With Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage following in his
SUV, the board and staff of the Santa Clara County Local Agency
Formation Commission – the key agency overseeing the efforts to
incorporate San Martin – boarded a white school bus for a two-hour
tour of the area on Wednesday.
With Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage following in his SUV, the board and staff of the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission – the key agency overseeing the efforts to incorporate San Martin – boarded a white school bus for a two-hour tour of the area on Wednesday.
Gage, one of two county supervisors on the board, suggested the tour take place to help commissioners decide whether thousands of acres of land in the north and south portions of proposed boundaries of San Martin should be included in the new town’s proposed limits.
“There was disagreement over whether (the land is) agricultural or rural residential,” Gage said. “I suggested that we look at the property, they found the date and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The tour began at 1 p.m. at Lions Club Hall on Murphy Avenue adjacent to the San Martin Airport and proceeded along the proposed boundaries with stops at several key locations on Church, Masten and Middle avenues, as well as the Clos La Chance Winery.
Rick Vantrood and Sylvia Hamilton, two of the incorporation proponents, were aboard the bus.
“A lot of the land is being used for hay,” Vantrood said, pointing to vast parcels with scant vegetation, as Hamilton added that the “quality of the land isn’t good enough to grow anything.”
Neelima Palacherla, LAFCO’s executive officer, said “much of the area is designated farmland of statewide significance” and she recommended that commissioners excluded it from the town’s boundaries because San Martin’s would-be city council could change land use.
“That’s one of the concerns,” she told the commissioners on the bus.
Hamilton quickly spoke out to dismiss that concern.
“People move to San Martin because they want to be rural,” she said. “The community doesn’t want urbanization.”
But Supervisor Blanca Alvarado said she was concerned that there would be pressure to develop the area, pointing out the growth that took place in San Jose, Milpitas and Gilroy over the past half-century.
Commissioners John Howe, a Sunnyvale councilman, and Pete Constant, a San Jose councilman, said they hadn’t formed an opinion and would still need more information.
“It’s a process and it’s step-by-step that we’re going through it,” Howe said.
Constant said he has been to San Martin a few times, but “to get out here and get the tour is really helpful.
“I think I have the visual but … I think I need to get a little more of the historical information before I can weign in one way or another,” Constant said.
Hamilton, like many others who have expressed frustration that the San Jose-based LAFCO was too detached to be familiar with San Martin, was pleased the commissioners came down to see the area first-hand.
“It’s wonderful they took the time to come down here and ask questions,” she said. “It’s important they get the facts and figures.”
About the LAFCO board
The five members of the Santa Clara Clara County Formation Commission make decisions about land use and incorporation of cities and towns within the county. The membership is composed of two county supervisors, two city council representatives and a public representative chosen by the other members. The 2008 LAFCO board is composed of the following individuals:
-Blanca Alvarardo, county supervisor, term expires May 2010
-Don Gage, county supervisor, term expires May 2010
-John Howe, Sunnyvale councilman, term expires May 2008
-Pete Constant, LAFCO chair, San Jose councilman, term expires May 2011
-Susan Vicklund-Wilson, LAFCO vice chair, attorney and Morgan Hill resident, term expires May 2011
