Almaden Resident
News
SJ Unified says no to McKean sports field
By Monica Heger
It's official--a McKean Road sports complex is not happening. The San Jose Unified School District Board of Education recently announced it has no intention of selling or leasing the land for a sports complex.
"This is the school district being very financially responsible," said Karen Fuqua, spokeswoman for the school district. "Our job is to provide an educational experience for the students in San Jose Unified."
Fuqua said the school district could not sell or lease the land because eight years down the road it might need that land and would not want to lose the community's faith by taking it back.
"We would lose complete favor in the eyes of the public," Fuqua said.
Another issue is the Naylor Act, which mandates that if the property were to be slated for community use, then after eight years if the school district wished to sell or trade the property, it would be required to offer it to other public agencies at 25 percent of market value. The district decided this was not a financially favorable option.
"Property is very much an asset," Fuqua said. "It's something we very much want to hold on to, particularly in Almaden Valley because of all the growth we're experiencing."
Fuqua said the board made the announcement after receiving numerous letters about limited field space. The school district is refurbishing fields at Pioneer High School, Bret Harte and Castellero middle schools and Williams Elementary School so space has been tight.
"Fields are crowded right now," Fuqua said. "The leagues are feeling a little bit of a pinch as far as being able to practice and would like to see some fields out there."
"We are very, very disappointed," said Dan Kennedy, who has two children who play soccer, and is a board member for both the Almaden Youth Association and the Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League. "We've been working with [the school district] for a long time."
Kennedy said due to construction at the schools, the leagues have lost 48 percent of their field space.
"It's been disastrous," he said, "and incredibly difficult to deal with."
Kennedy believes field shortage will continue to be a problem due to the lack of open space in Almaden Valley and the fact that no new parks are being built.
"As more homes are built and more families move in, there is no new space being built for parks, soccer or baseball," Kennedy said.
Ideally, he would like to see the school district come back to the negotiating table to try and identify potential sites for sports fields.
Aside from the school board's reluctance to sell or lease the McKean Road property for soccer fields, another issue is at play. Following the city council's approval of a General Plan amendment and approval of the environmental impact report in December 2004 to allow for a sports complex at that location, the Committee for Green Foothills and the South Almaden Valley Rural Alliance filed a lawsuit. They said the city approved the plan without sufficient environmental documentation. The city council approved the environmental impact report for the sports complex despite a 5-2 recommendation by the planning commission to deny it. The city also set aside $2 million in a Sports Field Development Reserve for design and construction costs.
Since the city and school district have not moved forward with a plan to develop the site, the lawsuit has not moved forward.
Brian Schmidt, legislative advocate with the Committee for Green Foothills, said the lawsuit would continue to stand unless the city drops its claim the environmental impact report and General Plan amendment are adequate.
"The environmental document is still out there," Schmidt said, "and presumably if we just walked away and the school district changed its mind, then we wouldn't have a case."
