MORGAN HILL
– South Valley residents have another champion in the fight for
a voice in San Jose’s plans to develop Coyote Valley.
MORGAN HILL – South Valley residents have another champion in the fight for a voice in San Jose’s plans to develop Coyote Valley.
Local Realtor, Rebecca van Dahlen, was appointed last week by the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, to a seat on the Technical Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force.
Van Dahlen said she was looking forward to her first meeting this afternoon. Last week she told the Morgan Hill School District board that it is important to voice concerns before San Jose sets development plans in concrete.
“The district had better get on the ball to make its requirements known,” van Dahlen said.
MHSD, which includes Coyote Valley north to Bernal Road in south San Jose, would need to build as many as 10 new schools at all levels and has found that planners are considering multi-story schools with playgrounds on top and on small lots, not at all the vision the board has for the largely rural district.
Though the effect of the development’s 80,000 new residents, 50,000 jobs and 25,000 homes on Morgan Hill and its schools is expected to be great, the main task force only has two members representing South Valley.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage’s job covers Coyote Valley south to Gilroy; former school board trustee Russ Danielson lives in San Jose and owns a business in Morgan Hill. Both site on the committee.
After van Dahlen said San Jose’s plans would effectively be set by July 29, trustee Shellé Thomas said she would write a more forceful letter to San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales outlining the district’s requirements concerning school size and funding.
“We must make sure to write down what we want and what we do not want,” Thomas said.
Board President George Panos had written a letter to Gonzales a letter on May 4 before a South Valley group of officials, including Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, went to visit him. The letter asked for a seat on the task force.
Panos said Gonzales received the delegation graciously and offered to listen to their concerns but did not offer a seat on the task force.
On June 1 McKennan, also a member of the committee, sent a letter to Sal Yakubu, the chief planner, detailing the student numbers expected from the proposed housing units and said sites recommended were not acceptable.
“The site plans are important, as is the funding,” she said. “I expressed that no matter who will be responsible for the schools, whether our district or its own district or another, the source of funding for the schools is vitally important.”
In what would be a major hurdle for Coyote Valley planners, the district has been investigating whether or not to cut Coyote Valley out of the MHSD, forcing it to form its own district. However, the facts and figures on which the board could make an informed decision will not be ready for at least 60 days, McKennan said.
“We don’t want to burden the Morgan Hill community with Coyote Valley school costs,” McKennan said. “We must do something before the facts are ready.”
She had been unsuccessful in finding out how Evergreen School District schools were funded. Evergreen is a successful planned community which is being used as a partial model for Coyote Valley.
Van Dahlen said she will certainly take Morgan Hill’s concerns with her to meetings..
The meeting will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. today at San Jose City Hall.
