Even though the plan for developing Coyote Valley has been
shelved, Gavilan College is still proceeding with its plan to build
the Coyote campus.
Even though the plan for developing Coyote Valley has been shelved, Gavilan College is still proceeding with its plan to build the Coyote campus.
In fact, Gavilan President Steven Kinsella is breathing a sigh of relief now that the pressure is off, he said. Gavilan’s service area encompasses about 2,700 square miles in southern Santa Clara County and most of San Benito. Every day, about 2,000 students in that area bypass Gavilan to attend colleges in San Jose, Kinsella estimated.
“We want to capture that market,” he said and believes the Coyote campus will do just the trick. “That’s the group that’s in our service area. We have a responsibility to them.”
The plan for the campus has the new facility situated on about 55 acres of property located on the south side of Bailey Avenue between the Santa Teresa Hills to the west and Fisher Creek to the east. The college is in the process of preparing a final Environmental Impact Report. Once certified, the college will move forward and use $19 million in funds allocated by Measure E, a facilities improvement bond voters passed in 2004, to purchase the property.
Now that the development of Coyote Valley has been halted, Gavilan has time to gather the funds to construct the campus, a process that could take years, Kinsella said.
“This definitely takes the pressure off,” he said. “It gives us a chance to get our footprint in place.”
Kinsella was confident in the development of Coyote Valley in future years.
“At some point in the future, they will develop it,” he said.
“Gav has been around for 90 years,” he said. “We’ll be fine.” When Gavilan first opened, it catered to about 1,200 students. Enrollment has skyrocketed to more than 9,000 students, Kinsella said.
“We have no space to serve anyone else at this point,” he said.
With a new campus in Coyote Valley, Gavilan College will be better equipped to serve its existing students along with capturing those 2,000 students that they’re losing out of the service area. Kinsella also hopes that the new facility will also draw students from the San Jose area. The facility is planned to served 10,000 students.
