The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

City set to approve final plans for homes on iris plot

Style of homes called 'eclectic'

By Cecily Barnes

Once a colorful field of magnificent blooms, Maryott's Iris Garden is now a field of dirt-- but not for long. Bulldozers and tractors are already hard at work, clearing the path for 12 single-family homes. The project's final map must be approved at the City Council's Oct. 21 meeting, and then construction can begin. According to Carol Hamilton, senior planner for the city of San Jose, the project will likely be approved by the council as a routine action item, since the planning department has already given its approval.

After 20 years in Willow Glen, the owner of Maryott's Iris Garden, Bill Maryott, sold his land to the Santa Clara Development Company and relocated to Corralitos in early October. Maryott said he agreed to sell the acre-plus plot because he saw an opportunity to grow his business. Also the soil wasn't as fertile as it used to be.

"This gives us a chance to expand the business," he said two weeks ago. "We were limited in the space we had here."

Before Maryott's moving truck even made it to Corralitos, the Santa Clara Development Company had begun bulldozing the property. Actual construction of the new homes should begin by late December or early January, confirms Mark Robson, president of the Santa Clara Development Project. And the homes, he says, should be complete by summer.

"There will be an eclectic style of architecture-- craftsman, Spanish and French," Robson said. "The neighborhood is a mixture of these housing styles right now, so this will be the same."

Many of the homes will be equipped with detached garages, and they will line a new street, called Iris Garden Court.

Neighbors in the area say they feel fine about the new development. Many had worried that high-density apartments or condominiums would be built, impacting traffic and parking. But single-family homes, some say, are fine.

"I'd rather live in a neighborhood that's not that crowded," Bird Avenue resident Rosa Perez said. "But we can't stop progress."

Bird Avenue resident Dale Vaughan points out that the Iris Garden brought in its fair share of traffic.

"I liked it, but there were a lot of people that came here. Big buses would park in front of the house," Vaughan said. "If [the new development] is houses, I don't mind, but apartments would be a definite nuisance on parking."

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