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LandWatch Calls On Monterey County Local Governments To Form A Coyote Valley Task Force |
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PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: May 26, 1999 For Information Contact: Gary A. Patton, Executive Director LandWatch Monterey County Telephone: 831-375-7396 Email: <> LandWatch Calls On Monterey County Local Governments To Form A Coyote Valley Task Force LandWatch has asked Monterey County governments to establish an inter-governmental "Coyote Valley Task Force," to make sure that the proposed industrial development of the Coyote Valley in the city of San Jose doesn't result in unfair and destructive impacts in Monterey County. LandWatch also urges that Monterey County local governments work jointly with San Benito County and the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista. A copy of LandWatch's letter to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is attached. A similar letter was sent to the Mayor of each city in Monterey County. Coyote Valley is an undeveloped, agricultural area in the southern part of the City of San Jose, near Morgan Hill. CISCO Systems is proposing to construct a massive "industrial campus" in Coyote Valley, creating 20,000 new jobs in a single location. If the CISCO Systems proposal advances, other industrial developers are also expected to build in the Coyote Valley. "The impacts of this kind of development on Monterey and San Benito counties could be staggering," said Gary Patton, the Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County, and a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor. Patton and LandWatch are urging the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, and each of the cities in Monterey County, formally to establish a task force to "make sure that any proposal ultimately approved by the City of San Jose eliminates, or fully mitigates, housing, transportation, environmental and public service impacts on Monterey County communities." Without a focused, cooperative approach by local governments here, the decisions that San Jose makes about the Coyote Valley will almost certainly result in more traffic and transportation problems in Monterey County, more public costs, more pressures on an overdrafted water supply, and more difficulties in providing affordable housing for Monterey County residents. "It is unrealistic to expect San Jose elected officials to look out for the best interests of Monterey or San Benito county residents," says the LandWatch letter. "The elected officials from Monterey and San Benito counties need to do that." The task force would be the best way, LandWatch thinks, to make sure that the legal tools available to Monterey County communities are actually used to defend it from destructive development pressures.
May 24, 1999 Judy Pennycook, Chair RE: Monterey County Impacts of Proposed Coyote Valley Development Dear Chairperson Pennycook and Board Members: As you probably know, the City of San Jose will soon be considering a proposal to develop a new employment center in the Coyote Valley, located in the southern part of San Jose, close to Morgan Hill. Cisco Systems has announced its plans to build an "office campus" with 20,000 new jobs in a single location. Other developers are expected to follow suit, with additional proposals for Coyote Valley industrial developments. Several news clippings are attached, outlining the magnitude of the current Coyote Valley proposal. If the proposed Coyote Valley development proceeds as contemplated, its impacts will be felt throughout Monterey County. While the lucrative employment centers will be located in Santa Clara County, and in the City of San Jose, many of the traffic, public service and housing impacts will be shifted elsewherenamely to Monterey and San Benito counties. LandWatch will soon release its State of Monterey County 1999 report, which documents the very significant growth-related impacts already being experienced in Monterey County. Water supply scarcity, a lack of adequate transportation infrastructure, and a lack of affordable housing are already major challenges for Monterey County. Development of the Coyote Valley as proposed will very significantly compound these already serious problems. Typically, because this development proposal is in another county, and is under the jurisdiction of the City of San Jose, Monterey County local governments would not become involved in the environmental and project review process. LandWatch believes that the exceptional nature of the Coyote Valley proposal demands a different response. If Monterey County local governments do nothing, the interests of Monterey County residents are likely to be badly compromised by the actions taken by the City of San Jose. LandWatch urges the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, and the City Councils of all the cities within Monterey County, to engageactively and cooperativelyin the environmental and project review process for the proposed Coyote Valley development. We further urge Monterey County local governments to ask San Benito County and the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista to join them in this joint effort. It is neither "inevitable" nor fair that further industrial development in the Silicon Valley must automatically result in a transfer of costs and impacts to communities located in Monterey County. However, while such negative impacts are not "inevitable," they will almost certainly occur unless Monterey County communities systematically organize to do something to change the current realities. In making a decision on the proposed development of the Coyote Valley, the City of San Jose will be making a decision that will have major impacts on the livesand the pocketbooksof residents throughout Monterey and San Benito counties. It is unrealistic to expect San Jose elected officials to look out for the best interests of Monterey or San Benito county residents. The elected officials from Monterey and San Benito counties need to do that. If they don't, those interests will be disregarded. LandWatch recommends that Monterey County local governments take the following actions:
The California Environmental Quality Act requires a project proponent to eliminate or fully to mitigate any adverse environmental impacts, whenever it is feasible to do so. This is a commandment that can be legally enforced, if an adequate administrative record has been made. It behooves local governments in Monterey and San Benito counties to make sure the record is made in the case of the proposed Coyote Valley development. LandWatch is convinced that a focused, vigorous, and cooperative effort by affected communities in Monterey and San Benito counties will be successful in making the record, and in stopping the City of San Jose from exporting the "pain," while retaining the "gain," of the massive industrial project proposed for the Coyote Valley. What we are suggesting is unusual. Normally, local governments do not play an active role in the project approval processes being carried out in another jurisdiction. In this case, however, extraordinary action is required. The impacts on Monterey County will be extraordinary if the City of San Jose chooses to create 20,000 or more new jobs, without adequate housing nearby, in their own jurisdiction. We recommend and urge the Board of Supervisors to discuss this matter, and then to direct your County Administrative Officer to contact other Monterey County jurisdictions, to implement the cooperative program we outline in this letter. LandWatch, of course, would be happy to be of whatever assistance we can in this important effort. Very truly yours, Gary A. Patton, Executive
Director cc: Board of Supervisors, San Benito County City of Hollister City of San Juan Bautista Assembly Member Fred Keeley Assembly Member Peter Frusetta State Senator Bruce McPherson |
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