I thought I’d reference a letter that the California Department of Justice wrote to the City of San Jose two years ago, explaining that the City couldn’t duck its responsibility under the California Environmental Quality Act to determine whether climate change impacts were significant. The letter remains a useful tool so I wanted to make...
Category: CEQA
Comments on Gilroy expansion SEIRs for Lucky Day, Gavilan, and Wren Investor proposals
The Committee for Green Foothills submitted comment letters below (click “Read More” to see the full letters) on proposed outward expansions of the City of Gilroy. There’s no reason to do this, and the environmental documentation is inadequate. The letters reference appendices that I haven’t attached due to length, but I can send them to...
Brian’s unreadable notes on Public Records Act and Preliminary Draft EIRs
Several years ago, we persuaded Santa Clara County to end a practice of sharing preliminary versions of EIRs with developers while denying access to the rest of us – a practice that skewed the EIRs and gave developers a chance to argue their case behind closed doors while the community at large was excluded. I...
Winning the Los Gatos lawsuit!
Just a quick note – we learned today that Judge Nichols ruled in our favor on a lawsuit over Los Gatos’ decision approving a development that harms Los Gatos Creek. Great news! We’ll have more about it tomorrow. -Brian
Excellent Metro article on The San Jose Process
This Metro article does a great job of discussing the systematic problem San Jose has in conducting environmental reviews: The thing is, the science of predicting environmental impacts that haven’t actually happened yet is highly interpretive. “A lot of areas in EIRs are fuzzy,” says Gary Binger, urban planning professor at the University of California...
More KQED Commentary on the "San Jose Process", and a response by Mayor Reed
KQED’s Forum program yesterday followed up Tuesday’s Perspectives piece on how San Jose shouldn’t give developers control over intial aspects of environmental review. You can listen to the Forum program here. Our issue comes up in the second half of the show. When I heard yesterday morning that Mayor Reed would be on the show,...
Brian Schmidt on KQED Perspectives program
Today the KQED Radio Perspectives program ran my perspective on “The San Jose Process.” The Perspective is a two-minute commentary piece, and in this piece I discuss the significant problem of San Jose giving control to developers over initial aspects of environmental review. The Perspectives are from individuals, not organizations, but I enthusiastically agree with...
CGF News Release: The “San Jose Process” Resulted in Coyote Valley Debacle, Environmentalists Say
(The following is from a press release CGF sent out yesterday. -Brian) Committee for Green Foothills NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2007 PRESS CONTACTS: Brian Schmidt, Legislative Advocate phone (650) 968-7243 * [email protected] The “San Jose Process” Resulted in CoyoteValley Debacle, Environmentalists Say SAN JOSE DIFFERS FROM MOST CITIES IN ALLOWING DEVELOPER-SELECTED AND...
CGF letter and request – San Jose should wait on the Coyote Valley EIR revision
(Following up on the good news about the Coyote Valley EIR revision, CGF submitted the following request to the San Jose City Council. -Brian) Given that City Planning staff has said the Draft EIR must be revised due to the significant criticism it received, I want to suggest that the decision on whether to start...
Developers behind Coyote Valley planning process refusing to cooperate with the planning process
(The Committee for Green Foothills submitted the following letter to the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force regarding developers’ refusal to let the City’s experts evaluate the environmental consequences of developing their land. We have received no response from the City, although one smaller landowner said the information was wrong and that he did allow...