(KCBS Radio) — San Jose officials on Wednesday are expected to approve a deal to buy the scenic Coyote Valley on the southern edge of the city.
Developers have long been licking their chops over the possibilities presented by Coyote Valley But this $93-million agreement backed by the city would take a little more than 900 acres of land off the market permanently, creating opportunities to restore it for generations to come.
"It is one of the few remaining valley floor landscapes in the San Francisco Bay Area that has not been developed," said Andrea MacKenzie, general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. She pointed out that the site is an important natural habitat for wildlife.
The authority is a government agency that would oversee a portion of the land, pending approvement of the deal.
Moore said taking this land out of contention for development is good for the community, because it will, as he put it, "reduce flood impacts [and> increase sources of clean water, easily accessible recreation and locally grown food."
The
Mercury News reported the region had been zoned for industrial use, and that if the deal is approved as expected, the city will need to find another place to put the thousands of jobs that would have resulted from developing the land.
