The successful effort to preserve Coyote Valley — what has been rightly called San Jose’s last great open space — is a gift to residents and wildlife from Mount Diablo to Santa Cruz. A hearty bravo to the wide array of people who fought for more than 35 years against overwhelming odds to make it happen.
In the big-picture world of preserving open space, the San Jose City Council’s approval Wednesday of the $93 million deal to purchase 937 acres in the South Bay may not seem so significant compared to the tens of thousands of acres that have been purchased and preserved in decades past. But control of the strategic section of land, which runs down the western edge of Highway 101 between south San Jose and Morgan Hill, constitutes a major win for the wildlife that roam through the 1.1 million acres of open space that make up the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The need to maintain a diverse genetic pool is essential for wildlife, providing a buffer against catastrophic disease epidemics. Coyote Valley is home to deer, mountain lions, gray foxes, bobcats, badgers, hawks, owls, tri-colored blackbirds, California tiger salamanders, California red-legged frogs and much, much more. Preserving a corridor for wildlife to roam will provide the resiliency necessary to help protect against future climate change.
Longtime San Jose residents know that extending sprawl into Coyote Valley was once a foregone conclusion.
In the 1980s, Apple and Tandem considered building headquarters among the stretch of orchards and farms along Highway 101. Those ideas fell through, but in 1999, Cisco Systems pushed forward a proposal that would build a 6.6 million square foot campus for 20,000 employees in Coyote Valley.That plan fell victim to the dot-com crash.
Today’s high-tech companies are no longer interested in moving to Coyote Valley, and it makes no sense to pave the area over and build warehouses that take up huge amounts of space but hire few employees.
The circumstances opened the door for preserving Coyote Valley, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. It took a rare public-private partnership between open space preservationists, developers John Sobrato and Diane Brandenburg, and government officials to make it work.
Interestingly enough, the Coyote Creek flood that devastated San Jose in 2017 played a role in moving the deal forward. Mayor Sam Liccardo realized that leaving the land undeveloped offered needed flood protection for the city. It also allows for the recharging of a South Bay aquifer that will add crucial drinking water for residents.
San Jose will provide $46 million of Measure T funds to make the purchase, fulfilling its obligation to spend voter-approved funds on purchasing land that would mitigate the Coyote Valley flood threat. The Peninsula Open Space Trust will contribute $42 million, and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority will pay the final $5 million.
Beyond the environmental gains, preserving Coyote Valley gives the open space authority an opportunity to build trails for hikers and bikers to enjoy, including trails linking the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The deal preserving Coyote Valley for future generations recognizes the open space for what it is — a gift for Bay Area residents to treasure for decades to come.
