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Council Watch
San Tomas residents to meet with city
Street improvements and single-family home additions head the agenda
By Genevieve Roja
Residents of the San Tomas area will be relieved to know that the city of Campbell is keeping the lines of communication open.
Three members of the San Tomas Neighborhood Association--Karen Pruitt, Pat McCullough and Judi DiBernardi--recently met with the city's community development director, Steve Piasecki; Bill Helms from the Public Works Department; senior planner Sharon Fierro; and city engineer Michelle Quinney. According to Piasecki, the purpose of this gathering was to inform the area's residents of a proposed Sept. 30 meeting for residents of the San Tomas neighborhood, a square-mile-and-a-half of land southwest of the San Tomas Expressway and Winchester Boulevard. It is estimated that 10,000 residents inhabit that particular area.
Piasecki and his staff presented a rough outline of items to be discussed at the meeting, which will be held in the multipurpose room at Capri School at 7 p.m. The agenda contains several components: neighborhood meeting information and background; recommendations for new streets; recommendation for existing streets; street listings by categories; streets or street segments that meet the criteria under the San Tomas Area Neighborhood Plan for curbs, gutters, sidewalks or rolled curbs; single-family home additions; and a question-and-answer portion.
"It's pretty well done, but you have to hunt through it to find out what's going on on your street," said Pruitt, who lives on Old Orchard Road--a street that will remain in its current condition with no curbs, gutters, sidewalks or street lights, as promised by the city.
McCullough says she is satisfied with the way things have been handled in light of the area's strained relationship with the city since it was annexed to Campbell from Santa Clara County in the early 1980s.
"My concern is that they [San Tomas residents] should have a chance to participate, and we have to keep at it to make that happen," says McCullough, who's lived on Old Orchard Road for more than 45 years. "This isn't an area where you have people coming and going all the time. It's a case of what [residents] want and don't want."
What many of the residents don't want is change. The San Tomas area was once home to dozens of orchards, and most residents treasure the area's pastoral appeal. Modernized street improvements would only be detrimental to the neighborhood.
"We don't want any sidewalks, curbs or gutters," McCullough says. "After all, they're [the city] charging us for something we don't want to put in; they're taking out all kinds of trees."
Piasecki wants to clarify some misconceptions.
"We're absolutely in favor of preserving a semi-rural look [for the area]," he says. "And we agree they [sidewalks, etc.] are perfectly fine the way they are."
As for the city charging San Tomas residents for installing sidewalks, that is not true.
"The city has always required that any time property develops, [sidewalks] are installed by the property owner at the time of development," Piasecki said. "If [property owners] add more than 50 percent of the building area or if they build a new property or subdivide property into lots, then owners are charged by the city for the sidewalks."
If, however, there are no changes made to a property, costs are not incurred unless it falls under the above criteria. Piasecki says that the city has stayed true to the residents' wishes since it adopted the plan in 1993.
"We are suggesting that we follow through with that wish to not have sidewalks on local residential streets that currently do not have sidewalks," Piasecki says. "We agree with the residents on that matter. Ninety percent of the streets in the San Tomas area were developed as they were in the original plan."
Residents will also discover that only 11 streets are earmarked for full sidewalk improvement. Three of the streets were placed on the list because they lead to parks and schools, thus ensuring the community's overall safety. Because residents complained about water puddling in the street during rain storms, three other streets were recommended for roll curbs.
Since last year, city staff must inform the San Tomas neighborhood if there are any modifications prior to Planning Commission and City Council hearings.
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Campbell, California
