Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19, the San Jose City Council will consider the Master Plan for the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP). Please contact the City Councilmembers and tell them to vote for the protection of wildlife and wetlands on the WPCP site.
What’s Happening
The WPCP site is located right at the edge of the Bay in North San Jose, in between Alviso and Milpitas. This is a former wetland area (parts of which have returned to wetland status) that is at or below sea level, directly adjacent to Coyote Creek, and that has several hundred acres of undeveloped space that provides nesting and foraging habitat for burrowing owls, a State species of special concern. In addition, because of the alluvial soils in the area, it has a high liquefaction risk, and with sea level rise, the site is vulnerable to inundation. Put simply, this is the wrong place for development.
However, the City of San Jose, which owns the site, intends to put enough industrial, commercial and other development on the site to provide for 15,400 jobs. CGF and other environmental groups have requested multiple times that the City consider an alternative site plan that would provide for needed upgrades to the WPCP water treatment facilities while still preserving the surrounding open space, but the City has refused.
With the EIR and the Master Plan coming up for approval on Tuesday, two Councilmembers, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra, have proposed a suite of modifications to the Staff-recommended plan that would offer some additional protections for the burrowing owls on the site and would place some barriers in the way of development on the former wetlands. Because this proposal would not attempt to reduce or eliminate the economic development on the WPCP site that San Jose is relying on to meet its jobs goals, it has a chance of success — if the City Council hears from you!
Here’s a link to the memo: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/23991
Why This Is Important
Burrowing owls are struggling to survive in Santa Clara County. The WPCP site is one of the last significant contiguous habitat sites left to them. The Habitat Conservation Plan stresses the importance of the WPCP site for burrowing owls, identifying the potential development of this site as one of the major threats to owl populations in the HCP area. Although the environmental community could not persuade the City of San Jose to preserve all of the burrowing owl habitat on the WPCP site, the amendments proposed by Councilmembers Liccardo and Kalra will afford the owls a greater chance of survival than they would have under the Staff’s recommendation.
The WPCP site is directly adjacent to a salt pond that is part of the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, and is also adjacent to Coyote Creek. Potential restoration opportunities for this area include allowing Coyote Creek to form a more natural channel and possibly a delta such as was present in this area in the past. Allowing the creek to form more than one mouth would relieve flooding risks to upstream San Jose, as well as providing valuable wetland habitat. The proposals would include some protections that could improve the chances of this kind of restoration.
What You Can Do
Let your voice be heard! Send an email comment to the City Council, come to the meeting on November 19 and speak, or both! Let the City Council know that you support the proposal by Councilmembers Liccardo and Kalra, and urge them to vote to protect wildlife habitat and wetlands. (And if you are a resident of San Jose, be sure to mention that!)
San Jose City Council Meeting
Tuesday, November 19, 7:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers
200 E. Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/23727
Here is sample text you can you use for your email:
Dear Mayor Reed and San Jose City Councilmembers,
Please vote to support the memo by Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra. The proposals contained in this memo would not reduce the number of jobs projected for the WPCP site, but would merely make some modifications to the Staff’s recommended plan that would give greater protection to the environment.
The residents of San Jose care about environmental issues as well as about jobs. Please take these simple steps to give a little more protection to burrowing owls, wetlands, and other natural resources.
Thank you,
[Your name]
On behalf of all of us at Committee for Green Foothills, thank you for everything you do.
Sincerely,
Alice Kaufman
Legislative Advocate
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