For years the volunteers and staff of your Loma Prieta Chapter’s Bay Alive Campaign, in collaboration with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, have been hard at work advocating to make Sunnyvale’s Moffett Park Specific Plan (MPSP) as environmentally friendly as possible. Bay Alive members contributed in many stakeholder workshops, commission meetings and Council meetings to promote our ecological goals for the MPSP. We wrote letters, spoke with elected officials and staff, and educated the public so they could get involved in the public process. Here is a brief overview of some notable successes from this Bay Alive collaborative advocacy effort. Each of the following provisions is something we fought for!
The Specific Plan Emphasizes Biodiversity as a Guiding Principle
We successfully advocated for the inclusion of “Biodiversity” as a core principle for the Specific Plan’s design. The impact of that addition is reflected in the other plan actions which are listed below.
The Specific Plan Creates an Ecological Combining District (Overlay Zone)
This Ecological Combining District was created “to preserve and enhance the existing green space and biological resources located at the northwest corner of Moffett Park.” The District protects 87 acres of wetlands and creates more than 17 acres of new open space buffer areas to protect the wetlands from encroaching development and create room for habitat migration.
The Specific Plan Widens Creek Setbacks
Widening setbacks will expand open space on the East and West Channels, providing much-needed room for riparian habitat to flourish near these channels.
The Specific Plan adds Over 200 Acres of Additional Open Space
The plan creates 212 to 230 acres of open space through an interconnected network of biodiversity hubs and patches, all located within ½ mile of each other. This interconnectivity creates wildlife corridors throughout the Moffett Park district, allowing crucial mobility that is sadly lacking in many areas of Santa Clara County.
The Specific Plan Establishes Robust Bird-Safety and Light Pollution Reduction (Dark Sky) Policies
Chapter advocates were deeply involved in the creation of Moffett Park’s Bird-Safe and Dark Sky guidelines and standards. Many provisions that we specifically recommended were ultimately included in the final document. These include the following provisions:
- The Plan limits the reflectivity of windows to less than 20%. This prevents birds from seeing reflections of habitat in the glass, which would otherwise cause collisions.
- The Plan establishes robust fritting requirements. Fritting is the process of creating small visual features on windows that are visible to birds, so they know that a solid barrier is there. These features are placed close enough together so that birds don’t try and ‘squeeze’ through the gaps.
- The Plan includes Dark Sky policies to prevent up-lighting. Up-lighting contributes to sky glow, which can confuse birds from their normal migration routes and prevents our view of the starry night sky.
We Obtained City Commitments for an accelerated Groundwater Monitoring Plan
We got the City to commit to creating a Groundwater Monitoring Plan and to accelerate the timeline for its creation. As sea level rises so does groundwater, which can damage underground pipes and dislodge contaminants in the soil.
The Specific Plan Strengthens Environmental Review Requirements for New Projects
New projects will now require the review of a qualified biologist, as well as extensive groundwater and contamination testing. These standards are important to ensure that new development meets the ecological goals outlined in the MPSP.
We Couldn’t Have Done This Without You!
The Loma Prieta Chapter would like to sincerely thank our Chapter members and supporters for their engagement throughout this lengthy process. You helped us sustain a long and deeply engaged advocacy campaign for several years!
We also extend our gratitude to the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, and Sunnyvale Naturalist Kira Od for their tireless collaboration and fruitful contributions to this advocacy effort.