Verbatim
It was a feat few in the South Valley of Santa Clara expected:
the director of the local chapter of the Sierra Club landed a seat
last week on the San Jose-based Coyote Valley Task Force.
While other local organizations of Gilroy and Morgan Hill lament
that they’ve been shut out of the process to plan a new city for
80,000 people in their midst, the Sierra Club’s Melissa Hippard was
appointed by the San Jose City Council April 18 to the task force
overseeing the Coyote Valley Specific Plan. Not even the president
of Gavilan College, Steve Kinsella, has been allowed to join the
group.
Verbatim
It was a feat few in the South Valley of Santa Clara expected: the director of the local chapter of the Sierra Club landed a seat last week on the San Jose-based Coyote Valley Task Force.
While other local organizations of Gilroy and Morgan Hill lament that they’ve been shut out of the process to plan a new city for 80,000 people in their midst, the Sierra Club’s Melissa Hippard was appointed by the San Jose City Council April 18 to the task force overseeing the Coyote Valley Specific Plan. Not even the president of Gavilan College, Steve Kinsella, has been allowed to join the group.
The Coyote Valley is a stretch of surprisingly undeveloped open space and ag land between San Jose and Morgan Hill, abutted by a “greenbelt” just south of the area which regional leaders have agreed not to touch. To keep it that way, the Sierra Club, Greenbelt Alliance, the Committee for Green Foothills and the Audubon Society have teamed up to keep vigilance on policy decisions upon the area.
But that still leaves Coyote Valley vulnerable to the ravages of a new super-development, hatched by San Jose bureaucrats who are desperate for affordable housing.
“There’s a lot of opportunity in San Jose to accommodate growth within the urban footprint,” Hippard says.
If Coyote Valley must be developed, environmentalists say, it should at least be done right by building up with density, instead of out, Hippard added.
Q: The CVSP task force is something of a bone of contention with other South Valley (Gilroy and Morgan Hill) organizations, who claim they have been shut out of the process while only San Jose industry interests and politicians have seats at the table. How did you ever manage to get a seat on the Task Force?
A: “It is important to understand the background for the task force’s makeup. When Mayor Gonzales appointed members in 2002 the Sierra Club was specifically excluded, as were other area environmental organizations. Terry Watt, an environmental consultant and representative for the Silicon Valley Conservation Council was appointed to the “environmental seat”. Ms. Watt resigned in December of 2005. In response to her resignation the Sierra Club, Committee for Green Foothills and Greenbelt Alliance submitted four names for replacements, including mine. We actively lobbied the staff and city council to replace Terry Watt to ensure that an environmental voice would continue to be part of the planning process. It took nearly four months for the staff to identify a replacement that met their criteria, which ended up being me.”
Q: Given the fact that you are one of the only environmentalists on the task force, do you believe you will be able to have any clout with the group?
A: “One immediate benefit of being on the Task Force is the ability to be part of the dialogue, not limited to a two-minute public service announcement. I can ask questions, raise issues and help shape staff work. My appointment to the Task Force is also a statement of the City Council’s belief that the Sierra Club has something positive to contribute to the process. I am only one “vote” but I represent a large constituency. In addition to myself, there are a few other Task Force members who are concerned about environmental impacts. Together we represent concerns for parks, open space, and smart growth principles.”
Q: The task force is supposed to assess the plan for what is essentially a new city next to Morgan Hill, in the green belt, that will bring in some 80,000 new residents. What would the Sierra Club’s specific concerns be with that?
A: “The proposed development for Coyote Valley is not without significant costs to the natural environment. It would result in the permanent loss of over 2,000 acres of prime agricultural land. It also creates significant air quality impacts, new pressures on our water supply, and major obstacles to wildlife migration between the Mt. Hamilton and Santa Cruz mountain ranges. The potential regional impacts from an increase in mobile and stationary sources of air pollution emissions has led the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to recommend that draft environmental impact report include an alternative that accommodates some or all of the proposed growth within urbanized San Jose. Open space once converted into roads, homes and office buildings is forever lost along with the wildlife habitat and environmental services that it provides.”
Q: Are there any rare, threatened or endangered species in the Coyote Valley area?
A: “Right now there is no evidence of rare, threatened or endangered species on the valley floor as no biological surveys of the area have been done. We will know more with the publication of the draft environmental impact report due this fall. However, in the area of Coyote Valley are many rare, threatened and endangered species. Coyote Ridge, immediately east of Coyote Valley is home to the Bay checkerspot butterfly and the red legged frog both federally listed endangered species. The area also contains at least eight plants identified by the California Native Plant Society as rare or endangered. Four of these are on a federal listing of endangered plants: they are the Santa Clara Valley Dudleya, the coyote ceanothus, the Tiburon indian paintbrush, and the Metcalf Canyon jewelflower. Two more are federally listed species of concern; namely, the most beautiful jewelflower and the Mountain Hamilton thistle.”
Q: How does the USFW ruling on the now diminished designated habitat for the red-legged frog affect the ability to build in the Coyote Valley area?
A: “Unfortunately, while Coyote Valley lies within the current habitat conservation/natural communities’ conservation (HCP/NCCP) planning area in south Santa Clara County is being exempted from inclusion in the evaluation and recommendation process. The impact of development will be substantial to the planning area from air quality to hydrology to habitat. Coyote Valley should be fully integrated into the HCP/NCCP process so that development and species protection in South Santa Clara will be maximized. The cumulative impacts from the development will reverberate throughout South Santa Clara County.”
Q: Do you think the task force will listen to your concerns, or is this just a token gesture?
A: “I certainly hope this isn’t a token gesture. I believe that the city staff, task force co-chairs and the San Jose City Council understand the immense environmental impact that the development of Coyote Valley represents. My appointment signals that they feel the Sierra Club has been a productive participant in the past few years and can add value to the critical decisions facing the task force and city council over the next 8 months or more. While we believe that the best plan is to revitalize urbanized San Jose rather than develop a greenfield area, we are pleased to participate in making a plan for Coyote Valley as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. This would mean a significantly reduced development footprint, requirements for green building, waste diversion, conservation and recycling and other measures creating a model sustainable community that San Jose can be proud of.”
