San Jose supports finalizing County Habitat Plan

San Jose voted unanimously to expend $100,000 for their share of finalizing the County Habitat Plan.  Mayor Reed mentioned significant improvements and benefits in the Plan.  I also spoke at the meeting:



I was in the meeting for quite a long time, so unlike other times I wrote out my speaking notes in detail beforehand.  I still had time, so I ran through them and realized they were too long.  Below, for what it's worth, is the notes for what I said and also the notes for what I wanted to say at somewhat greater length:

Short version:

We support the staff recs bc hab plan buys both environmental mitigation and environmental enhancement in bulk wholesale amounts.

A significant improvement in the draft Habitat Plan is that it has been changed to reflect the policies in San Jose’s draft General Plan proposed by its Task Force.  The changes assume that both South Almaden Valley and mid-Coyote Valley will remain mostly undeveloped, significantly reducing the habitat mitigation costs in the Habitat Plan.

But there’s another part of the Draft General Plan that needs further incorporation in the Habitat Plan.

ER-7.5 Support the on-going identification and protection of critical linkages for wildlife movement in the Mid-Coyote Valley. 

Nothing in the Habitat Plan has been changed to reflect this important new component of the City’s Draft General Plan

I believe that staff think it is as of yet unclear what this new Draft General Plan policy will mean for San Jose.  One thing I believe you can do that can be helpful is to communicate to staff that you believe this General Plan policy recommended to you by your Task Force is one that you support, and that the Habitat Plan should identify opportunities to protect wildlife movement in mid-Coyote Valley, especially because there are opportunities for outside funding that will not cost San Jose a dime while still helping to promote a San Jose policy.

These type of technical issues and improvements can still occur with little financial effects over the next few months, and we look forward to working staff and the City Council

Long version:

We support the staff recs bc hab plan buys both environmental mitigation and environmental enhancement in bulk wholesale amounts.  Not doing the plan doesn’t mean these costs go away, it simply means that you buy the mitigation and enhancement on a piecemeal basis for retail costs.  This appears to explain the difference between on the one hand, businesses like the two largest developers in Gilroy who strongly support the Habitat Plan, and on the other hand, other business groups with little economic interests one way or another who instead are motivated based on their ideology.

While we have some concerns about the changes in the Habitat Plan in recent months, we want to acknowledge some significant improvements.  For example, the draft Habitat Plan has been changed to reflect the policies in San Jose’s draft General Plan proposed by its Envision 2040 Task Force, with everyone acknowledging this is pending the final decisionmaking by the City Council.  The changes assume that both South Almaden Valley and mid-Coyote Valley will remain mostly undeveloped, significantly reducing the habitat mitigation costs in the Habitat Plan.

There’s another part of the Draft General Plan that needs further incorporation in the Habitat Plan.

ER-7.5 Support the on-going identification and protection of critical linkages for wildlife movement in the Mid-Coyote Valley. 

Nothing in the Habitat Plan has been changed to reflect this important new component of the City’s Draft General Plan

I believe that staff think it is as of yet unclear what this new Draft General Plan policy will mean for San Jose.  One thing I believe you can do that can be helpful is to communicate to staff that you believe this General Plan policy recommended to you by your Task Force is one that you support, and that the Habitat Plan should identify opportunities to protect wildlife movement in mid-Coyote Valley, especially because there are opportunities for outside funding that will not cost San Jose a dime while still helping to promote a San Jose policy.

These type of technical issues and improvements can still occur with little financial effects over the next few months, and we look forward to working staff and the City Council