November 6, 2023
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
70 W. Hedding St.
San Jose, CA
Re: Agenda Item 8 (Nov. 7, 2023): Objection to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority Resolution of Necessity 23-51 authorizing the use of eminent domain
Dear President Ellenberg and Supervisors,
The below-signed organizations respectfully submit the following comments with regard to Item 8 on the November 7, 2023 Board agenda (Objection to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority Resolution of Necessity 23-51 authorizing the use of eminent domain). Our organizations represent thousands of people in Santa Clara County who care about protecting Coyote Valley.
Coyote Valley is critically important to our region for the multiple benefits it provides, including wildlife habitat and connectivity, flood and groundwater protection, farmland, and climate resilience. Both this Board and the City of San Jose took historic action in 2021 to revise the land use and zoning policies and regulations in order to protect Coyote Valley and prevent outsized development such as what has been proposed on this site.
As noted in the 11/18/21 staff report to the County Planning Commission concerning the Coyote Valley Climate Resilience Combining District, “Rural estate home development on substandard parcels in Exclusive Agriculture zoning is the single greatest threat to Coyote Valley under the current County zoning standards. Rural estate home development can be characterized by residences that are far larger than the average home size in the region, that are unaffiliated with agriculture, and unaffordable to most farm or ranch operators and employees.” [emphasis added]
In order to make our region climate resilient, we must stop building residential sprawl on our open space areas. Fragmenting the wildlife habitat and farmland of Coyote Valley with rural estate homes will not only block wildlife passage and make agriculture less viable, it increases greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the ability of open space to absorb carbon. The acquisition of this property by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority would help to prevent these impacts and advance the city’s vision for Coyote Valley.
We support the staff recommendation to deny the objection to Resolution of Necessity 23-51. Thank you for your attention to these comments.
Sincerely,
Alice Kaufman, Policy and Advocacy Director
Green Foothills
Gladwyn d’Souza, Chair, Conservation Committee
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
Shani Kleinhaus, Environmental Advocate
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
Trish Mulvey, Founder
CLEAN South Bay
Deb Kramer, Executive Director
Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful
Jordan Grimes, Resilience Manager
Greenbelt Alliance