Action Alert: Digital Billboards in San Jose

Digital Billboards in San Jose? Tell the City Thanks but No Thanks!

Two years ago, with barely any public outreach, San Jose City Council prioritized the placement of Digital Billboards on City owned Properties (Phase I) and on private properties (Phase II). Phase I is complete, and the city is now making progress on Phase II. Now is your chance to tell the City that they should no longer prioritize the proliferation of digital signs and billboards.

Digital signs and billboards create visual clutter and light pollution that affects our ecosystems, our health, our safety, and our quality of life in many ways:

• Harmful to Birds and Wildlife: Light pollution interferes with biological function and behavior in all living things. It disorients migratory birds and disrupts foraging, breeding, and success in raising young.

• Harmful to Our Health: Light pollution has been linked to many modern diseases, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, affective disorders, anxiety, and more.

• Increasing Visual Clutter: Digital signs and billboards will increase light pollution and fill our environment with advertisements.

• Distracting Drivers: Digital signs and billboards can distract drivers and cause accidents, potentially harming bicyclists and pedestrians as well.

• Invading Our Privacy: Digital signs and billboards are profitable because they communicate with our electronic devices. They know where we were and where we are going - they spy on us!

• Lack of Accountability: The City suggests that old signs will be removed, but many old signs were constructed without permits, and the City cannot ensure that old signs will be removed in an equitable way.

• Lack of Content Control: The City cannot control the display of billboards on private property.
  

What can you do?

1. Take a City sponsored survey (13 questions) in English, Spanish, or Vietnamese.

   This survey measures your level of support or opposition to new digital billboards. Here is your opportunity to tell San Jose that you oppose all new digital signs.

   The survey negotiates terms under which you may support some locations for electronic billboards, or other ways for the city to process and allow digital billboards on private properties in San Jose. We hope that you will oppose all digital signs and billboards. You may even comment and ask the Council to reverse their previous approval of digital billboards on city owned properties!

2. Contact the Mayor and City Council and ask them to stop all work on digital signs and billboards immediately.

   You can contact your Council Member via email or phone here.

   Not sure who your Council Member is? Check this map.

Action Alert: Just a minute to help birds

Dear friends and advocates,

Just ten minutes of your time can have an impact across the Bay. Take a moment to speak up for the birds and nature that make our Bay Area such a unique place to live.

Threat to the Bay: Just 2 minutes of your time

One of the single largest opportunities to protect and restore San Francisco Bay wetlands and wildlife in the south San Francisco Bay is at risk of being lost forever. The City of Newark approved a plan that would pave over hundreds of acres of open space directly adjacent to the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Our friends at the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge are urging the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) and San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) to exercise their full regulatory authority to protect the “Newark Area 4” baylands before it is too late. To learn more and sign a petition, see here.

Opportunity in Palo Alto: Just 2 minutes of your time

Priority Setting: Deadline January 28

Each year, the Palo Alto City Council reviews its priorities for the year ahead at its annual Council Retreat. The City has been working on housing, sustainability and mobility among other priorities, and we can expect racial equity and Covid-related priorities to be added, but let us remind the council not to leave birds and nature behind. Let’s ask Palo Alto to prioritize Nature and Biodiversity in the City with focus on Bird-Friendly design, Dark Sky, native plantings in parks and the urban forest, restoring habitat, and management of open space in ways that take care of birds and wildlife. You can take the (very short) City Survey here.
Since this is not one of the priorities on the menu, you may add a comment and ask Palo Alto to prioritize Nature and Biodiversity. You can see Shani Kleinhaus' response among many responses here.

New Community Effort in Mountain View: Just 1 minute of your time

A new community group - GreenSpacesMV - has formed in Mountain View. The group advocates for a healthy community thriving with urban tree canopy, nature and native biodiversity. Interested Mountain View residents please contact shani@scvas.org or follow the group on Facebook.

The Newts of Alma Bridge Road: Just a moment of your time

A new website, and please thank the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for caring.

The Newt Patrol has a new website to document and inform the public about the unparalleled mortality of Pacific Newts on Alma Bridge Road by Lexington Reservoir.

This mortality influenced the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, who earlier this month voted to delay the development of a parking area and trail access at the Beatty property on Alma Bridge Road until after a study of newt mortality is complete. Please use this form to select 'All Board Members' and thank Directors Karen Holman, Yoriko Kishimoto, Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, Larry Hassett, Jed Cyr, Curt Riffle, and Pete Siemens for voting to wait until studies are completed prior to making decisions that could potentially lead to increased newt mortality.

Thank you for your activism in your community,

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society

Conservation Corner Winter 2021

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate

Coyote Valley, Matthew Dodder

Advocacy efforts and campaigns take a very long time, and several of our 2020 engagements are nearing significant milestones or are expected to conclude this winter. We are currently looking for volunteers to help us advocate for birds and nature in our communities. To learn more about volunteering, please contact shani@scvas.org.

Bird-Safe Design & Dark Skies

Collisions with glass windows, building facades and other structural elements cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of birds every year. Artificial light at night exacerbates this problem. To help reduce collisions, we continue to advocate in Cupertino for Bird-Safe Design and Dark Sky ordinances. We hope that by the time the Winter Avocet is published, these ordinances will be adopted by the Cupertino City Council. Similarly in San Jose, we hope that the v will provide strong protections for birds. Hopefully, we will have good news to share at the close of the year.

Coyote Valley

Our decades-long efforts to protect the entire 7400-acre Coyote Valley are moving forwards as the City of San Jose explores protections from urbanization and sprawl as part of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan four-year review. In this process, the City has incorporated many of our suggested Amendments to the General Plan. If adopted by Council, the amendments will:

Coyote Valley, Matthew Dodder

• Reallocate all 35,000 planned jobs from North Coyote to other areas in San José. North Coyote Valley will no longer be considered an Employment Lands Growth Area in the General Plan

• Change the land use designations of the 937 acres in North Coyote that were purchased earlier this year for preservation from Industrial Park to Open Space, Parklands and Habitat

• Change the land use designations of other undeveloped properties in North Coyote Valley from Industrial Park to Agriculture (with the exception of Gavilan College Coyote Valley Center)

• Explore a credits program to support further conservation actions in Coyote Valley and facilitate development in urbanized areas of San Jose

• Create a new Coyote Valley Agriculture Overlay that increases the minimum lot size from 20 acres to 40 acres on some agricultural properties

•  and more...

If these recommendations are adopted by Council, natural and working lands will be protected, and the Open Space Authority can start working on long-term restoration of wildlife (including bird) habitat and on regenerative agriculture in the valley.

Creekside Trails

Stevens Creek, Matthew Dodder

Riparian ecosystems are some of the rarest habitat types in North America and are also some of the most critical for wildlife. About 80% of all animals use riparian resources and habitats at some life stage, and more than 50% of breeding birds nest chiefly in riparian habitats. Because they provide connectivity between habitats and across elevational zones, the importance of riparian ecosystems as movement linkages is critically important to wildlife populations, and their importance is expected to increase with time to allow species to respond and adapt to climate change.

Studies show that human activity in riparian areas, including walking and biking on trails, has a negative effect on local wildlife and on bird nesting activity. And as the human population in Santa Clara Valley has increased, the demand for recreation and commuter trails has increased as well. Creekside trails have become ubiquitous, and planning continues for creekside trails on almost every river or tributary in the County.

We all love access to nature, and we use trails that provide access for observing and photographing birds. But we must also consider that our desire for recreational access to creeks and open spaces can fragment wildlife habitat and stress the diminishing quantity and quality of resources that bird and wildlife populations require for subsistence and reproduction. And while some trails leave space for wildlife to roam, others have fragmented habitat and restricted wildlife movement.

SCVAS and several other environmental organizations have been advocating with the County, cities and Valley Water for a long time. We asked Valley Water to provide focal areas for access, rather than paved multi-use trails that run along the creeks. We hear that Valley Water is working on policy, and hope it protects the most sensitive areas from human intrusion.

Almaden Office Project

In San Jose, we follow several projects along the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek. We submitted elaborate comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Almaden Office Project on the bank of the Guadalupe River, across the river from the Children’s Discovery Museum. The project proposes two 16-story towers (283 feet tall) connected by a 4-story building. A 3-level underground garage is also proposed. This development is proposed with zero setback from the Guadalupe River corridor.

Rivers and streams meander. Natural processes remove sediment from one side of the river, and deposit it on the other, creating erosion and meanders. The Almaden Office Project is situated on a bend where Guadalupe River flows are already cutting into the bank. Development this close to the river will eventually require expensive erosion control. Sooner or later, it will mandate the fortification of the creek banks at a great expense to the healthy riparian forest at the site and to taxpayers.

The meandering nature of streams and the importance of riparian corridors to our birds, fish and other wildlife is the reason why SCVAS and advocates focused on stream setback for decades. It is why, in the past decade, San Jose adopted a Creek Corridor Policy and joined as a partner in the Habitat Conservation Plan. These policies require a minimum 100-foot setback of development from major waterways. Yet the DEIR finds significant cumulative harm to biological resources of the river. The conflict with the requirements of the Habitat Conservation Plan is another significant unavoidable impact.

SCVAS will continue following the approval process for this project and advocate with Council members asking them to deny the project when it comes in front of them for decision. If this project moves ahead as proposed, decades of advocacy for waterways and riparian corridors will take a huge step back.

Good News for Open Space

Finally, we are extremely pleased that Measure T passed. The funds will allow the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority to continue working to acquire, protect and restore natural and working lands in some of the loveliest areas of our County.

Conservation Corner Fall 2020

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate

Advocacy During the Pandemic

San Jose at Night, Keith Wandry

Fall is a busy time for our Environmental Advocacy program, especially during election years. This year, the Environmental Action Committee is reviewing and evaluating several local ballot measures and state propositions, considering whether SCVAS should endorse, oppose, or remain neutral.

SCVAS has already endorsed one ballot measure for the November 2020 elections: The Open Space Authority extension of a $24/year parcel tax in perpetuity. The Open Space Authority has excelled in its protection of public lands, especially in Coyote Valley. We hope that their work on restoring wetlands and habitat in the valley can continue, uninterrupted, for the near and the long-term future. The funds will allow the Authority continue its work to:

• Preserve our region’s natural heritage by protecting scenic hillsides, open spaces, wildlife, redwood forests, and farmland

• Increase public access to open space and help maintain Authority preserves and trails and expand trail connections among local and regional parks

• Protect our water supplies and reduce pollution and toxins by preserving land around creeks, rivers, and streams

• Provide easy access to open space through urban open spaces and environmental education programs

Please stay tuned and check our October Avocet Online Newsletter for additional Ballot Measure endorsements and recommendations.

As we continue to advocate on projects and planning
efforts throughout our county, we often question whether
the pandemic has changed anything at all in the way our political system and government agencies plan for the future. Thus far, planning efforts have not slowed down, and even accelerated. Here are some of the ongoing projects we continue to work on, and some new ones:

Light Pollution and Our Birds

Light pollution has a strong impact on biological function. In birds, it interferes with innate behaviors such as breeding, migration and song. We continue to advocate for reducing light pollution as part of our work in Cupertino and in San Jose. In Cupertino we are following the progress of the Bird- Safe & Dark Sky ordinances. The City Council is expected to discuss the proposed ordinances on September 15 and we hope you can zoom in and encourage Cupertino to adopt strong ordinances to protect birds, habitat, and human health.

In San Jose, we provided input for better City-wide Design Guidelines. We are also advocating against an amendment to the Sign Ordinance. This proposed amendment will promote the proliferation of electronic billboards along freeways, and allow other types of programmable electronic signs in the city. The new signs will provide no economic benefits to the City of San Jose or local businesses, and only benefit the advertising industry and a few property owners along the freeways.

If you are a San Jose resident, please contact your Council member's office and ask your representative to put an end to this initiative. The more they hear from the voters in their districts, the better. Please contact advocate@scvas.org for additional information or directions.

No Slowdown in Planned Projects

The City of Sunnyvale is currently in the process of updating the Moffett Park Specific Plan. The plan area of Moffett Park covers 1,156 acres of industrial land and borders a sensitive wetland habitat along the San Francisco Bay. The intent of the plan is to greatly increase density and create a 24-hour mixed use district with office and housing and amenities for residents. Impacts on our Bay ecosystems and the birds that depend on them could potentially be substantial. If you are

a Sunnyvale resident, please tell your City Council (as well as candidates for office) that the Specific Plan must protect and expand wetlands and bird habitats along waterways and the Bay. For more information, see

Lockheed Ponds in Sunnyvale, Shani Kleinhaus

https://www.moffettparksp.com

In Morgan Hill, we commented on a Draft Environmental Impact report for an industrial development that offered inadequate mitigation for impacts to nesting birds, and
would risk polluting the local aquifer on Coyote Valley and/
or the Llagas aquifer. We also submitted a comment letter
on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the High Speed Rail segment between San Jose and Merced. The report dismisses what we consider unsurpassable and permanent harm to a wide range of animal and bird species including critically endangered species. If built as proposed and with no additional mitigations to the ones currently proposed, High Speed Rail could devastate our regional fauna.

“We continue to advocate with
the San Jose General Plan Update task force to change the designations of all public land in Coyote Valley from Industrial to Habitat
and Open space.”

With a large constellation of tribal and environmental groups, we continue to advocate with the San Jose General Plan Update task force to change the designations of all public land in Coyote Valley from Industrial to Habitat and Open space. For the privately owned lands in the valley, we seek Agriculture designation that should help avert development into the future. We sent a letter of support for State law (Senate Bill 940) that would clarify conflicts and facilitate protection of Coyote Valley from future housing development and sprawl.

Update on Our Newts

We have not given up on the Newts of Alma Bridge Road. Over 11,000 Pacific newts have been killed on Alma Bridge Roadin just over 2 years. The newts have a lifespan of 14 years, and we believe that this extremely high mortality rate over time will affect our local population negatively. In Southern California, the California Newt has been listed as a species of special concern where similar conversion of land to human uses has resulted in habitat degradation and massive roadkill. We believe the same may be happening here. But even if the impacts to the population were found to be less than terminal to the local population, we should be doing all we can to reduce this carnage.

To try and advance solutions, we have been working with several local agencies to support a UC Davis grant application to the California Wildlife Conservation Board for Prop 68 funding. The funds would be used for the planning and design of raised roadway in two “hot spot” locations of Alma Bridge Road to provide safe undercrossing for Newt migration to and from Lexington Reservoir.

And One More Thing...

In July, we joined Audubon California and more than 100 environmental groups throughout the state in opposition to Assembly Bill 3279. This bill would have significantly undermined environmental, environmental justice, and other public interest petitioners’ access to the courts and therefore access to justice. We are pleased that our joint efforts were successful, and the Bill was amended. 

Say’s Phoebe, Bill Walker