Get San Jose City Council to fix Coyote Valley Planning!
Posted January 25, 2006

• What's happening    
• Why this is important
• What you can do    

The upheaval in San Jose city politics has extended to the planning for potential development of Coyote Valley, the large area of farmland that still blocks Silicon Valley sprawl. San Jose's Task Force for Coyote Valley's development is now under new leadership, following Mayor Gonzales' resignation from the Task Force. An environmental representative has also resigned from the Task Force due to a lack of time, and it isn't clear whether that position will be refilled with another qualified person. Meanwhile, the City must decide soon whether it will attempt to mitigate for the loss of thousands of acres of agriculture land that it is planning to pave over in Coyote Valley.

Please ask the City Council to clarify whether backroom deals had occurred in Coyote Valley, as they had with the garbage scandal in San Jose. Also ask them to fill the environmental position on the Task Force and to fully mitigate for the planned loss of farmland.

back to top

What's happening
Mayor Gonzales resigned from his committee assignments following the scandal involving secret deals he made with garbage hauling companies. Following the resignation, the San Jose Mercury News called for a disclosure of any secret deals regarding Coyote Valley. There has been no response to this call.

The Coyote Valley Task Force is over-represented by developers and under-represented by community and environmental interests — a situation that has been made worse by the resignation of one environmentalist. The City may not fill her position.

San Jose has previously taken the stance that there is no duty to preserve other farmland when it undertakes actions that destroy existing farmland. The City is now considering whether it will continue to take that position, or will begin to require developers to preserve farmland nearby when they convert existing farms to other uses.

back to top

Why this is important
The Committee for Green Foothills has opposed plans for developing Coyote Valley for decades. Its development would destroy thousands of acres of farmland and move sprawl even further south in Santa Clara County and beyond. The public needs a disclosure of any backroom deals that might have taken place to compromise the Coyote Valley Planning, in order to make an informed decision as to what should happen.

Informed decision-making relies upon active participation, and if environmentalists are missing from the Coyote Valley Task Force, that information may not be incorporated in Coyote Valley Planning. And while we would prefer that Coyote Valley be spared from being paved over, should development occur we need to ensure that all environmental mitigations are in place, something that is more likely to occur if environmentalists participate in the Task Force.

A particularly crucial environmental mitigation requires the preservation of remaining farmland if Coyote Valley goes forward and steamrolls thousands of acres of existing farmland. There should be at least one acre of farmland preserved for every acre forfeited to development.

back to top

What you can do
Make your voice heard! Please join Committee for Green Foothills in asking San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the San Jose City Council to:

- Disclose the deals, if any, that they or their staff made regarding Coyote Valley made behind closed doors, as demanded by the Mercury News editorial board.

- Fill the environmental position on the Task Force.

- Require full, one-for-one mitigation for the loss of farmland in Coyote Valley.

Send your comments to:

Mayor Ron Gonzales
San Jose City Councilmembers
801 North 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95110

Email the Mayor and the Councilmembers, or fax: (408) 277-3868

Members of the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force
c/o Sal Yakubu, Principal Planner
801 North 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95110

Please also email the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force via Sal Yakubu, or fax at: (408) 277-3250

As always, please send a copy to us so we can track the efficiency of our work: Fax (650) 968-8431 or action@GreenFoothills.org.

Thank you for speaking up for our agricultural heritage!

back to top