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City Beat
SNI areas closer to receiving RDA money
Preliminary report one more step in funding approval
By Kate Carter
Blighted communities in San Jose, including the Gardner neighborhood of Willow Glen, are moving closer to getting funding to turn their improvement plans into reality.
The San Jose City Council on Feb. 26 approved a preliminary report on the status of the 22 neighborhoods in the city's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative program. The report is required by California law if redevelopment money is to be used to implement improvements, said Nancy Lytle of the city's Redevelopment Agency, who oversaw the report done by consultants Keyser Marston Associates Inc.
"They come at it from the point of view of doing two things," Lytle said of the consultant's report. "They have to prove there is physical and economic blight. We're out there trying to legally document blight, in case we're challenged in court."
The city has committed to putting $100 million of redevelopment agency funds into the SNI area over five years, Lytle said. All of that money will be from the agency's existing sources of income and not from the SNI area itself, which means that other agencies, like Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the school districts, will continue to receive all the property taxes from the SNI area, she said. But those agencies will still be allowed to review the preliminary report, as well as the final report that will detail the area's five-year implementation plan, she said.
The communities have been meeting--some, like Gardner, for more than a year--to identify goals and methods for improvement. Those plans are in the process of being submitted for approval to the city council--Gardner's was approved last month--and will then be included in the final report, Lytle said. The preliminary report, then, is focusing on what is wrong with the communities to show that they need help, while the neighborhoods focus on what is right and identify ways to build on those things, she said.
According to the preliminary report, the population of the entire SNI area was 256,206 people, or 28 percent of the population of San Jose, in the year 2000. Its population grew 11 percent between the years 1990 and 2000, a growth rate slower than the city's rate of 15 percent and the county's rate of 13 percent.
The median age of SNI area residents is 31 years, younger than the city's median age of 34 and the county's of 35. Its median household income is $50,854, which is 31 percent lower than the city's and 35 percent lower than the county's. Twenty-two percent of the area's households are very low-income and 47 percent are very low- or low-income, while 31 percent of the city's households and 29 percent of county's households are very low- or low-income. Only 16.5 percent of the SNI area's households are high-income, representing 13 percent of the city and 6 percent of the county.
The consultant's report stated that the area's demographic and economic situation can make its occupants unable to afford home improvements, lead to overcrowding and make it difficult to attract businesses.
The report also made specific studies of the individual SNI communities. The Gardner area, located approximately within Interstate 280, Willow Street, Highway 87 and Bird Avenue, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the project and comprises a diversity of uses, including residential, commercial and industrial.
Its buildings are primarily turn-of-the-century single-family homes, many smaller units, and the area has a 20 percent greater overcrowding average than the city as a whole.
Thirty-one percent of the area's single-family units are less than 1,000 square feet, and 66 percent of the multiple family units are less than 850 square feet. Most small units either do not have two bedrooms or have two small bedrooms that do not adequately house the average neighborhood household size of 3.7 persons. The average citywide two-bedroom apartment is 970 square feet, but the average in Gardner is 733 square feet.
It is difficult for Gardner residents to expand their houses because parcels are smaller than the city's standard--20 percent are less than 5,000 square feet, which is below the city's current zoning for a residential lot, and 44 percent of multiple family units are less than 6,200 square feet, which is the average size of current zoning for multiple-family housing.
The area has experienced little new development or rehabilitation, the report stated. In the past three years, the city has issued permits for an annual average of 5.4 percent properties in Gardner, while the city, as a whole, has an annual average of 13.3 percent.
In addition, the area's property values are low--single-family home sales in the past three years are 49 percent lower than countywide and 26 percent lower than citywide.
Gardner's business growth is also low. The number of its new businesses declined by 86 percent between 1997 and 2000--25 new licenses were issued, and 27 businesses closed
Crime has an excessive impact on neighborhood--in 1999, there were 62 crimes per 1,000 persons, compared to 29 per 1,000 persons citywide.
Gardner's unique problem is ground settling, which creates a special need for foundation and road reconstruction.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
