12/7/2016 -- Board Meeting Minutes

Post date: Dec 15, 2016 7:50:35 AM

River Oaks Neighborhood Association

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Elan Meeting Room, 7:00-8:00pm

Attending

From RONA: President Jean Marlowe, VP Mike Bertram, Secretary Laura Carns

From County of Santa Clara, District 3 Office: Mike Donohoe

Lan Diep, San Jose City Councilmember, District 4,

From Santa Clara Water District: Dick Santos

and community members: 3 other community members.

MINUTES

• 1. Alviso is discussing whether to approve the TopGolf project. This would put retail and a new golf course in, replacing the original golf course near the library. 40 acres, currently zoned commercial/industrial. 7 retail buildings, hotel, restaurants, golf academy, and a golf course. 600 jobs, street, street light, sidewalk, and storm drain updates. Downtown plaza. Lots of recent newspaper coverage both here and here.

     1. Dick Santos speaks to RONA in favor of the project, pointing out that the alternative on this site is more high-density housing. He points out keeping a golf course will keep the current open-space mostly open. Yes it will increase traffic, nightlife, and noise. But housing on all 40 acres would be worse change to the community.

     2. Dick Santos asks RONA to write a letter to support the project. A vote was taken, majority was in favor. Jean and Mike will work on the letter.

1. River Oaks Park Maintenance issues.

   1. Jean spoke with Albert Rodriguez (Park Manager), he said he is having someone pull together the cost for this park from last few years. Once that is done we can discuss if the Irvine money is being used wisely.

   2. Also mentioned they have a plan to redo the River Oaks Parkway frontage. They hope to take out all the "clutter" and overgrown weeds, replace with barkscape and low-maintenance, shade-tolerant, low-water, flowering shrubs (lavender, etc). RONA will want to review this effort, make sure it ends up looking like some of the business park's landscaping and not like our poor medians. Irvine will likely be an ally in keeping up the standards of the park.

2. James Canova (local School Board for SCUSD), spoke to RONA about the huge growth in this region, and the possibility of splitting out of City Council District 4 and becoming District 11. Just starting to research the process, it will likely take a few years to get anything done. Lan Diep pointed out that (a) we will probably need a critical mass of residents similar to the other districts, and (b) 11 districts + the mayor = the possibility for a 6-6 tie in the city council, which might cause some issues.

3. Agnews update: schools are currently scheduled to open Fall 2019.

4. Jean will be participating in the Architect Selection Group Interview panel to decide which architecture firm to hire for designing the Agnews Schools. There are still openings for the design process, if anyone is interested in participating, contact Jean.

5. Jean and Mike met with Andrew Crabtree (Community Developer with City of Santa Clara, formerly with City of San Jose). Discussed the NSJ plan and Mayor Liccardo proposing to accelerate Phase II by the early release of 1500 residential units.

   1. His analysis is that in isolation the 1500-unit project is a good deal since they are paying a premium for traffic, schools, parks, etc. But it sets a bad precedent of breaking the NSJ Plan.

   2. Also we have to be careful that the development budgets don't continue to run under their targets -- "robbing Peter to save Paul." Currently we're under target for the traffic improvements budget because the city waived traffic fees during Phase I to try to accelerate growth.

   3. He pointed us to some information to boost our arguments against the proposal.

6. Repainting road lines on paved surfaces by Fountains/Verona: No news.

7. After all the median changes for drought-tolerance, where is our District 19 Maintenance taxes going? What is the community getting for our money? Jean will look into getting a report.

8. Dick Santos updated on the water district.

   1. We are still in a drought. Keep conserving! The water district is looking into expanding the Alviso water-recycling plant. Currently we do ~10 million gallons a day, looking to add 80 million more gallons a day. Partnership with other local cities.

   2. Continuing efforts to address the homeless situation. He reminds us that NIMBY does not help the community overall. The water district is pursuing 3 ideas: (a) rental properties as transitional housing, (b) using surplus district land to add housing, (c) partnering with the Downtown Streets Team to match up jobs, housing, social, and medical assistance for the homeless. He is especially hopeful for the Downtown Streets Team since it involves "work-first" and discipline. For all of these, will monitor programs and effectiveness over the year and if successful will continue.

9. The Newby Island landfill expansion is approved.

10. Mention that the golf course south of 237 in Santa Clara at Lafayette is going to be built up into a "bigger and better Santana Row". It's called City Place.

11. Lan Diep vs Manh Nguyen, and District 4 representation in 2017: Nguyen is pushing for a trial this month, but the court is pushing back aiming for this summer. Either way Diep will be sworn in as our representative in January.

12. No meeting in January. Enjoy the holidays!