The Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force will hold its final meeting April 14 after the Coyote Valley Housing Group discontinued $2.5 million in funding for the project Tuesday.
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed advised the task force to present its draft plan to the San Jose General Plan Task Force and disband since he was concerned about future costly litigation over existing land entitlements in North Coyote Valley.
"The $2.5 million the housing group withheld was only to finish the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)," said Reed. "(The Task Force) can't get work done without it so I think we'll have one more meeting and that will be it ... This is one of the largest planning efforts in California so I'm not surprised there were delays and complications that made it unwieldy and stretched it out. Even under the best case scenario there would have been four or five years before a plan was approved or litigated for the plans to be in place to settle the existing land agreements."
The Coyote Valley Specific Plan envisioned 75,000 residents, 50,000 jobs and 25,000 homes to the area north of Morgan Hill. But after more than five years and $17.2 million spent on the 7,000-acre development, housing group spokesman Adam Alberti said the investors and builders that make up the group didn't find the current plan workable any longer.
"The housing group of investors and builders responded to both a declining economy and planning frustrations with the EIR Tuesday," said Alberti. "The Coyote Valley Specific Plan didn't do anything to recognize the legal rights of the existing land entitlements so it was an essentially flawed document. This meant delays to redo it and an increase of funding combined with the existing market conditions created a perfect storm where in year five we had spent nearly twice as much of the $10 million we had originally intended."
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage was unavailable for comment. Rachel Gibson, Gage's land-use policy aide, said the supervisor, who represents South County, has always had concerns about the Coyote Valley Specific Plan.
"Development is a gamble: Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't," said Gibson of the $17 million spent by the housing group. "I believe the developers backing out of the project have done the right thing."
Tom Risen
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