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SpeakOut
Varying Viewpoints
I read your article ["The San Tomas Community," April 21] with great interest. Here is some feedback on the subject.
You stated that for three years the neighbors met with planners before STNP was adopted. I checked around with my neighbors who have been in the San Tomas Area for 10-plus years, they stated that they had never been approached or informed by the city when the so-called discussion was going on.
As a matter of fact, the latest discussion has been the same way. None of my neighbors have been informed by the city that this was being reviewed.
There are approximately 4,000 residences in the STN. When the city handed out a survey form at a meeting (of which not many were informed) in the fall they got 107 responses.
So if this time around is any indication of how the city first came up with the STNP, what I think happened was that a handful of homeowners decided to impose their will on the rest of us. If this is to be done right we should vote on it at the next election.
Let me make a few things very clear! I am not for tearing down trees. I am not for sidewalks on small streets that lead nowhere. I am for sidewalks on streets leading to schools, parks, etc. We need a safe place for our kids to walk/bike to school/parks, etc. Try walking down Hazel Ave., or Burrows some time.
In another part of your newspaper there was an article about home sizes. Well, consider the following:
Most of us now have a home office/computer room. (Subtract one bedroom here.) We help reduce the smog (by working from home). We reduce traffic problems. We spend more time with our children and God knows we all need to after seeing what happened in Littleton.
As our parents are growing older some of us are choosing to have them live with us.
So it's not like Dale Bryant said. We don't live in half the house for one year and the other for the rest. We do need the space.
How do you think property values would fare if people knew that they could not add to/modify their house if they bought one in the STN? The folks on the old orchard area have large lots, 10,000-plus square feet, thus 45-percent floor area ratio is great for them but for those with 5,000-7,500 square foot lots it is a problem.
I read and look forward to reading the Campbell Reporter so please continue this discussion with more articles on this matter from all the varying viewpoints. I realize this may be a challenging task for you as it seems that Dale Bryant seems to be showing a bias against those of us with larger homes. I hope this paper does not turn out to be a propaganda arm for one side of the San Tomas Neighborhood Plan.
Daraius Sorabji
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Campbell, California
