Almaden Resident

News

Coyote Valley group will examine changes to plan

By Stephen Baxter

The Coyote Valley Task Force will consider how to refine development plans for Coyote Valley in light of comments received on its first environmental impact report.

The task force will meet on Jan. 14 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at San Jose City Hall room W118, 200 E. Santa Clara St.

Since 1961, city planners have looked at developing Coyote Valley, a mostly empty stretch of farms and horse ranches about 6 miles east of the Almaden Valley. It is bounded by Highway 101, the Diablo Range to the east, the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west and Morgan Hill.

In 2002, the San Jose City Council initiated a process to develop the Coyote Valley Specific Plan, which calls for about 84,000 new residents and 55,000 new jobs. In March 2007 an environmental impact report was released, and at least 83 groups and individuals responded to the report.

Those who responded voiced concerns about the potential impacts to wildlife habitat and the impact additional traffic will create, while other respondents claimed the report was flawed or inaccurate. A second draft of the environmental impact report is in the works.

At its Jan. 14 meeting, the task force plans to discuss the revised environmental report, which may be released as soon as February and the group's 2008 schedule.

City officials plan to hold monthly task force meetings that involve the community in the planning process. Past meetings have drawn 50 to 100 people, San Jose planner Stefanie Hom said.

For more information, visit www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley.