Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate
Advocacy During the Pandemic
San Jose at Night, Keith Wandry
Fall is a busy time for our Environmental Advocacy program, especially during election years. This year, the Environmental Action Committee is reviewing and evaluating several local ballot measures and state propositions, considering whether SCVAS should endorse, oppose, or remain neutral.
SCVAS has already endorsed one ballot measure for the November 2020 elections: The Open Space Authority extension of a $24/year parcel tax in perpetuity. The Open Space Authority has excelled in its protection of public lands, especially in Coyote Valley. We hope that their work on restoring wetlands and habitat in the valley can continue, uninterrupted, for the near and the long-term future. The funds will allow the Authority continue its work to:
Preserve our region’s natural heritage by protecting scenic hillsides, open spaces, wildlife, redwood forests, and farmland
Increase public access to open space and help maintain Authority preserves and trails and expand trail connections among local and regional parks
Protect our water supplies and reduce pollution and toxins by preserving land around creeks, rivers, and streams
Provide easy access to open space through urban open spaces and environmental education programs
Please stay tuned and check our October Avocet Online Newsletter for additional Ballot Measure endorsements and recommendations.
As we continue to advocate on projects and planning
efforts throughout our county, we often question whether
the pandemic has changed anything at all in the way our political system and government agencies plan for the future. Thus far, planning efforts have not slowed down, and even accelerated. Here are some of the ongoing projects we continue to work on, and some new ones:
Light Pollution and Our Birds
Light pollution has a strong impact on biological function. In birds, it interferes with innate behaviors such as breeding, migration and song. We continue to advocate for reducing light pollution as part of our work in Cupertino and in San Jose. In Cupertino we are following the progress of the Bird- Safe & Dark Sky ordinances. The City Council is expected to discuss the proposed ordinances on September 15 and we hope you can zoom in and encourage Cupertino to adopt strong ordinances to protect birds, habitat, and human health.
In San Jose, we provided input for better City-wide Design Guidelines. We are also advocating against an amendment to the Sign Ordinance. This proposed amendment will promote the proliferation of electronic billboards along freeways, and allow other types of programmable electronic signs in the city. The new signs will provide no economic benefits to the City of San Jose or local businesses, and only benefit the advertising industry and a few property owners along the freeways.
If you are a San Jose resident, please contact your Council member's office and ask your representative to put an end to this initiative. The more they hear from the voters in their districts, the better. Please contact advocate@scvas.org for additional information or directions.
No Slowdown in Planned Projects
The City of Sunnyvale is currently in the process of updating the Moffett Park Specific Plan. The plan area of Moffett Park covers 1,156 acres of industrial land and borders a sensitive wetland habitat along the San Francisco Bay. The intent of the plan is to greatly increase density and create a 24-hour mixed use district with office and housing and amenities for residents. Impacts on our Bay ecosystems and the birds that depend on them could potentially be substantial. If you are
a Sunnyvale resident, please tell your City Council (as well as candidates for office) that the Specific Plan must protect and expand wetlands and bird habitats along waterways and the Bay. For more information, see
Lockheed Ponds in Sunnyvale, Shani Kleinhaus
In Morgan Hill, we commented on a Draft Environmental Impact report for an industrial development that offered inadequate mitigation for impacts to nesting birds, and
would risk polluting the local aquifer on Coyote Valley and/
or the Llagas aquifer. We also submitted a comment letter
on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the High Speed Rail segment between San Jose and Merced. The report dismisses what we consider unsurpassable and permanent harm to a wide range of animal and bird species including critically endangered species. If built as proposed and with no additional mitigations to the ones currently proposed, High Speed Rail could devastate our regional fauna.
“We continue to advocate with
the San Jose General Plan Update task force to change the designations of all public land in Coyote Valley from Industrial to Habitat
and Open space.”
With a large constellation of tribal and environmental groups, we continue to advocate with the San Jose General Plan Update task force to change the designations of all public land in Coyote Valley from Industrial to Habitat and Open space. For the privately owned lands in the valley, we seek Agriculture designation that should help avert development into the future. We sent a letter of support for State law (Senate Bill 940) that would clarify conflicts and facilitate protection of Coyote Valley from future housing development and sprawl.
Update on Our Newts
We have not given up on the Newts of Alma Bridge Road. Over 11,000 Pacific newts have been killed on Alma Bridge Roadin just over 2 years. The newts have a lifespan of 14 years, and we believe that this extremely high mortality rate over time will affect our local population negatively. In Southern California, the California Newt has been listed as a species of special concern where similar conversion of land to human uses has resulted in habitat degradation and massive roadkill. We believe the same may be happening here. But even if the impacts to the population were found to be less than terminal to the local population, we should be doing all we can to reduce this carnage.
To try and advance solutions, we have been working with several local agencies to support a UC Davis grant application to the California Wildlife Conservation Board for Prop 68 funding. The funds would be used for the planning and design of raised roadway in two “hot spot” locations of Alma Bridge Road to provide safe undercrossing for Newt migration to and from Lexington Reservoir.
And One More Thing...
In July, we joined Audubon California and more than 100 environmental groups throughout the state in opposition to Assembly Bill 3279. This bill would have significantly undermined environmental, environmental justice, and other public interest petitioners’ access to the courts and therefore access to justice. We are pleased that our joint efforts were successful, and the Bill was amended.
Say’s Phoebe, Bill Walker