Residents Staunchly Oppose Kiely Project
By Alessio Cei
As developer Fairfield Residential comes ever closer to breaking ground on its immense project at 900 Kiely Blvd, which is slated to house nearly 2,000 people, residents continue to oppose what they see as an unnecessary, disruptive intrusion into their neighborhoods. “Contrary to developer belief, I have no problem with higher-density development, but the project as a whole should make sense,” said Kevin Park, a Santa Clara resident who runs www.liveforeverodt.com, a website dedicated to defeating the current plan. “By ‘project’ I also include social, economic, and academic effects, not just environmental…Rather than try to understand these issues and the growing problem with crime in our area, Fairfield Residential is simply proposing the addition of 2,000 people.” Last year, the Santa Clara Unified School District was nearly forced to go to the ballot box to procure new funding to cover the estimated influx of new students, an electoral struggle that was only averted by an eleventh-hour compromise with the San Jose Redevelopment Agency and developers, the latter of whom conceded $6,500 in additional funding per housing unit.
The chief concern for many residents is traffic. “With 900 [housing units], you figure, 1,800 cars extra,” said an area resident, who asked to be identified only as Jane. “I don’t know where we’re going to put those extra cars.” Kiely Blvd., the largest street bordering the property, is two lanes in each direction and sees a heavy load of traffic already; all other streets bordering the property are only one lane in each direction.
“Build it and they will come, and they will take the bus,” said John Reagan, president of the Casa de Valle Homeowner’s Association, describing the city and developer’s approach to traffic. “I’m a bus-taker. My employer gives me a free bus pass,” said Reagan. “My argument before City Council was, ‘Why don’t you impose on the developer that they have to provide passes as a condition of approval on the project?’ That at least gives [public transit] a running chance.”
However, even the bus service around the Kiely project is scant. Of the three bus routes that serve that area, “Route 328 only runs each direction once a day, and only on weekdays,” said Tappan Merrick, a neighborhood organizer who has conducted similar volunteer reviews of traffic studies in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, “The Route 330 service only runs four times a day…So in reality, there is only one existing bus, and that one is Route 81, with every half hour service.” Additionally, the Route 328 bus’ park and ride lot at Lawrence and El Camino will be removed if the Santa Clara Square project is also approved. The traffic study also neglected to look at the Lawrence Expressway and El Camino Real intersection, which will be additionally impacted by the Marina Playa and Santa Clara Square projects. “The City of Santa Clara cannot afford to avoid looking at the impact housing developments will have on traffic at Lawrence and El Camino,” said Merrick. “It would go beyond negligent to fraudulent.”
In addition to concern over the impact on the city’s traffic, many residents are worried that the nature of the project will diminish their community. “Low density houses with useful yards are a vanishing species,” said Park, “Once lots get converted into high-density housing, they don’t go back; it’s just not financially sound.” Although most of Fairfield Residential’s homes are designated “multifamily homes,” the cramped yards and communal driveways may be unattractive to families, encouraging a high turnover among new homeowners that will increase crime and alienate neighbors.
A draft version of an Environmental Impact Report has been released as part of the process to mitigate assorted other concerns from residents, ranging from air quality to sound and light pollution, but the draft EIR inspires little faith from critics. “At no point does the company that does the EIR come to us and say, ‘What do you think the problem is?’” said Park. “And they don’t have people living in the area who can tell them, ‘This is a problem that doesn’t show up on a one-day study, but does if you have to live here’.”
The construction is also perceived as unnecessary, particularly given the housing slump. “The average days on market for [Santa Clara] properties are 122 days at the time of writing,” posted local blog Letters from Silicon Valley. “That’s in effect three months’ worth of inventory. Why not sell these before the city permits building any more?” Rusty Wells, a founding member of Ultratech Stepper who is now retired, concurred. “They’ve been packing people into this city for so long, [but] the industrial base that supported it is fading away,” he said.
Finally, many residents are troubled by what they see as intransigence from Fairfield Residential and the City Council. “If you look at the project today and the original project…It is largely unchanged,” said Park. “They’ve changed the shape of the roofs; they’ve eliminated six apartments due to safety concerns. They’ve been talking to the residents, but not with residents. They haven’t addressed the residents’ complaints.” Residents believe they have been more than willing to compromise. The City Council’s unwillingness to force compromises on the developer has stirred complaints as well. “The city has not been a fair broker,” said Reagan.
