January 13, 2006

Evergreen continues to grow with proposed
residential development near Thompson Creek

Some look forward to new homes, while
others question environmental impact

By Michelle Hecht
Staff Writer

The City of San Jose’s Planning Department is currently reviewing environmental reports for a new residential development in Evergreen. The study is customary for a project close in proximity to a natural habitat.

An old oak tree along San Felipe Road will remain despite proposed development to the site. Photo by Michelle Hecht

Under the California Environmental Quality Act, a mitigated negative declaration – environmental clearance – is required prior to approval of public and private projects. This identifies environmental impacts possibly associated with a project.
Located west on San Felipe Road, and south of Yerba Buena Road, the proposed single family detached home community from Pinn Brothers Fine Homes is situated near the Thompson Creek. Proposed rezoning allocates 38 homes for the project with Pinn Brothers planning to build 25. The remaining 13 slots could be developed at a later time.

Created in the late 1980s, San Jose’s Riparian Corridor Policy establishes guidelines for such construction near creeks and streams. Under this policy, developments should generally be set back 100 feet from the outside edge of a creek to preserve a riparian corridor. This buffer between creek and development is intended to protect riparian habitat and minimize impact to resources, such as water quality, urban forest and open space.

Maintaining the habitat for corridor life, which includes fish, amphibians, birds, mammals and vegetation is critical. According to the policy, “A number of species are dependent on a healthy riparian community for survival.”

Project concerns
“This has the potential to be a controversial development, whenever you’re building along a riparian corridor,” said Pinn Brothers’ project manager for land development, John Moniz.

“There’s always potential for controversy,” added Mike Enderby, senior planner at the City of San Jose Planning Department, although he said that only three residents actually attended a neighborhood meeting held on Sept. 22 at Evergreen Valley College.

More than 500 notices were mailed to owners and occupants within a 1,000-foot radius of the project boundary.
But, the encroachment upon parts of the corridor has alarmed Jim Zito, an appointed commissioner by the Planning Commission.

“My main concern of this project is the over liberal application of riparian set back guidelines,” said Zito, speaking as a resident and not on behalf of the commission. “The purpose of this policy is to promote the preservation of these riparian corridors.”

Zito does not have issue with the entire project, but thinks eight of the proposed homes located on the corridor itself are being “egregious to the guidelines.”

According to Zito, the lack of enforcement for the Riparian Corridor Policy could then affect future developments.
“If this blurs the line as much as it’s doing, what precedent is it setting?”

During the application process this past year, the Planning Department required Pinn Brothers to hire an independent biologist to evaluate the land. According to Enderby, this would provide a professional assessment of Thompson Creek’s true characteristics. In turn, an exact distance between property lines and the creek could be established.

“We as planners want to make sure that we’re taking all appropriate measures from an environmental standpoint,” said Enderby.

Since signing a contract with the current property owners five years ago, Pinn Brothers has been doing independent studies of the land as well.

“There has been quite a bit of work before filing the application,” said Moniz, adding the company has completed “all the studies to obtain environmental clearance” found with any zoning development.

According to Moniz, this included soil, historic, arborist, archeology, water quality and endangered species studies. “We’ve really done our homework on this one,” he said.

These evaluations also identified parts of the riparian corridor as low quality, which included lack of vegetation, said Greg Pinn, Vice President of Land Development for Pinn Brothers. This led to a proposal for a varied set back – some parts of the land would adhere to the 100 foot buffer zone, while the distance of other sections would be reduced significantly, some to zero.

“This [proposed site] is unique,” said Enderby, because “the topography varied” from one place to another.

“The policy builds in exceptions for different circumstances,” he added. “The creek meanders through a substantial part of the site, about 50 percent or more. It warranted consideration.”

One element of the plan that concerns Zito is the detention basin, because it means the natural advantages of the creek will be lost.

“These streams provide an important water quality and flood control function, and therefore encroachment may have adverse effects on this habitat and on public safety,” Zito said.

Issues of erosion also arise when part of a proposed street juts into the corridor. According to Moniz, this is a give and take situation.

“We’ll be encroaching on the corridor, but in turn, we’ll be creating a healthier riparian corridor,” Moniz said.

“The policy presumes we’re starting with a vacant property, but there are already existing properties,” said Enderby.

“From a realistic standpoint, it’s a great opportunity to clean up the area and establish a riparian interface that’s better than now.”

The proposed residential development, located on San Felipe Road, south of Yerba Buena Road, allocates 38 homes. However, the developer, Pinn Brothers Fine Homes, plans to build 25 (shown as numbers 1-25 on the map). The remaining 13 lots could be developed at a later time. Some are concerned homes 1-8 encroach on the Thompson Creek corridor (shown between the double lines), potentially impacting the environment.

It’s “taking out existing development not contributing to the benefit of the corridor” and improving the situation, he added.

That’s not exactly how Zito sees it, however.

“The only benefit I can see is to provide more market price housing to sell,” said Zito. “This development site seems to try and maximize development units at the expense of the corridor, with no appreciable offset or benefit to the community or city.”

Before the proposed development goes to the Planning Commission in March and the San Jose City Council in April for approval, Zito is asking for another neighborhood meeting at a “more convenient place, convenient time and with a clearer notice.”

Another problem of encroachment, according to Zito, is the removal of trees.

“Only non-native trees will be removed or native trees that are either small, poor quality – multi-trunk or bad structure – or in poor health,” said Enderby. Moniz further explained that there is a plan that for each tree 18 inches or larger in diameter, four 24-inch box trees will be mitigated to other parts of the property. However, Zito believes there’s not enough space on the proposed land to replant most of the trees.

According to Moniz, those trees that cannot be planted on site will be valued by an arborist and a check for that amount will be sent to a non-profit tree planting organization to relocate the trees.

“It’s not an easy project by any stretch of the imagination” said Moniz. “But it’s a good project.”

The homes will be approximately 2,600 to 2,700 square feet and estimated to price in the mid to high $900,000s. They are already attracting interested homebuyers.

Pinn Brothers currently has two residential developments in Evergreen: Orchard Heights off Aborn, and Mezemonte off Murillo.

“I like to think we have a good reputation in San Jose and the Evergreen community,” said Pinn.

For an overview of the City of San Jose’s Planning Department, including more information on environmental review, zoning and the Riparian Corridor Policy, visit www.sanjoseca.gov/planning. For more information about Pinn Brothers Fine Homes, visit www.pinnbros.com or call 408-252-9131.