BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Meeting Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Meeting called to order at 7:07 PM by President Brian Ward.
PRESENT: [20 people present] Brian Ward (President) Loui Tucker (Secretary) Mikala Caune
Sally Henning Scott Hraban Jesse Hraban Robin Rogers (host) Linda Solis
Robert Solis
Sabine Zappe Lali Armstrong Byron Armstrong Madeline Damiano Gina Hernandez
Lan Tran (representing City Councilmember Pierreluigi Oliverio’s office) lanhuong.tran@sanjoseca.gov
Martina Davis (City of San Jose, Planning Dept.)
martina.davis@sanjoseca.gov
1480 Douglas Project Ken Fuller - Development Consultant
ken@svdevservices.com
Bob Salameh - Development Owner Farris Salameh - Development Owner’s son Ramie Salameh - Development Owner’s son
MINUTES - Minutes of the February 26, 2008 meeting were corrected and approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT. Current balance is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $561.34 Checkswrittenbutnotcashed:................... -$238.16 Effective balance to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $323.18 Accountspayable ......................... -$207.31 Balancewhencurrentbillsarepaid. ................$115.87 Membership dues received at the meeting. . . . . . . . . . +$285.00 Balance upon deposit of membership dues. . . . . . . . . . . $400.87
STATUS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD Lan Tran, from Councilmember Oliverio’s office being present, members offered their input and observations regarding activities and circumstances in the Neighborhood. Some of these matters will be emailed to John Myers, who represents Supervisor Ken Yeager’s office but was not present at this meeting.
Large quantity of branches were pulled off a tree and disposed of on Page Street.
Sign at the corner of Leigh and Parkmoor was run into and is bent at about a 45 degree angle
Trash, cars parking in the front yard, and garbage cans left on the street all week at 1464 Douglas and
1470 Douglas
Construction was attempted at 426 Willard but apparently it has stopped because the owner was told he
could not build without a permit
The “car salesman” has added 5 more cars to his inventory – Brian as the list, which will be email to John
Myers and Sheriff Rode. These cars are all for sale but related to the “auto body shop” run out of 425 S.
W illard.
The catering truck is either gone or is not making as much noise.
There are a lot of dog noise on Page Street. Reportedly someone has been breeding German shepherds
and chihuahuas (but not to each other) for close to five years but little or nothing can be done as it isn’t against any County ordinance. Madeline will get the address from Robin and one of them will email John Myers.
436 Page Street is vacant and boarded up, tagged. Loui will email John Myers about this property as it is in the County.
Status of house at 415 Willard? It was for sale and a developer was looking at it for 6-7 townhomes. With the downturn in the market, it appears to be on hold.
315 Menker Avenue - Code Enforcement (Lyn Romano) is aware of the property, has a reminder to check the status. No one is living there and it is deteriorating rapidly.
Is there an up-tick in shopping carts in the neighborhood. Loui as the phone numbers of the people to call and she will send an email again. Call in carts when you see them. If they find the same carts in the same location repeatedly, they will put that location on their regular route.
Another request to look into moving the traffic lights at Douglas and Auzerais. Some discussion about the impact of the Rubino project planned for the corner of San Carlos and Meridian and whether the traffic light could be moved at that time, with a possible NO LEFT TURN to keep people from using the neighborhood streets as a way around the traffic.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting 3/25/08
GUEST PRESENTATION Martina Davis from the County Planning Department and Ken Fuller with the 1460 Douglas Project spoke and
presented the townhome project planned for this location. Owners were present but did not speak. The Planning Commission, the City Council and Environmental Impact and many public hearings are hurdles in
front of this project. Highlights of the project
6 town homes, 1500 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath
2 stories with “medium” peaks; front porches planned for all units
Architecture somewhat dictated by the Fire Marshal who will not allow wood framed homes. Architect plans
to design with stucco and paint to mimic wood homes, what he calls the “Tuscan” look
Parking exceeds the minimum (2 car garages – although 4 of the 6 will be tandem) with 9 extra spaces
besides what is set aside for homeowners.
A new fire hydrant will be placed in front of the property
All homes will have private green space.
Front property will face the street; no gate or fence. It will be open to the street The developer wants the project to fit in the neighborhood, be part of the neighborhood. Ken Fuller will send a
PDF about the property to Loui. They plan to offer the existing structures for salvage prior to demolition.
MISC. BVNA PROJECTS
The Home Tour has 5 houses and a garden, and another home is possible. The homeowners will be
meeting at 4:00 PM on Sunday, March 30 at the Hennings. Because the grant funds will not come until AFTER the Home Tour, money will have to be raised or borrowed to cover expenses such as printing the brochure, advertising flyers, etc. A garage sale will be held at the Hennings’ home on Menker in April (date to be determined).
The Parks Subcommittee of the Neighborhood Action Council has met. They have $600,000 in “in-lieu” fees (monies paid by developers in lieu of actually creating a park). There is $1.9 million that had been set aside for the Scott/Clifton site which is now going to go somewhere else. Robert Solis has suggested the funds be used to buy the vacant lot at the corner of Scott and Mayellen and effectively double the size of Buena Vista Park. Other possibilities include the Del Monte Project, the Bascom Library Project, purchase of the lots at San Carlos and North Buena Vista, and/or purchase of the lot at Tillman and Park.
The basic idea is to get the land purchased first and then figure out how and when to build the parks. Don’t make us choose – we want it all!
c. Robert Solis is finishing up the grant application and will have it in on time.
Brian reported on the Rubino Project (San Carlos and Meridian) and the public meeting that was held
earlier in the month. 197 units are planned with 5-6 stories on Meridian and San Carlos, scaling back to 3 stories where the project meets the neighborhood. Parking for residents and customers of retail will be in a mulit-level garage built inside the complex. Their traffic figures were questioned, but the project managers seem oblivious to the impact on the neighborhood. It will be TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) and our job will be to mitigate the damage done.
The VTA project planned for San Carlos at Sunol has also been at public hearings (another is set for 7:00 PM on Thursday at Sherman Oaks School). The VTA owns the land and they plan to sell it to someone who will develop it. Currently the Green Valley Developers are looking at it and have the proposal currently on the table for 720-800 units in four 6-story towers and 3 12-story towers.
There is a “watch” being placed on the property at Park and Sunol (777 Park Avenue). Another project is being planned for that property.
There are complaints from the neighbors of the old Fiesta Lanes property which is currently under construction of loud noise (tamping down the roadway at 6:00 AM), cutting down trees, plans to put in eucalyptus trees near the barbecue pit, tearing up the neighborhood’s existing streets, etc. Brian plans to write a letter as the BVNA should chime in and support the neighbors near this project.
Annexation Meeting on Thursday, April 3 at the Sherman Oaks Community Center
NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at the home of Jesse and Scott Hraban at 1534 Willard Garden Court. May’s meeting will be at Loui and Sabine’s home on Race Street.
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.
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