by Larry Ames

Parks and open space are critical for a livable city: they are part of the infrastructure, just like roadways, water and sewer, schools, power lines, police and fire, et al.  When developers build new housing, they pay their share of the infrastructure improvements as well: it is not right for developers to reap the rewards while burdening the residents with the costs.  Accordingly, developers are required to put in roadways and sewer lines, pay their share of the new library and fire station, etc.  Also, by State law (“the Quimby Act”), cities can require developers to provide 3 acres of parkland for every 1000 new residents.  However, it is not practical to have hundreds of postage-stamp-sized parks scattered all over the place, one for each new condo or apartment building: it is much better to pool money from the various projects in an area and then build a decent-sized park.  Accordingly, the City has a “Parkland Dedication Ordinance” (PDO) by which it charges the developers “in-lieu” fees: money given in lieu of providing the park.  There are various rules and regulations on such fees, such as “the money must be designated for a site within 5 years” and “the park funded by the fee has to be within two miles of the development”.  Also, the City grants developers “partial-credit” for recreational facilities such as private swimming pools.

            The issue at hand is that the in-lieu fees are not large enough to provide the needed parks, and the developers’ lobbyists are opposing the City’s efforts to raise them.  The fees are presently set at only 70% the cost of land in the area, and also using 2001 land-values: costs are higher now.  The lobbyists have used a number of delaying tactics, such as demanding a complete accounting of all previously collected funds.  (They were all there, but about 1% of the collected fees hadn’t been allocated within the 5-year time limit and have now been returned to the landowners.)  Now that the account has been “reconciled”, the lobbyists are challenging the levels of partial credit given for the private facilities, and also challenging the validity of the City’s park strategic plan (the “Greenprint”).

            Several WGNA Board members (Ed, Harvey and I) have joined with other community activists in the area to form “Citizens for A Livable San Jose” (CalSJ).  We have worked with the San Jose Parks Dept., the Parks Commission, and the City Council on the reconciliation.  We are now also working with the developers and their lobbyists to suggest refinements to the PDO as appropriate, and to raise the in-lieu fees to 100% of current land values.

            Revisions to the Parkland Dedication Ordinance will be brought to the City Council on Oct. 24.  Support from the public is critical in order to balance out the efforts by the lobbyists.  We invite you to write to your Councilmember, or email Matt Cano of Parks at matt.cano@sanjoseca.gov. 

            We will post updates on the wgna.net website.  For more information, check out www.CalSJ.org.