Coyote Valley

This article is about the portion of the Santa Clara Valley. For the reservation in Mendocino County, see Coyote Valley Reservation. For the headwaters of the Colorado River, see Rocky Mountain National Park.

Coyote Valley
Location	California
Floor elevation	260 feet (79 m) at Coyote, California
Long-axis direction	Northwest to Southeast
Long-axis length	7 miles
Width	2 miles
Geography
Bounded by	Mount Hamilton, Diablo Range (east) Foothills of Santa Cruz Mountains (west) San Jose (north) Morgan Hill, California (south)
Population centers	San Jose, California Coyote, California
Traversed by	U.S. Highway 101, Monterey Highway

Coyote Valley (see also Coyote, California) is a large expanse of farmland, orchards and homes, approximately 7,200 acres (2,914 ha) in size, located in a narrowing of the Santa Clara Valley, in the southernmost part of San Jose, California. The Coyote Valley is targeted for urban development and until March 2008 was undergoing the State of California Specific Plan process in which master planning of the area began. The process was intended to analyze the feasibility of bringing new development to the area, with the participation of planners, environmentalists, engineers, and the general public. Although the North and the Mid-Coyote Valley areas have been planned for urban development since 1961, much controversy surrounds the proposal to build in this valley, which is considered by many to be the last remaining "untouched" open area within San Jose, an open space buffer between the urban City of San Jose and the northward expanding City of Morgan Hill, and a critical wildlife corridor for safe passage of large mammals from the Diablo Range to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Geography

Coyote Valley is a floodplain approximately 11.2 kilometres (7.0 mi) and 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) wide, situated in a narrow constriction in the Santa Clara Valley between the Diablo Range to the east and the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west. It contains the largest freshwater wetland in Santa Clara County, Laguna Seca, a lake important to groundwater recharge. Coyote Valley was named a “2001 Last Chance Landscape of America the Beautiful", one of the ten most endangered American landscapes by Scenic America. The only landscape selected from California, Scenic America described the Coyote Valley as: “Coyote Valley is a rare scenic break in an otherwise urbanized area... The rolling hills, blossoming orchards, and grand oaks provide respite to visitors, residents, and myriad species of wildlife."

Part of San Jose, the Coyote Valley also includes the tiny unincorporated community of Coyote, California. It is bordered on the south by Morgan Hill, California.

Ecology

The current width of the wildlife corridor through the Coyote Valley is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). This is considered the minimum width for a viable wildlife corridor for multiple species. Therefore any further development in the Coyote Valley wildlife corridor could critically compromise this safe passage for mammal migration.

De Anza College wildlife biologists and students have monitored wildlife in the Coyote Valley since December 2007. They have recorded 160 species of birds, 25 of which either are rare, have special status, or both. Because development and the multilane U.S. Highway 101 pose barriers to migration of mammals such as tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannoides), puma (Puma concolor), coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), American badger (Taxidea taxus), etc. the Coyote Valley and its permeable multiple highway underpasses/culverts serve as the last remaining safe passages between the mountains to the west and east. De Anza students have used motion activated cameras to document that these passages are used by deer, bobcats, puma, coyote, and other large mammals.

Tule elk were re-introduced to Mount Hamilton from 1978 to 1981. However, tule elk that live on the Mount Hamilton/Diablo side of the valley have been documented lining up near Highway 101, unable to cross.

Coyote Valley’s vernal pools offer a safe haven to many amphibian species such as the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) and the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii).

Coyote Valley is traversed by Coyote Creek, an important stream for steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) spawning runs.

Development Controversy

Currently, Coyote Valley is home to large areas of orchards and farms, although that scene has been expected to change for decades. The Dahlin Group, based in San Ramon, California, was chosen by the City of San Jose to create a master plan for the area. Dahlin Group's Conceptual Plan calls for at least 50,000 jobs and 25,000 homes, an international garden, a 54-acre (22 ha) central lake, a hub and spoke Bus Rapid Transit system, and a green belt between the new town and Morgan Hill.

Citing costs and delays, developers stopped funding the planning process in March 2008.

Environmental impacts of development

To determine the effects of development in the Coyote Valley, a Draft Environmental Impact Report, or DEIR was released in March 2007. San Jose is the only city in Santa Clara County that allows developers to hand pick the environmental consultants who write the environmental impact reports for proposed projects. They can hire the companies directly, and hand in the reports with their application. When the DEIR was unveiled to the public, an unprecedented amount of criticism was generated with more than 1,000 pages of negative comments. These objections came from 55 organizations and individuals, and 28 public agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The city decided to commission the remake of much of the Draft EIR. The revision work and other planning costs was estimated at 2.5 million dollars and to take over a year to complete. This controversy led to many residents of San Jose to call for an end to San Jose’s developer-controlled environmental impact reports.

City of San Jose Documents

• 10/18/2007 City of San Jose Memorandum: Update on Scope, Schedule and Budget for Revision and Recirculation of the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report.
• 03/30/2007 Coyote Valley Specific Plan Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
• 06/29/2007 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) Comments Received

Articles

• 11/12/2007 "Running Wild"
• 10/17/2007 "Students Mobilize Against Valley Development"

Fiscal analysis

The Draft Fiscal Analysis for Coyote Valley development concludes that San Jose will make more money in tax revenues from development than it will spend on providing government services. It reaches this conclusion by assuming that residential property values and resulting taxes will increase 3% above inflation every year for 57 years.

The Committee for Green Foothills disputes this analysis, arguing that because household income has only increased 1% above inflation annually in San Jose, it is impossible for the cost of housing to continuously increase faster than the means to pay for housing costs. The Committee also argues the Draft Analysis overestimates income by failing to account for tax revenues "cannibalized" by businesses moving from other parts of San Jose to Coyote Valley.

Developers end Specific Plan

On March 18, 2008, the developer/landowners in Coyote Valley announced they would no longer fund the Specific Plan process, which terminates that planning process. Developers cited the costs and delays in planning, while news reports noted increased political opposition. Environmental groups claimed they found grossly inadequate environmental and fiscal analyses and claimed those flaws were factors that contributed to end the current proposal.

Other proposed developments remain possible in Coyote Valley, including the previously approved, but never built, Coyote Valley Research Park, and the proposed Gavilan College campus.

See also

• Metcalf Energy Center A 600 megawatt power plant located in the northern section of Coyote Valley.

External links

• Video of De Anza College Study/Wildlife Corridor Project in Coyote Valley
• Wildlife Corridor Project
• Coyote Valley Specific Plan Homepage
• Dahlin Group Urban Design Homepage
• Committee for Green Foothills articles on Coyote Valley
• Coyote Valley Letter
• California Essential Habitat Connectivity Plan
• Santa Clara County Open Space Authority
• Bay Area Critical Linkages