North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association
Word of Faith Church
July 22, 2003
7 – 9 pm

Call to Order: 7:05 pm, Alison England, President

1. Introductions and Welcome — Alison England.

2. General Announcements — Alison England

Tony Filice was introduced to the association. Tony will replace Debbie Rocha as the Council Assistant to Councilman Ken Yeager. Debbie was asked to teach dance at Milpitas High School and is choosing to follow her passion.

Thanks Debbie for all of your hard work ! Welcome Tony–we look forward to working with you!

3. The Gregory Street Bridge — Steve Roemer, Parks Department, Alex Shkouratoff, Public Works

Steve Roemer explained that he is responsible for the parks in districts 3 -7. If you are interested in the Los Gatos Creek Trail project please contact Steve.

Steve introduced Alex Shkouratoff who is the Public Works project manager assigned to the Gregory street bridge.

Alex reported that bridge construction should begin mid-to-late August and complete late December/early January.

The bridge will be installed on the mid-block of Gregory Street, adjacent to Fuller Avenue. This pedestrian bridge will consist of a concrete apron with two benches at the bridge entryway. A new sidewalk, curb, and gutter will be installed.

There will be no night lighting on the bridge. A request was made for a divider on the concrete benches to discourage

people from sleeping on the benches.

4. Report on the 4^th of July Party — Harvey Darnell, Project Chairman

Harvey announced that the 4^th of July party was a HUGE success. He congratulated the committee, the participants, and the 75 people and businesses that participated in planning and executing this successful inaugural neighborhood event.

Applause for the community of volunteers! A special "Thank You" was given to William Jeske of "The Willow Glen Resident" for his excellent reporting of this event and his overall excellence in covering important NWGNA stories.

Pictures and information of the event can be found on our website: www.northwillowglen.org.

5. The Tamien Plan — Alison England —general discussion

NWGNA supports the 1995 Tamien plan but is opposed to the current proposal to build two twelve (12) story towers, 120 feet tall in height, at the Alma Bowl site. The 1995 Tamien plan took neighborhood concerns into account and provided a height limit of 65 feet for the two towers, a large park was part of the plan, and retail was to be provided for the Tamien Transit Village concept to work. Each of these elements has been amended out of the plan.

There are other large developments of this size proposed along the light rail corridor, such as more extra dense housing at Lick Avenue.

Many neighborhood associations do not believe that the process adequately informs the area that is impacted. These development proposals are not evaluated together but rather in single, piecemeal fashion. There is no context for area-wide decision making which encompasses a holistic vision of the impact of these projects. The current land use development process will not change until local neighborhoods work with the City Council, the developer, and the community to ensure proper notification of proposed projects and their impacts upon local infrastructure.

NWGNA would like to be informed of pending development at the proposal stage.

NWGNA would like to be included in the "impacted area" designation of local area development

NWGNA would like to influence the notification process to be wider than 500 — 1000 feet around

proposed new development areas.

It was announced that the Water District purchased 1/3 of the Elk’s Club site ( a site pending future development).

This is potentially good news as the Water District may put constraints on the development of this property. The developer is currently recommending a neighborhood-appropriate height of thirty five (35) feet.

Councilman Ken Yeager is in support of a four (4) story sixty five (65) foot height limit for high density housing on transit corridors. Check out Ken’s letter to editor in the Opinion/Editorial section of the Wednesday, July 16^th edition of the "San Jose Mercury News." Councilman Yeager is advocating an inclusive city-wide debate to discuss city land-use policy.

There was a meeting about the Alma Bowl plan at Galarza school Thursday, July 18^th. United Neighborhoods and many local neighborhood groups were in attendance. There is a commitment for local neighborhood organizations to join together and to fight this project.

Motion: NWGNA is in favor of the 1995 Tamien plan. Result: Passed, unanimously

6. Signature Neighborhood Fence Building — Alison

The association would like to build some "signature" fencing along Bird Avenue to visually connect the existing Fuller Avenue fences to the Hummingbird Park fences. Dan Erceg and Marc Bauman will bring cost estimates and drawings to the August meeting. Many volunteers will be needed to complete this project.

7. The Black Walnut Heritage tree — Alison England

The heritage tree is located at the end of Hull Avenue. Alison has set up an account specifically for donations

to prune the heritage tree. It is estimated that the cost is approximately $1000.00.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:55 pm

That's all, folks!