March Meeting Minutes

March 2023 Meeting

After a pizza dinner with neighbors, WONA President Daphna Woolfe kicked off the March 23 meeting at the Cypress Senior Center.  The agenda included Federal Realty and District 1, the Pulte Property Line Dispute, Stevens Creek Corridor Study, the Mayor's Budget Message, and the Cypress Bike Lanes.  Please click the arrows to read each agenda item.

Federal Realty – Scott Valley, Sr. Vice President of Development

Federal Realty is the developer for Santana Row and Santana West, which is the new office building that is on Winchester Blvd. at the former site of the Century theaters.  Scott provided the following update:

District 1 Update

JR Fruen, Policy & Legislative Director:

David Gomez, Chief of Staff:

Property Line Issue with Pulte

Daphna and Chris have been very focused on the property line issues with Pulte (Winchester Ranch Developers).  Essentially, in the last month, 10 residents that have homes that border the future Winchester Orchard Park, have been informed that Pulte will be removing their fences and moving their property lines up to 3 ft.  This means that they will be losing part of their properties.

 

Daphna and Chris acknowledged that this is a very big and complex issue with Pulte, and it will have negative impacts to our homeowners if not dealt with swiftly.  The issue of exactly where the official property line is, is not clear.  The majority of fences that they are replacing have been there at least since the mid '70s when the mobile home park went in, and there are differing property records between Pulte and each affected homeowner.

 

The 10 homeowners have partnered together and have engaged resources to help them with this issue, with WONA being there to support.  We will provide updates on the WONA site to keep the neighborhood informed of this issue.  If you have concerns, please contact Chris Giangreco at vicepresident@winchesterorchard.org.

Steven Creek Corridor Study

WONA has been invited to participate in a focus study on the future of the Stevens Creek Blvd. which spans from Cupertino (Highway 85) to San Carlos (Highway 880).  This study will look at the future of the boulevard over the next 10, 20, and 30 years, with an emphasis on safety improvements that can be implemented in the short term.  Community meetings and focus groups will start soon.

Bike Lanes on Cypress

You may have noticed that the bike lanes on Cypress Ave. are nearly complete.  This is part of San Jose’s Better Bike Plan 2025.  The City of San José is transforming into one of the most bike-friendly communities in North America. The plan seeks to make bicycling safe and convenient for all ages and abilities in all parts of the city. This will be accomplished by building new bikeways, enhancing existing bikeways, and implementing supportive programs and policies.  Some concerns were mentioned to city staff about incorrect placement of some of the bike lane signage, with some blocking sidewalk access.

Mayor's Budget Message

WONA board member Emily Lansing provided an update on Mayor Matt Mahan’s budget message.  Mayor Mahan’s priorities for San Jose are:

He will be presenting his budget for council approval on March 21.  WONA will keep updated on this and provide updates via our website and social channels.


Closing

Thanks to everyone that attended, and signed up as block representatives that will help pass out newsletters.  Our spring newsletter is coming in early April.  Our next neighborhood meeting is in May, and we will be holding a special raffle.  We have some fun neighborhood events that we are planning in spring/summer, like Make Music Day at the Cypress Center on the summer solstice, Wednesday June 21st 2023.  Please stay tuned for more information!