1. Riparian Corridor Setbacks
should be based off the Riparian
Corridor Policy Study so that
development doesn’t encroach on
the wildlife depending the corridor.
Include San José General Plan
2040 Policy ER-2.5: “Restore
riparian habitat through native
plant restoration and removal of
non-native/invasive plants along
riparian corridors and adjacent
areas.”
Integrate bird-friendly building
design, similar to the City of San
Francisco, City of Oakland, and
City of Sunnyvale.
biological
resources
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Increase and integrate native
plants into the built environment to
improve biodiversity, have flood
control, better air quality, and reduce
greenhouse gasses.
Increase housing all over the
Diridon Station Area instead of just
the southern portion to preserve San
Jose’s downtown. This helps to
protect San Jose’s traditional
downtown of retail, restaurant,
office, and civic uses, and provides
a more walkable experience.
Become a housing-supported
transportation hub that has pleasant,
safe, healthy, and efficient access to
downtown, not an extension of
downtown.
Reduce the heat island effect
and impervious surfaces in San
Jose through the greening of
parking lot landscapes near
Delmas. This helps to restore
ecological services for flood
control and cooler tempera-
tures.
Consolidate and unbundle parking
in new residential and commercial
buildings, so that parking spaces are
rented separately from building
space. This helps improve land use
and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists,
and transit riders.
Create more complete neigh-
borhoods in dilapidated areas
by providing a variety of land
uses: open space, child care
centers, medical/dental clinics.
Land Use
Provide accessibility for people of all
various needs, including: seniors,
youth, and people with disabilities.
Much of the senior populace, adoles-
cents, and people with disabilities
prefer to live closer to transit with
easy accessibility.
Affordable Housing: Twenty
percent of the new homes at
Diridon Station must be afford-
able to those earning low and
moderate incomes. Those who
earn lower incomes and drive
less must have access to
transit, amenities and services.
If the City is to achieve its goal
in increasing pedestrians,
bicyclists and public transport
user, then including affordable
housing is a critical path to
doing so. Preservation of
affordable homes will be critical
in ensuring that those currently
able to afford to live close to
Diridon Station can continue to
do so and not be displaced.
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hydrology
Conduct a thorough analysis of
DSAP’s impact from sea level
rise by identifying the effect as a
“Significant Impact” with mitiga-
tions incorporated. Climate
change and sea level rise are
known to have alarming effects on
life since temperature in water and
, water contamination withharmful
pathogens and chemicals will
increase. Diridon is also close to
the Guadalupe River so this is
dangerous for human exposure.
1 Increase trash, recycling, and
compost bins with proper enclo-
sures in order to avoid pollution
and runoff. Provide one bin every
250 feet along sidewalks and
creek trails.
3
Implement local compost and
water conservation programs
into community gardens that
replenish the water table and
provide local storage of com-
postable materials.
2
Do more than the minimum
required pollution prevention as
suggested in the DEIR. Since this
plan encompasses a large plan-
ning area where multiple develop-
ments will be constructed near
sensitive waterways, it is reason-
able to require innovative storm-
water infiltration measures that
can mitigate cumulative impacts
and support General Plan Policies
ER-8.5 and MS-3.4.
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Mitigations must address gaps
and efficiency for multi-modal
circulation. Many community
benefits will reduce air pollutants
through circulation efficiency by
making neighborhoods more
complete through a larger variety
and development intensity of
land uses.
Use Life Cycle Cost Assessment
(LCCA) to consider the total
cost of owning, operating and
maintaining infrastructure over
its useful life (including fuel,
energy, labor, and replacement
components) for greenhouse gas
emissions.
Provide some mitigative solutions
to climate change. Currently, the
County of Santa Clara trails
behind Contra Costa for second
place with 19.6% (18.8 MMT/Yr)
of total CO2 emissions released
within the entire Bay Area.
Follow Green Building certifica-
tion or at least certification
standards. By setting these
standards it’ll increase the
longevity of the building and cut
down on resources used to build
and operate each building.
Include plan for the urban
forest.
Require use of Forest Steward-
ship Council (FSC) wood and
recycled wood for at least 75%
of the project’s wood needs,
including wood used during
construction.
Encourage the installation of
energy efficiency retrofits by
creating a Property Assessed
Clean Energy (PACE) program,
which allows qualified residential
and non-residential property
owners to repay the cost of
installing energy efficiency
retrofits on their property tax bill.
Example: City of Fremont’s
Climate Action Plan, E-A3.
Meet LEED Neighborhood
Development or LEED Equiva-
lent - Gold or Platinum.
Reduce pollutants. The project
is going to exceed the BAAQMD
threshold on Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC) and Nitrogen
Oxides (NOx) . VOCs can be
harmful to human health, caus-
ing dangerous short-term and
long-term adverse health
effects. NOx is also greenhouse
gas and contributor to climate
change.
Create measures to reduce
cancer risk and the negative
impacts to sensitive receptors.
Although the DEIR includes City of
San Jose as an area with high
levels of toxic air contaminants
(TAC) and mentions the adoption
of BAAQMD’s Community Air
Risk Evaluation (CARE) program,
it does not provide any recom-
mendations to reduce these
emissions specific to the Plan.
Creating cancer-reducing mea-
sures will help the CARE program
become more successful.
air
quality
green
house
gases
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transportation
Form a Transportation Demand
Management Agreement (TDMA)
to decrease single occupancy
vehicles and lower greenhouse
gas emissions.
Improve bicycle access routes
into the station area. Convert
high usage routes to bicycle
boulevards to increase participa-
tion.
Do Not Widen the Roads: By
giving more privilege to the car,
we are discouraging the use of
public transportation. Instead
enhance infrastructure for
pedestrians and bikes.
Implement car share, integrate the
Bay Area Bike Share program
and expand it, provide mobility
management like carpool
programs, and include emergency
ride home services.
Provide free or discounted
transit passes to both residents
and employees within the project
boundary provided or subsidized
by developers, local government,
and/or companies as outlined on
pages 2-116 and 2-117 of the
Diridon Station Area Plan.
Conduct a Study in which no
High Speed rail option is taken
into account.
Shuttles & Community Benefit
District: The DEIR must empha-
size the use of public shuttles to
the project area not only to
downtown and to the Mineta San
Jose International Airport (as
suggested in plan)but also to
neighboring communities.
Bus Rapid Transit: There are two
major BRT projects adjacent to
the Diridon Area - El Camino and
San Carlos. The San Carlos stop
is about a half-mile away and
access must be made closer.
The BRT projects must play an
important role at bringing
residents to jobs or transit
connections. Further, the DEIR
does not include the cumulative
impacts from current and future
traffic and congestion may have
on the BRT projects.
guideto
Presented by Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org
Questions? Contact Kenneth Rosales, Sierra Club CA at
kenneth.rosales@sierraclub.org