10/7/2015 -- Board Meeting Minutes

Post date: Jan 9, 2016 3:38:44 AM

River Oaks Neighborhood Association

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Premier Pizza at 7:00-8:00pm

  1. El Nino Preparedness

    • Dick said that he can provide flyers from the Water District.

    • Mary Anne said that she is worried about the Coyote Creek levee.

    • Dick said that Alviso has a number of sandbags set up in preparation, and that he can share Teresa Alvarado’s number with Jean.

    • Cole said that Councilmember Nguyen met with the Director of Emergency Services on El Nino preparation, and the District 4 office is planning on sending out an advisory letter to all residences located in floodplains.

    • Dick said that there is a Santa Clara County Operations Services Council which meets to prepare for emergencies such as this.

  2. Request for North San Jose Area to become District 11

    • Jean said that Dick will lead the project of creating a new council district. Jean said that she doesn’t know the steps to create a new council district, and asked Dick what the process is to create a new district.

    • Dick said that the first step will be writing a letter to the Mayor.

    • Jean asked if RONA will need a political person to help with the process.

    • Dick said that RONA should start by getting the Mayor to support a new district. Dick said that Alviso is growing and new hotels are being built. Dick said that RONA should start a petition. Dick said that City Manager Norberto was late to a meeting in Alviso.

    • Jean said that she thought the first of the year would be a good time to start the project and asked Dick if that would be okay.

    • Dick said that RONA should ask to meet with the Mayor now.

  3. Stop signs

    • Jean said that RONA is begging for four-way stop signs at Research/Village Center Drive and Research/River Oaks Parkway. Jean said that many people have been hit at these intersections.

    • Dick said that RONA should tell the District 4 office to set up a meeting with RONA.

    • Rick said that RONA had once requested stop signs, but DOT chose to conduct their study during the week of Christmas when there was very little traffic.

    • Jean said that DOT had previously told them that the intersections did not warrant a four-way stop.

  4. Community Center

  5. VTA Storage Yard

    • Jean wanted to know whether the City was interested in acquiring this property.

  6. Truck Route regarding Boston Properties project

    • Vladimir asked what construction is going on at River Oaks Parkway right now.

    • Jean said that it’s Park West, and they’re digging out soil for an irrigation system to plant Star Jasmine. Jean said that they can use purple pipes now because the water is now safe enough for feeding Redwood tree. Jean said that Greg Gastos is no longer with Irvine, and the new contact person is named Erwin. Jean said she spoke with Greg regarding the pavers.

    • Mary Anne said the filler they used was not gravel, but was closer to large pebbles.

    • Paul said he’s concerned about Boston Properties not extending written notices to residents beyond 1000 feet, and asked Cole if the City could do anything to require that they do.

    • Cole said that the municipal code very explicitly requires outreach to residents within 1000 feet, but not beyond it.

    • Paul asked Cole to tell Boston Properties that they need to do outreach beyond 1000 feet if they want to maintain good relations with the community.

    • Jean asked Cole to include the contact information for the City planner dedicated to the Boston Properties project in the next District 4 newsletter.

    1. Epic Park

    • Vladimir said he met with Iris Chan’s daughter regarding the new park. She shared some information about design and art.

    • Jean said she met Alex Peterson, a facilities supervisor from Parks and Recreation about the new park, and he told her that when they have their next community meeting about the park it will be a clean slate. Jean said that they don’t want it to be completely dedicated to a memorial park, but should be a community park. Jean asked Vladimir if he is still involved with the Santa Clara Union School Distirct.

  1. Agnews School

    • Vladimir said he is, and that Agnews is still not progressing. He said that the District says it’s because there’s not enough children there, but the population will grow. Vladimir said that he would like to see some partnership with large corporations like Cisco and Samsung.

    • Mary Anne said that her neighbor recently asked her when the school would open.

Minutes taken by Cole Niblett