McKean Road sports fields now rest with the city

Many questions remain unanswered

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

With a 10-year-old son in Little League, Jasmin White attended the meeting ready to route for the project. But after hearing some of the concerns, questioned whether McKean was the right place.

Tiny tots with dirty knees and grass-stained soccer shorts chased each other around the Leland High School quad last Wednesday night, while parents, coaches, city officials, and residents gathered in the cafeteria for a third public meeting on the proposed McKean Road Sports Complex project.

The purpose of the meeting, according to Vice Mayor Pat Dando, was to address a request for a General Plan amendment that would change the zoning to allow for the building and temporary use of sports fields.

The amendment calls for a change in the text of the General Plan to allow “certain limited, interim recreational uses on public properties that are consistent with the long-term character of the South Almaden Valley Urban Reserve and a public project to allow the development of a youth sports field complex. The proposed project would include up to 12 baseball/softball/soccer fields on approximately 35.4 acres of an approximately 77-acre property owned by the San Jose Unified School District. The project site is located on the north side of McKean Road, approximately 1,500 feet west of Fortini Road.”

“Some of you may lean over into the environmental side of this and that’s OK,” she said. “But I want you to know that’s not the purpose of the meeting tonight. The purpose is to talk specifically to changing the land use title to support the project.”

According to an eight-page letter submitted by the county, Carol Hallet pointed out an excerpt, which stated, “While the county generally supports providing opportunities for youth sports, the proposed site is inappropriate for this use. Locating this urban field use in the south Almaden Valley would conflict with numerous county and city general plan policies and cause significant, unavoidable resources, including agricultural and ground water supplies.”

“They detailed out multiple problems,” Hallet said. “Which included inadequate analysis. Their conclusion was that the draft EIR for the sports complex is inadequate as a CEQUA document.”

“On the fifth, we will respond to the details of that letter,” replied Haas. “As well as all the other letters that the city has received.”

Many could not help but touch on environmental, as well as emotional issues that continued to take center stage.

While many spoke in favor of the project, there were others who opposed it—citing various concerns for water, traffic, and safety.

“I’ve grew up in Almaden and played soccer here,” commented one resident, who now has three children actively involved in sports. “It amazes me, I was 4 years old and there have been no changes to Almaden in terms of finding more space for children in finding fields. We need to find a way to make this work.”

Former soccer coach and assistant scoutmaster Daryl McMurrin sees the need for a safe place for youth sports, but had mixed emotions.

“I don’t know why we didn’t have better field years ago,” he said. “I would like to see the field go in, but I don’t know how much it’s going to impact us here. “If the school system doesn’t think they need a school for 20 years, why not wait or speed up the development process?”

McMurrin also suggested that the city looked into the possibility of a water tank to ease the load on wells in the area.

“Maybe the answer would be to put a water tank in,” he added. “They could draw on the tank and pump over a longer period of time. That needs to be looked into. We’ll have to wait to find out whether the EIR will be savvy enough to determine these things.

Several comments reiterated the fact that the project was “the right idea, but the wrong place” and suggested that the efforts of the Almaden Youth Association [AYA] would be better spent finding a permanent facility, with the infrastructure to support it.

“I’m going to have to be a turncoat here,” said Russ Petrazelli, who used to live on Burchell Road, near TJ Martin Park, where his two daughters played soccer. “My wife doesn’t agree with my views, but based on the traffic, I don’t think it is a good location unless they’re going to develop the land fully with schools and residential zoning.

We need the fields, but the engineer inside my brain says that the road will not support it. I’d like to see my money for once, spent the right way.”

According to former soccer coach Mark Erickson, reading the EIR had him convinced that the community would be looking at “a real mess” if the project went forward and scolded the city for their lack of consideration for the residents of the urban reserve.

“All of us agree our kids do deserve better,” he said. “Something went wrong. We should have had much better planning 20 to 30 years ago. We’ve all heard neighborhoods first, but unfortunately, this particular project I think puts our neighborhood last. This EIR does not look at alternatives, which are not in there.”

“We are going to finalize the EIR that’s in draft form,” replied Haas. “If something’s not in there that you’re expecting, that’s not going to change at this time. We’re going to move forward with that document.”

“I just want to make sure everyone sees through the rhetoric of the SAVRA group and some of the issues they’re bringing in front of us,” stated Dan Hall. “This is ridiculous. These are all issues that have been addressed. It’s time for them to step up to the table and help mitigate some of these issues—start working with us instead of against us.”

“I’ve also lived in this valley for 35 years and played on these fields,” added AYA president Dan Smyth. “Now, I’ve had the position of watching Almaden teams forfeit their games because other teams would not play on the fields.”

However, one resident, who lives adjacent to the project site, stressed the need to look at yet another danger.
“This year, there’s been an abundance of rattlesnakes and coyotes,” he said. “We’ve had more rattlesnakes and coyotes out there than you can shake a stick at. You’re going to have problems with them. The coyotes are getting worse out there—they’re in seventh heaven.”

Afterwards, SAVUR resident Carol Hallet called the meeting a “missed opportunity.”

“I was disappointed,” she said. “The meeting was called to order specifically to get community comments in regards to the opposed text amendment to change the intent of the general plan (city and county) that protects the South Almaden Urban Reserve by allowing early development without the infrastructure to hold it. Very few people stayed on subject. They talked about cute little girls wanting fields without gopher holes and that’s not what the intent of the meeting was. We lost sight about whether or not the text amendment should go before the City Council.”

Nov. 2 may yield a changing landscape
Although nearly 120,000 absentee ballots and 20,000 provisional ballots in Santa Clara ballots remained to be counted at press time, preliminary results showed a narrow victory for Nancy Pyle in the heated race against Rich De La Rosa for City Council. With only 106 votes separating the two, the estimated 6,000 to 8,000 District 10 ballots yet to be tallied could sway either camp toward a successful win.

“It’s such a close margin,” explained Vice Mayor Pat Dando. “District 10 has historically had a high rate of absentee voters. I think it’s premature to call this one and start getting too concerned. This is an important election to the people of District 10 and we want to make sure that it’s done correctly.”

If Pyle takes the election, the sports fields project faces certain demise, according to former City Council candidate Ron Siporen.

“If Nancy wins, there’s no hope for McKean,” he says. “She’s all over the place with this and will need some direction that gives the kids a chance.”

Siporen says the possibility may exist for development on an 18-acre stretch of property near Coleman Avenue and Oak Canyon, which is owned by the Water District. Initial plans to turn the property into wetlands were recently tabled and, although not for sale, he says they may now be in the market to trade with the city or lease it outright.

“It’s a decent site,” he says. “There’s 18 acres below the road and 5 acres on the other side of Coleman at the end of the power line park. Being inside city borders, there wouldn’t be the controversy and we might be able to get city funding. But no matter where you put it, its going to be expensive and hard to raise the money. At least, it would be a lot easier to chip in at that site.”

The Planning Commission Certification Hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17, followed by a vote of the City Council in Dec. For more information, call (408) 277- 4576.