River Oaks Neighborhood Association

2/8/2012 -- Community Meeting for 401/405 River Oaks Parkway Rezoning

For more information about what's being planned next to Parkside, visit our project page for 401/405 ROP.

Didn't get a chance to comment at the meeting? Send your comments to: lesley.xavier@sanjoseca.gov.

Much of the first hour of the meeting revolved around the community's continuing anger and dissatisfaction with the city's long-term plan (Vision North San Jose) and the high-density that is moving in to River Oaks Neighborhood. Most of the issues that were brought up have been a concern of RONA for some time. RONA representatives ensured all the points decided on at the board meeting the previous week were brought up in the meeting.

Councilmember Kansen Chu has publically stated he is committed to ensuring that the Park Dedication money from the 401/405 project is used to build and maintain the park behind Essex. The critical step is to get Essex to hand over the parkland early so that this money does not "slip away" to some other part of the city. CM Chu's public committment will help get the dealmaking started.

Some non-project-related news that came up at the meeting:

Starting this year, city will start widening Montague Expressway (to at least 4 lanes each direction) from North First Street to River Oaks and from Trimble to Milpitas.
The Dept. of Transportation is working on an "Enhanced Bikeway" project for River Oaks Parkway. They want a "physically seperated" bike lane on ROP, such bikelanes are considered safer for bikers. This will be the first such bikeway of it's kind in the city. This will make the "cars" portion of ROP narrower, which should slow the traffic down a bit. As part of these changes, they are considering whether to put another crosswalk between Seely and Research. There will be another community meeting for this undertaking within the next 3 months.
The Milpitas BART station will open in 2017, construction is starting this year. This station is on Montague Expressway at Capitol Ave, it will also have connections to VTA light rail. (See also Wikipedia.)
The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) is in the final stages of purchasing the southernmost 55+ acres of the Agnews property. At the last board meeting the approved the Environmental Impact Report, and are scheduled to close the deal with the state of California in March/April. The money for this purchase comes from 2010's Measure H School Bond. SCUSD plans to build a K-8 school on the southern end of their site in the next 5 years, and a High school on the north end in the future. SCUSD has also heard the rumor that Cisco has backed out of purchasing the remainder of the Agnews property and the district has made no decision on whether they would pick up that piece of land.

Worried about construction noise, dirt, etc? Once a building permit is approved, we can work with Irvine to keep the situation tolerable. Also you can send your concerns to Irvine's representative: Todd Keller.


HOME NEWS CALENDAR PROJECTS COMMUNITY ABOUT RONA

The River Oaks Neighboorhood Association is dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life along River Oaks Parkway in North San Jose, California. Looking to contact us? Email info@ro-na.org.	Upcoming Events ... RONA Board Meeting: scheduled as-needed, usually first Thursday of the month at 7:00 pm at Premier Pizza. (next confirmed date: March 1st, 2012) Contact info@ro-na.org for details. 2/8/2012 -- Community Meeting for 401/405 River Oaks Parkway Rezoning For more information about what's being planned next to Parkside, visit our project page for 401/405 ROP. Didn't get a chance to comment at the meeting? Send your comments to: lesley.xavier@sanjoseca.gov. Much of the first hour of the meeting revolved around the community's continuing anger and dissatisfaction with the city's long-term plan (Vision North San Jose) and the high-density that is moving in to River Oaks Neighborhood. Most of the issues that were brought up have been a concern of RONA for some time. RONA representatives ensured all the points decided on at the board meeting the previous week were brought up in the meeting. Councilmember Kansen Chu has publically stated he is committed to ensuring that the Park Dedication money from the 401/405 project is used to build and maintain the park behind Essex. The critical step is to get Essex to hand over the parkland early so that this money does not "slip away" to some other part of the city. CM Chu's public committment will help get the dealmaking started. Some non-project-related news that came up at the meeting: Starting this year, city will start widening Montague Expressway (to at least 4 lanes each direction) from North First Street to River Oaks and from Trimble to Milpitas. The Dept. of Transportation is working on an "Enhanced Bikeway" project for River Oaks Parkway. They want a "physically seperated" bike lane on ROP, such bikelanes are considered safer for bikers. This will be the first such bikeway of it's kind in the city. This will make the "cars" portion of ROP narrower, which should slow the traffic down a bit. As part of these changes, they are considering whether to put another crosswalk between Seely and Research. There will be another community meeting for this undertaking within the next 3 months. The Milpitas BART station will open in 2017, construction is starting this year. This station is on Montague Expressway at Capitol Ave, it will also have connections to VTA light rail. (See also Wikipedia.) The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) is in the final stages of purchasing the southernmost 55+ acres of the Agnews property. At the last board meeting the approved the Environmental Impact Report, and are scheduled to close the deal with the state of California in March/April. The money for this purchase comes from 2010's Measure H School Bond. SCUSD plans to build a K-8 school on the southern end of their site in the next 5 years, and a High school on the north end in the future. SCUSD has also heard the rumor that Cisco has backed out of purchasing the remainder of the Agnews property and the district has made no decision on whether they would pick up that piece of land. Worried about construction noise, dirt, etc? Once a building permit is approved, we can work with Irvine to keep the situation tolerable. Also you can send your concerns to Irvine's representative: Todd Keller. 2/1/2012 -- RONA Board Meeting Minutes Minutes from this meeting are posted here. 1/5/2012 and 1/19/2012 -- 2 more meetings with HMH about Irvine's 401/405 ROP Meeting notes: January 5th and January 19th. And pictures of the proposal: Parks Location Exhibit PD Zoning Plans HOA Paseo Graphics There will be a Community Meeting about these plans in the first half of February. Please watch your mailboxes for the meeting notice. 11/21/2011 -- Community Meeting: Epic by Essex Property Trust (old Cadence site) Notes from this meeting are posted here. 11/15/2011 -- Parkside western-border residents meeting with HMH about Irvine's plans for 401/405 ROP Notes from this meeting are posted here.