I have been a resident of San Martin for 44 years and am totally
opposed to the building of the mosque facility proposed on the
16-acre hillside on the west side of Monterey Road adjoining the
Llagas Creek.
Dear Editor,
I have been a resident of San Martin for 44 years and am totally opposed to the building of the mosque facility proposed on the 16-acre hillside on the west side of Monterey Road adjoining the Llagas Creek.
In 1995, Santa Clara County adopted the San Martin Integrated Design Plan for nonresidential buildings to keep the rural, country feel. Structures can be no more than two stories high with pitched roofs. A picture of the proposed mosque facility appeared in The Dispatch in December, 2010. It was huge. It doesn’t comply with the Design Plan and it does not fit in the rural community of San Martin.
The residents of San Martin have not been notified, let alone the immediate residents of this proposed project by county officials. The county has not complied by it’s own rules.
A Baptist pastor met with county staff with a proposal on the adjoining property for a church and a school. The staff denied this proposal stating that the water level was too high and the percolation test would fail (percolation tests have been performed on the proposed property and have all failed). Also, the building could not be over 10,000 square feet. How can one church and school be denied and yet the county is allowing another church (mosque), school, convalescent home and a cemetery to be built?
Because of the proposed cemetery, there is a potential for bacterial and viral contamination in our drinking water.
The proposed project requires 1,500 gallons per minute of water. West San Martin Water Works can not provide that amount. So is the county going to let that requirement slide by so this project can go through?
This facility plans to serve people from south San Jose through San Benito County. Have the county officials conducted any impact study for the traffic congestion this project will create in the rural community of San Martin?
With the low funding of tax monies coming into the county of Santa Clara, how can the public fire and police services for this project be met when no tax revenue can be taken from a tax exempt facility?
Our county supervisor, Mike Wasserman, is in favor of this project. He has been endorsed by the Arab American Congress. Isn’t this a conflict of interest? (Is he another Don Gage who did not represent the South County residents?) Could it be he wants to enhance his political career, but has no respect for our rural community of San Martin? If he wants that, then he had better start listening to our legitimate concerns because he will not get my vote.
With all that said, can the county officials answer these questions for the community of San Martin? If there is to be a church (mosque), school, convalescent home, and a cemetery, why would it be built in the middle of rural San Martin? I have chosen to live in a rural area. If I wanted to live where there is more traffic, noise, large buildings, more people, then I would live in a city.
Janis Jud, San Martin
