May 6, 2005

Seeking a compromise

Final EVP action deferred to May 17

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Hundreds of Evergreen residents flooded the voice mail and e-mail boxes of City Hall in the past two weeks, signaling their strong disapproval of the recent city council decision to dissolve District 8’s community-based Evergreen Visioning Project Task Force and replace it with a new Specific Plan task force.

Councilmember Dave Cortese sought input from the EVP Task Force.

This public outcry—coupled with several negotiation attempts to find common ground—resulted in a revised recommendation authored by Mayor Ron Gonzales, Councilmember Nora Campos and Councilmember Ken Yeager on April 29, just two days before their next scheduled city council meeting.

Although Councilmember Dave Cortese saw some merits in the new proposal, he expressed some deep concerns and requested a two-week deferral so that he could have time to reconvene the EVP Task Force to get member reaction before making a final decision.

Initially, the mayor denied Cortese’s request to defer approval of actions related to the Evergreen Visioning Project. Yet after meeting with several core EVP Task Force members on May 2, Gonzales agreed to provide additional time for committee members to provide suggestions regarding the structure, composition, and study issues for the new Evergreen Task Force.

Prior to the May 17 City Council meeting, Mayor Gonzales and Councilmembers Campos and Yeager will meet with representatives of the EVP advisory committee to discuss any suggestions or recommendations they might have to improve the structure or expand the scope for the next phase of the Evergreen planning effort.

Proposal suggests two task forces
The new proposal conceded that since the EVP Task Force had already completed a tremendous amount of work determining the future development and land use in Evergreen, a more formal Specific Plan process was not the correct strategy to complete this effort. The Specific Plan Task Force would have been limited to 20 members.

The proposal stated that the current EVP Task Force should “continue to serve in an advisory capacity to Council-
member Cortese.” It further recommended that “the council convene a task force with citywide representation to serve in an advisory capacity to the city council on the broader policy issues arising from the Evergreen planning development process.”

The mayor’s proposal then recommended that Cortese chair the new task force and appoint 14 EVP members to the new task force. The current EVP Task Force includes 31 members. Gonzales advised that District 5 Councilmember Nora Campos serve as vice chair.

The mayor suggested that the following should also serve on the new task force: Jim Webb, interim chief of staff for District 7, Planning Commission Chairman Bob Levy, the property owners of the four major land parcels in question, the Parks & Recreation Commissioner, the Mt. Pleasant Unified School District superintendent, a representative from the East Side Union High School District, a District 7 resident, a District 5 resident, a citywide business representative, a labor representative and a VTA representative.

Study session on policy issues
The mayor’s new proposal also directed the city manager to schedule a study session on the Evergreen Visioning Project within three weeks to allow the city council to discuss policy issues raised at the April 19 meeting and provide direction regarding expected outcomes.

The policy issues to be included in the study session are conversion of industrial sites to support housing, community amenities, affordable housing, character of the developments and funding strategies. Planning staff is then directed to develop a work plan and return with recommendations to the city council within 30 days.

The new task force should, according to the proposal, include as part of its review an environmental review, infrastructure analysis and plans, land use and circulation plans, public facilities plans, affordable housing and financing plans.

Mixed reaction
The full EVP Task Force met for two hours on May 5 to gauge the reaction to the mayor’s new proposal. Many of the EVP Task Force members saw no value in the redundancy of two task forces, particularly since half of the members would be assigned to both task forces.

Several task force members, as well as community members in the open forum section of the meeting, agreed that the EVP task force should include representatives from District 5 and District 7, because they border District 8 and would likely be impacted by traffic created from additional development.

EVP Task Force member Mark Milioto, however, said that “We’re already giving up a big chunk of our [developer] dollars by funding traffic amenities that will benefit all of San Jose.”

The Evergreen Visioning Project focuses on four major parcels of land highlighted in red.

Dan Gould, another EVP Task Force member, praised Councilmember Cortese for the “tremendous fortitude” he displayed throughout this process. Yet Gould felt “this is really unfair for Evergreen. This has been a great success—why else would everybody want to have a part of it?”

Some task force members recommended reassessing if the 31 members are actually necessary and if some might be willing to give up their seat on a new EVP Task Force.

Community member Rhonda Garcia from the Pleasant Hills area of Evergreen noted that she has been to more EVP Task Force meetings than several of the actual task force members. “When you say there are people in the community who can’t catch up [to what the EVP Task Force has done for the past two years], you should look at your own task force.”

Many task force members, however, feared that giving up seats on the new task force will loosen the control of the $230 million of developer funds at stake.

“My proposal is to stick together—all or nothing,” said EVP Task Force member Vince Songcayawon. “We’ve got to stand up for our rights. This is a government for the people and by the people. If we agree to reduce our numbers [on the new task force], we lose. Plain and simple, we lose.”

Lou Kvitek questioned the disrespectful manner in which these demands are being placed on District 8, and he questioned that if the city council really wanted fuller representation, couldn’t they simply have attended a few meetings and suggested adding a member or two from their districts?

Next steps
After the discussion, a group of about 20 EVP Task Force members agreed to meet over the weekend to prepare for further negotiations with Mayor Gonzales on May 9, one week before the city council meeting.

Councilmember Cortese and the EVP Task Force strongly encourage Evergreen residents to fill the council chambers on Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m., to show their concern and interest in these critical development matters.

For further updates prior to the May 17 meeting, contact the District 8 office at (408) 277-5242.