But the city has not delayed the city council's hearing on the related General Plan amendment from Dec. 7. That leaves only five working days between the two votes on the controversial project.

"This schedule exceeds the minimum legal requirements for noticing and scheduling of public hearings," said Planning Director Stephen Haase. "The council is well versed in dealing with complex issues within these time frames, especially when the supporting documentation, such as the [environmental impact report], are available well in advance."

The draft EIR was released on Aug. 13 but the city has yet to release its response to comments made during the 45-day public review period that followed. The city's response was supposed to be available Nov. 5 and was postponed on two occasions. Now the release date is Nov. 19.

The city's response is expected to address serious concerns over water, traffic and safety raised by environmental specialists, lawyers and even the county of Santa Clara.

The controversy surrounding the sports complex involves its proposed home—35 acres on a parcel of land known as the Caglia Ranch—which lies within the South Almaden Valley Urban Reserve. The San Jose Unified School District owns the property, and has agreed to lease the land to the city for $1 a year. The nonprofit Almaden Youth Association hopes to manage the complex under a contract with the city. More than $674,000 in taxpayer dollars has been earmarked for the complex; much of that has already been spent on environmental studies.

Urban reserve resident Carol Hallett echoed the concerns of many of her neighbors over the new hearing date. "The question I have in regards to all the rescheduling is, why? What is the big push?" she said. "Will there really be sufficient time for the planning department to review those comments, and create a realistic summary? Do we really have time or are we just rushing this through to get it before the city council prior to the end of term?"

Vice Mayor and District 10 Councilwoman Pat Dando, who is retiring from the council after 10 years, is the acknowledged force behind the sports complex project. Her last day in office will be Dec. 31. Dando's successor, Nancy Pyle, has said she's willing to consider alternative sites for the complex given the severity of the environmental problems that would be caused by building it in the urban reserve.

Other council members said that if they don't feel ready to vote on the amendment, the council's hearing should be postponed. But they seem undaunted by the complexity of the controversial project—the report alone weighs in at some 1,000 pages. And the city received more than 400 letters from the community commenting on the EIR.

"If there are new issues raised at the planning commission that need staff work before the council considers it, I would expect the council hearing date to slide," said District 4 Councilman Chuck Reed. "Given the attention that has been paid to this matter, it is not likely that new issues will surface. Even though there may be lots of public testimony, the issues have probably all been pretty well hashed out."

District 2 Councilman Forrest Williams and Tona Duncanson, chief of staff for District 9 Councilwoman Judy Chirco, agreed. The rest of the council did not respond by press time.

Tom Manheim, spokesman for City Manager Del Borgsdorf, explained that the community must be notified of public hearings at least 10 days in advance. "The city council hearing was set months ago," he said.

The council will receive a report from planning staff summarizing what happens at the planning commission hearing, Manheim added. While staff usually gets the report to the council members within two days of the planning commission hearing, there's no official due date.

"The council could get the report Tuesday morning, but that's not usual," Manheim said.