and get our input made known."

The environmentalists remain skeptical, but somewhat less so after it was suggested at community workshops and a May task force meeting that the environment should dictate the shape of development.

"I think they are discussing some pretty progressive ideas," said Craig Breon of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. "Concepts like basing the land use plan around water . . . that would be a pretty amazing accomplishment."

But Breon said he was concerned that the "power brokers" -- the property owners and developers on the task force -- will have the final say over how the valley is developed.

San Jose Councilwoman Linda LeZotte shares that view. She said the task force discussions and workshops are encouraging, but, "My only concerns are discussions off-the-record that may change the way this happens."

Task force member Steve Schott Jr., whose company owns 100 acres in Coyote Valley, disagrees. The vice president of Citation Homes -- his father Steve Schott is the company's chief executive officer -- said, "Maybe people think we have more influence because we have the experience of doing development, knowing what works and what doesn't work. That doesn't mean that we have any more influence than another task force member."

In fact, everyone at the table has an ax to grind, said task force member Terry Watt, a planner who has worked with the Sierra Club and the Greenbelt Alliance and also knows fellow task force member and residential housing and commercial developer Steve Speno from her days with the Silicon Valley Conservation Council. But that hasn't affected the task force yet.

"Do people have special interests? Sure," Watt said. "But what seems to be rising above all that is that people are trying to do something different and better."

"Clearly there is an interest in exploring and pushing the envelope and doing something that's never been done before," she said. "That's what's keeping me excited and keeping me in the chair."
Contact Rodney Foo at rfoo@mercurynews.com or (408) 975-9346.

© 2004 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.mercurynews.com

###