In 2006, Gavilan College purchased 37 acres of land in Coyote Valley at the price of $19.2 million with Measure E funding, with 18 additional acres donated to the College by John Sobrato, one of Silicon Valley's largest developers.

The City of San Jose Planning Department, backed by the Coyote Housing Group, which was a constorium of developers who own land in Coyote Valley, had previously wanted to convert Coyote Valley, an area of predominantly agriculture and open space in the southern region of San Jose, into a densely populated community of 80,000 residents. But their plan, the Coyote Valley Specific Plan, fell through last March when it could not get past the environmental review stage of CEQA, a law regulating environmental impacts of development in California.

But, Gavilan College has not given up on development of their 55 acres of land. This past Tuesday, September 9th, the Board of Trustees of the Gavilan Community College District held a public hearing on the proposed Coyote
Community College Campus Project. Despite 2 hours of testimony from community members, college students, and faculty and professors from De Anza Community College, located in Cupertino, the Board voted unanimously to approve the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for their project.

Many objections to the Final EIR stemmed from impacts to biology and significant, unavoidable impacts to global climate change. The Project's EIR was done by the environmental consulting firm David J. Powers & Associates, the same consultants that did the faulty Coyote Valley Specific Plan (CVSP) EIR. Another concern is the lack of consultation on the projectwith the local Native American tribes, the Amah Mutsun and Muwekma Ohlone, who share tribal territory in Coyote Valley.

Although the decision by the Board of Trustees to approve the Final EIR of the Coyote Community College Campus Project was disadvantageous to the moving forward with preserving a wildlife corridor, dedicated students and biologists will continue to study this area for its rich biodiversity of native and endangered species, which use this area to migrate between the Santa Cruz and Diablo Mountain Ranges in order to preserve healthy populations. The location of this Coyote Campus is considered to be right in the middle a wildlife corridor where native predators and prey must cross the Valley and Highway 101 for their survival. It is assumed that any development of this size will be the seed for future development of Coyote Valley into sprawling urban center.

It was obvious that the Board of Trustees had already made their decision to approve development prior to any public hearing or input on the matter. Please contact Dr. Steven Kinsella to tell Gavilan College that it is unacceptable to put one of the last remaining undeveloped areas and open spaces of this magnitude into jeopardy. You can write to him at:

Dr. Steven Kinsella
Superintendent/President, Gavilan
Community College District, 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd.,
Gilroy, CA 95020, telephone (408) 848-4711; Fax: (408)
847-5102; email skinsella [at] gavilan.edu