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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
August 14, 2005 Guiding Coyote Valley growth TASK FORCE TO MEET: CITY WANTS COST-EFFECTIVE CONTROLS ON BUILDING By Rodney FooWhen Coyote Valley task force members return to work Monday, they'll pick up where they left off in June: analyzing the criteria that will kick off the building of a community of 75,000 in South San Jose, a question that has lingered for decades. And just as in 1993, the last time the growth triggers for Coyote Valley were revised, the task force faces the same old problem: How to meter growth in a way that won't sap the city's coffers in the midst of a recession. In April, Mayor Ron Gonzales and Councilman Forrest Williams, whose district includes Coyote Valley, distributed a memo to task force members that listed a set of talking points aimed at moving from the planning stage to actual development. The existing triggers call for at least 5,000 jobs to be on the ground in Coyote Valley before the construction of 25,000 homes can begin. Planners hope the community will attract enough businesses to support 50,000 jobs and provide sufficient revenue to pay for the valley's demand for public services. The memo suggested "market forces" should be allowed to determine when construction begins within the parameters of the land use plan, which is scheduled to be adopted by the city council in the spring. It also suggested replacing the 5,000-job criteria with a two-jobs-to-one-home ratio of building. But critics worry tampering with the existing triggers will lead to urban sprawl and traffic congestion. "By relaxing the triggers, it's making it a lot easier for development to happen -- in particular, residential development," said Michele Beasley, of the Greenbelt Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the Bay Area's dwindling green space. "And the concern there is perhaps we'll see nothing but residential development pop up in Coyote Valley." Concern about wait But developer Steve Speno, whose company controls more than 600 acres in North Coyote Valley, wonders if the projected $1.5 billion needed for infrastructure -- new streets, sewer and water lines, parks -- can actually be raised by waiting for employers to move into the valley while millions of square feet of commercial space remain empty in Silicon Valley. "I don't think you can get to the 2-to-1 ratio initially," Speno said. "That may be a goal that is ultimately realized. But in the initial phase it might be 1-to-1 because I think . . . the housing is going to have to underwrite development in Coyote Valley and pay for the vast majority of the public infrastructure required." However, Speno, a task force member, agrees that development in Coyote Valley should pay its own way and not burden the city. That philosophy was foremost in the minds of city officials when they set down a general plan in 1993 to guide growth in Coyote Valley. In the early 1980s, city officials viewed Coyote Valley as a place where San Jose could expand its economic base with industries and businesses. Paramount was establishing a solid tax base before homes could go in -- a policy that resulted in a goal that called for 25,000 jobs to be based in the valley before any residential construction. Plan update As city officials prepared to update the general plan for Coyote Valley in 1992-93, they went back to the drawing board. An economic consultant hired by the city recommended preserving the land for industrial campuses. But, said former city planning director Gary Schoennauer, the 25,000-job trigger -- a figure derived from half of the 50,000 jobs slated for the valley -- was acknowledged by planners as being unrealistic, a figure so high that it compromised development. Meanwhile, developers lobbied for a zero job trigger so home building could begin faster. As a compromise, the planning staff proposed 5,000 jobs as a key trigger for growth, a number they believed was politically palatable to the city council and then-Mayor Susan Hammer. It was thought that number represented a significant commitment by at least two or three companies to warrant the start of housing development, Schoennauer said. "That would have been an indicator that there was economically enough jobs to create a tax base in Coyote Valley, and that indicated tax health," he said. However, San Jose was also coping with a recession and a weakened tax base. Simultaneously, legislators in Sacramento began to raid revenue sources that customarily went to local governments, in order to balance the state's budget. So, two economic factors were built into the triggers: • Projections that show city services will at least meet 1993 standards. • Forecasts that indicate a stable city budget for five years. "I was thinking of a way to have our industrial strategy in place and not put the general fund at risk," said Bob Brownstein, who was Hammer's budget and policy director. He said the five-year period was chosen simply because each fiscal year, city officials conduct a standard projection of the city's finances for the next five years. The renewed discussion this spring about the valley's triggers wasn't unexpected. When city council members formed the task force in 2002, they directed it to "allow" for the triggers to be changed based on jobs and housing revenues covering the cost of services. "I felt it was quite natural this discussion would come up," said task force member Eric Carruthers, a retired Santa Clara County planner. He added, "It isn't so much that I disagree with triggers that were adopted but I'm open to the possibility that the project might benefit from modification of them." Councilman Williams said the triggers, which are 12 years old, need to be evaluated -- and he stresses that's all the mayor's and his memo asks. The city's objectives of a walkable community with mass transit-oriented housing and jobs won't be put on the back burner, he said. "We're saying we have not concluded how it's going to be done yet," he said. "We're exploring -- this is all it is . . . You need to do that; that's just fundamental."
The next Coyote Valley task force meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday in room W118, 119 and 120 at the new City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St.
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