Legal battle between San Jose and county ends in $38-million
settlement
Morgan Hill – The $38-million settlement between San Jose and Santa Clara County ends a two-year legal battle and clears the way for the county fair to be held in or near Gilroy next year.
“The fair has to move south,” Supervisor Don Gage said. “It’s a given. It won’t be until 2007 because of some details, but it’s close.”
Gage said he is working with two South County landowners to secure a site for the fair, but expects it to move to a temporary location before it finds a permanent home. The fair will be primarily an agricultural event, with cooking and baking contests and perhaps a midway with rides and games.
The fair, held in south San Jose has been a consistent money loser. In 2001, it was shortened from 10 to three days, but still has not managed a profit. This year, the event will be open only to youth exhibitors. Entertainment and vendors will be aimed at youth as well.
“I think having a fairgrounds is very important to the community and certainly to 4-H,” said Laurie Lash, community leader for San Martin 4-H. “The biggest thing will be, what kind of facilities do they have? Of course, it’s like camping out now. We have tents and outhouses so they won’t have to go very far to improve them.”
A plan to move the traditional aspects of the fair south has been in the works since 1998, but has been on hold since 2004, when San Jose and the San Jose Downtown Association sued the county over its plan to build a concert theater on the grounds, which are inside the city’s borders.
The downtown association suit was dismissed last year, and earlier this year, the county prevailed in the city’s suit, which claimed that the county was violating an economic development pact. Those decisions, and a county victory in an unrelated land use case in north San Jose, spurred settlement talks between the parties.
Obviously, the money is great, but the significant thing is that San Jose now has to realize that what they do has an impact on the whole county,” County Counsel Ann Ravel said. “They can’t assume that whatever they do is OK even though it has negative impacts in South County and North County.”
In exchange for about $38 million, the county will not pursue a countersuit over the fairgrounds and will shoulder the cost of converting a number of unincorporated islands into San Jose territory. Ravel said those annexations will save the county as much as $17 million a year and improve services for residents who live on land that is surrounded by San Jose but governed by the county.
“To keep roads up to par, to provide sheriff’s patrols is very difficult and extremely expensive,” Ravel said. “It is not in the best interests of the people who live there who are essentially disenfranchised. They are surrounded by San Jose, but they can’t vote for the people who make decisions that impact their lives.”
Money from the settlement will be put toward seismic improvements and a new county crime lab. San Jose will also pick up the tab on road and expressway improvements needed to handle traffic expected from development projects in the north part of the city.
County supervisors must now decide if they want to move forward with the concert theater, which was supposed to be the linchpin of a plan to revitalize the fairgrounds with a 50,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a sports and recreation facility and an underground parking structure, all without tax dollars.
The cost of the theater has ballooned from $66 million to $83 million while it was tied up in litigation. Gage said he won’t back the project if it no longer figures to be a cash cow.
“For me, if it doesn’t pencil out, I’m not going to support it,” he said. “It has to pay its own way.”
Settlement breakdown
– $22.5 million to settle the lawsuit. Money will go toward a new county crime lab and seismic improvements at Valley Medical Center.
– About $16 million for expressway
improvements near development projects in north San Jose.
– San Jose will annex a number of “islands” of county land surrounded by the city by 2011.
