Willow Glen Resident

News

List of project concerns sent to VTA

By Tiffany Carney

A neighborhood group representing Willow Glen residents has asked the Valley Transportation Authority to review whether seven residential buildings proposed for an 8.25-acre site near W. San Carlos and Sunol streets goes against the agency's published guidelines for best development practices. The agency owns a portion of the property targeted for the development.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board members voted unanimously during a special meeting April 23 to present a letter outlining their concerns to the VTA board and San Jose City Council.

The VTA board of directors was expected to decide on May 1, after press deadline, whether to sell 5.6 acres targeted for the project to developer Green Valley Republic, a joint partnership between Republic Urban Properties and Barry Swenson Builder.

The association is concerned that the height and density of the residential project are not congruent with those set forth in San Jose's General Plan and Midtown Specific Plan, which govern that area.

"We are not opposing development," neighborhood association president Larry Ames said in closing, "We just want to see it done right."

Resident Sally Larsen, who attended the meeting, said she agreed with the association's decision.

"I'm very opposed to the concept of [the proposed] height and density," Larsen said.

Joan Doss, who has lived in Willow Glen since 1964, said, "I don't think it will benefit the area."

District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio declined to take a position on the project, but said he planned to release a letter outlining his opinions on May 1.

Height and density issues have been the main focus at community meetings, but at the April 3 VTA board meeting, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said, "I don't see how issues of height affect us."

However, after questioning by Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager, an ex-officio VTA board member, VTA deputy director John Ristow revealed that payment for the land "is contingent on the project going forward."

If the VTA board approved the sale on May 1, San Jose will decide questions of height and density.

Yeager pointed out that Green Valley's design height proposal is not allowed under current San Jose criteria.

A grassroots group of area residents calling itself Advocates for Smart Growth in San Jose prepared a five-page position paper on the sale of the VTA W. San Carlos site that it has been circulating to San Jose officials and other interested parties.

The paper outlines the inconsistencies between the proposal as presented by Green Republic and San Jose's General Plan and Midtown Specific Plan, including height and density levels, the retail and residential mix and parklands. The current plans limit heights to 90 feet in the Midtown area, while Green Valley is proposing three 120-foot-tall buildings.

Mary Gottschalk contributed to this story.