Advocacy Update: Reid-Hillview Airport

Photo: Golden Eagle (Tom Grey). For the August 17th Board of Supervisors meeting, SCVAS resent our November 2020 advocacy letter in support of closing the airport.

On August 17th, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to “take all necessary actions, including closure, to immediately prevent lead contamination from operations at Reid-Hillview Airport". SCVAS supported closing the airport, looking to provide more open space in East San Jose. Closing the airport will also protect birds. A golden eagle was just struck in August of 2020. In recent years, owls, hawks, geese, swallows, and other ‘unknown birds’ have also fallen victim to bird strikes.

Protect San Jose's Riparian Corridors

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The Almaden Office Building goes to SJ Planning Commission Wednesday 8/25, (Long 4-story curved building with two 16-story towers and 3 level underground garage along the Guadalupe River in Downtown SJ). This project is less than 30 feet from the riparian edge of the river. 

Follow this Zoom link at 6:30pm Wednesday to give public comment, asking the Planning Commission to deny the project as proposed (item 5a): https://sanjoseca.zoom.us/j/96011876532

Talking Points:

• This Project will cause irreversible damage to the Guadalupe River. This is the first project in SJ that allows this level of intrusion into the Riparian setbacks and it erodes achievements we fought for years. This will create irreparable damage to the river as a whole. 

• Bird safety measures are less stringent than what is required by the City’s Downtown Design Guidelines and Standards. If Woz Way (another project across the street) can retrofit the entire building and abide by the Bird Safety Standards, the Almaden Office Project should do the same.

• The scale of this project is so humongous that it will dwarf the river and the Children’s Discovery Museum - public spaces that the community loves.

• The entire development will be about 1.4 million square feet of office space. In contrast, Google’s Downtown West development includes 7.3 million square feet. Google gave the City 200 million square feet of benefits, and committed to 4000 housing units. This project - a fifth of the Google project - will provide zero housing and zero public benefits.

• The over 4-year construction of this development will create long-term air and noise pollution from the construction site, disturbing the adjacent riparian ecosystems and neighborhoods. 

Pictured: an aerial view of Boston Properties’ Almaden Office Project in Downtown San Jose (from project Notice of Preparation)

Agenda: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/76269 (Public Hearing item 5a)

Staff report: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showdocument?id=76265 

Questions? Email advocate@scvas.org

Environmental Action Campaign

Giulianna Pendleton, our newest staff member

Advocacy is crucial to the SCVAS mission, and you are an important part of its success. Recently, thanks to your generosity, we added Giulianna Pendleton to our staff as part-time Environmental Advocacy Assistant. She has already made a difference—her advocacy convinced Los Gatos to include Bird Safe Design and Dark Sky in the town’s General Plan update. To enable her to continue this good work, her position needs funding.

Over the years, SCVAS has provided opportunities for young college graduates like Giulianna to help them become confident environmental advocates. With your help, we can extend Giulianna’s engagement beyond this fall so she can continue to support our Advocacy program, gain experience, and further develop her skills.

San Jose at night. Do we really need another bright distraction for our migrating birds? Photo by Keith Wandry

Victories for the birds. Our efforts to protect birds and enhance their habitat in our cities continue with sharp focus on urban forests, parks, streetscapes, and the built environment. Educating the public of the benefit of Dark Sky on our birds is an increasing part of our work. We made great strides in this effort this year with positive results:

• Cupertino adopted a strong Bird Safety and Dark Sky ordinance

• Mountain View prioritized Biodiversity in the new strategic plan for the city

• Google’s Downtown West project in San Jose incorporates stream restoration, native trees and exceeds the bird safety measures required by the City.

• Large projects in Mountain View and Sunnyvale include creek restoration components as well as native plant and pollinator gardens.

• Nesting Black Skimmers and Forster’s Terns on the Sailing lake island of Shoreline Park are better protected from disturbance

Smith Creek above San Jose. Photo Matthew Dodder

Green Heron. Photo by Dwight Agan

Challenges ahead. Habitat, lighting and Bird-Safe Design are becoming part of every discussion! Some projects however, advance despite the danger to wildlife. Our advocates speak loud and clear to highlight the potential harm to birds and their fragile ecosystems.
As such, the massive Almaden Office project, just a few feet from the Guadalupe River, needs our attention. We never stop working to preserve—even create—viable habitats for birds and advocating for Dark Sky, which is so important to bird migration. The San Jose Light Tower project on Arena Green continues to require close monitoring. As we advocate for urban habitat and for open space in Coyote Valley and along our waterways and the bay,

Giulianna gives our concerns a new and energetic voice.

The birds need your help. Please consider giving to our Environmental Action campaign today. By contributing, you will be helping protect our birds, their habitat, and their future. You can make Audubon’s voice heard. Thank you for your continued support!

August Conservation Corner

Photo: Matthew Dodder

New Vision for Coyote Valley

SCVAS has been vocally and actively working to protect Coyote Valley for over 40 years. Now that thousands of acres are protected, new opportunities arise. What will the valley look like in the future? How will the landscape change?

Please join our partner Green Foothills New Vision for Coyote Valley event on Wednesday, August 4 from 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m to engage with guest speakers on what might be the future of bird and wildlife habitat, farming, parks and indigenous stewardship in Coyote Valley.

Stop the San Jose Light Tower

Arena Green Park, the confluence of the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek, in downtown San Jose is a beloved community gathering place, offering space for both families and wildlife to gather. San Jose Light Tower Corporation plans on jeopardizing the health of this habitat with the construction of a 200-foot tall illuminated tower. Check out the new campaign website and then take action by signing this petition to say “No Thanks” to this preposterous “gift” of light pollution to the City of San Jose.

Save Newark Wetlands

One of the last significant unprotected wetland areas in San Francisco Bay is at risk of being lost to development, fish and wildlife species and millions of migratory birds. Developers are seeking to fill 500 acres of baylands in Newark to construct 469 “executive houses” (Newark Area 4).

SCVAS has joined over a dozen conservation and climate organizations in supporting the Save Newark Wetlands campaign in seeking to stop this development -- and instead secure the permanent protection, restoration, and inclusion of Newark Area 4 in the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Watch this newly-released 4-minute video featuring prominent Bay scientists and climate adaptation experts, and then Take Action by signing the petition to Save Newark Wetlands.

Tideline Protest

Tideline Marine Group, a private commercial ferry operator, filed an application with the California Utilities Commission seeking approval for unlimited Uber-like boat service throughout the Bay and its navigable rivers and tributaries. Together with the Sierra Club and with the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, SCVAS filed a formal protest arguing that this new service can have impacts to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge and on wetlands and estuaries all around the Bay. We asked for an Environmental Impact Report prior to approval of the project.