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Report Due on Housing at Old Research Station

Posted on: Sunday, 29 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Connie Skipitares, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Jan. 29--Plans to build homes on a former agricultural research station in Santa Clara are more than 3 years old now, and city planners say they're finally close to making public a detailed environmental study of the project.

The release of that environmental impact report, scheduled for the end of February, will be a major step in pushing the project forward. The state, which owns the 17-acre property across Winchester Avenue from the Valley Fair mall, already has signed letters of intent with developer SummerHill Homes and Santa Clara officials to sell the land.

But until environmental concerns, such as traffic and soil contamination, are addressed and the council agrees to rezone the property and approve site plans, it's not a done deal. And environmentalists who for years opposed the housing projects in favor of keeping the land in open space vow to pull out all the stops to quash the effort.

"It's absolutely not a dead issue," said Kathryn Mathewson, spokeswoman for SaveBAREC (Bay Area Research and Extension Center). "There's many pieces that still need to be cleared up."

Mathewson said her group intends to make pointed comments about the upcoming EIR. She said she has little faith that the report will adequately address major issues, such as traffic, air pollution and soil problems.

A non-profit group that Mathewson helped create, the Valley Initiative for Values in Agriculture, tried to make a bid to purchase the site to establish an agricultural center for research on trees and fruits. But the state turned it down.

The site of the old research station, which closed in 2003 after 75 years in operation, is one of the last undeveloped parcels in urban Silicon Valley. It sits on traffic-choked Winchester Boulevard and borders San Jose.

Santa Clara officials favor the plan for SummerHill to build 110 houses on 10 acres and for development of 165 units of affordable senior housing on six acres that the city hopes to buy. They say the density is reasonable.

"The state's going to sell the property, there's no way we can prevent that," said Mayor Patricia Mahan. "We have to be reasonable in allowing rezoning; we can't withhold entitlements unreasonably, especially when we can't offer a good alternative."

There's no way the city can afford to purchase the land to keep it in open space at today's cost of $2 million to $4 million per acre, she said.

Contact Connie Skipitares at cskipitares@mercurynews. com or (408) 920-5647.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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