On clear mornings in the hills above San Jose, hikers can look across the Santa Clara Valley to oak-studded ridgelines rising beyond dense neighborhoods and freeways – a reminder of how close nature remains to Bay Area cities. In June, voters can choose to invest in those landscapes. Measure D, a proposed funding measure on the June 2 ballot, would raise about $17 million annually to support wildlife habitat, farmland, and public access to open space.
If you live in San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Campbell, Morgan Hill, or unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, you’ll see Measure D – the Santa Clara Valley Wildfire Prevention, Clean Water, and Open Space Act – on your ballot. Funding raised by Measure D would go to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, a public agency based in San Jose. The agency would use the revenue to reduce wildfire risk, protect drinking water sources, and protect disappearing areas.
Green Foothills, a regional conservation nonprofit, is among the groups campaigning for the measure. Our executive director, Julie Makrai Hutcheson, helped place the measure on the ballot, working alongside Shiloh Ballard of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board*, Ken Yeager of the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) Board, and the POST Action Fund. To qualify for the ballot, the campaign needed 37,206 valid signatures. Volunteers and supporters submitted more than 56,000.
“We had no problem gathering signatures,” Hutcheson said. “People in the South Bay truly care about open space. Now the challenge is making sure enough voters know about the measure and turn out to support it.”
Measure D would establish a 2-cent-per-square-foot assessment on building area per parcel, with exemptions for low-income residents and seniors. It ensures large corporate property owners pay their fair share of up to $7,500 per year, far more than the $32 annual cost for the average homeowner. Every dollar would stay local, leverage state and federal matching funds, and be subject to annual audits and taxpayer oversight.
The proposed funding comes at a time of rapid growth for the Open Space Authority. Over the past decade, the agency has nearly doubled the land it protects, from 16,000 acres in 2014 to about 30,000 acres today, while expanding its trail system from 11 to 30 miles.
Visitor numbers have climbed even more quickly, rising from 150,000 annually in 2014 to 500,000 last year. By 2041, the agency estimates its preserves could see as many as one million visitors each year.
Yet staffing and funding have not kept pace. The agency operates with about 60 employees and an annual budget of $12.2 million. These figures have remained largely unchanged for more than a decade.
“The Open Space Authority is highly fiscally responsible, and they’ve been doing an amazing job with the limited amount of money they have,” Hutcheson said. “For every $1 in local taxes they spend, they’ve secured $3 more in grants and gifts, which means they’re delivering $4 worth of impact for every $1. But every year, they’re being asked to do more with less. Rising costs, increased visitation, and intensifying climate threats are outpacing existing resources.”
That mismatch is especially evident in places like the eastern foothills and in Coyote Valley south of San Jose, where the Open Space Authority is working to connect habitat, protect agricultural land, and expand opportunities for the public to experience the landscape.
Today, the Open Space Authority manages four preserves open to visitors: Sierra Vista, Rancho Cañada del Oro, Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, and Máyyan ‘Ooyákma–Coyote Ridge. Each offers different windows into the region’s ecology, from serpentine grasslands to oak woodlands and working lands.
Funding from Measure D will help ensure those places remain accessible and resilient in the face of increasing use and a changing climate.
Because the measure was placed on the ballot through a signature-gathering effort, it requires a simple majority to pass, rather than the two-thirds threshold typically needed for new taxes. If you live in San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Campbell, Morgan Hill, or unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, please vote yes on Measure D on June 2nd! And if you live outside those areas but have friends in the South Bay, please make sure they know about Measure D and why it’s important.
To receive updates from Green Foothills about Measure D and other opportunities to champion local nature, subscribe to our email list.
* Shiloh Ballard’s affiliation with the Santa Clara Valley Water District board is listed for identification purposes only.
