The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter submitted comments on the Diridon Station Area Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report. The letter summarizes their positions on three key points: 1) They recommend 20% or more of housing in the plan be affordable workforce housing to support transit use and mitigate displacement. 2) They emphasize that the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek areas are flood-prone and development should respect riparian corridor setbacks. 3) They recommend the city adopt bird-friendly design guidelines to prevent bird deaths, especially near riparian areas.

1. Sierra Club Loma PrietaChapter
Celebrating 81 Years of Protecting the Planet
3921 East Bayshore Road, Suite 204, Palo Alto, CA 94303
loma.prieta.chapter@sierraclub.org
TELEPHONE: (650) 390-841 FAX: (650) 390-8497
May 19, 2014
City of San Jose
200 East Santa Clara Street
San José, CA 95113
RE: RE: Diridon Station Area Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report - File No. PP09-163
Honorable Mayor, City Council, Michael Brillot, and David Keyon,
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter (SCLP) would like to comment on the discussions,
recommendations, and decisions made by the Planning Commission and Staff on May 7th
and14th
,
2014. We would like to clarify three talking points before Council on Tuesday May 20th
, 2014: 1)
Affordable Housing, 2) Riparian Corridors, and 3) Bird Friendly Designs.
Workforce Housing (AKA Affordable Housing)
A large conversation in the Planning Commission meetings focused on the Diridon
Coalition’s and SCLP’s recommendation of 20% or workforce affordable housing in the Diridon
Station Plan. Staff and the Planning Commission felt that our support for workforce housing may be
better spent on a city-wide scale rather than specifically in Diridon. Further, the Planning
Commission felt that the affordable housing percentage should be lower than 15% (statement made
by Kamkar) or should not be a primary issue since high density housing itself constitutes “affordable
housing” (statement made by Albelite), however, according to the Association of Bay Area
Governments (ABAG) that is a myth, high density housing is at market rate with price ranges our
workforce cannot afford.1
Transit, Housing, and Jobs Many of the Commissioners’ positions were economically
focused. They often expressed their worries that affordable housing would reduce economic
prosperity, and therefore, the chances of San Jose residents becoming employed in the Diridon
Station Area would be highly reduced. They also made the slippery slope fallacy that affordable
housing tenants would be more enticed to take transit to jobs outside of San Jose.
We disagree with these flawed assumptions. Although we agree that affordable housing
should be increased city-wide, we are also specifically concerned with the conditions of the Diridon
area and how an inadequate amount of affordable housing puts the city’s goal in even reaching 15%
1 See Myth #1: http://www.abag.ca.gov/services/finance/fan/housingmyths2.htm

2. at risk. Affordable housing is a way to help bolster the local economy, it creates jobs, attracts
employers and employees, increases consumer spending, increases government revenues,
reduces the risk of foreclosure, and most importantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.2
Currently, the Diridon Station Area has a higher percentage of renters whose median income
is lower than the City overall. Simultaneously, the percentage of those who take public transit, walk,
or bike is twice that of the City overall. Therefore, we are proposing the increase in affordable
housing in Diridon as a way to mitigate the negative impacts in decreased transit use
caused by gentrification and displacement. If there is any place where there needs to be a robust
amount of affordable housing, it’s near the Bay Area’s largest and finest transit hub, the Diridon
Station Area. We would like to advise the City of San Jose to not put transit goals in conflict with
affordable housing goals in the Diridon area, but should work together in unison since they
complement one another.
We acknowledge and understand that employment is the City of San Jose’s (via General Plan
2040) priority and we are not against it. We want to make it clear that since the Diridon Station
Area Plan does call for housing, we strongly support that 20% or higher of that housing
must be for the workforce (affordable). Tools that can make 20% workforce housing
possible are: 1) Stronger language in the Diridon Station Area Plan and DEIR by including
“required,” “will,” “must,” and “shall” for workforce housing implementation, 2)
Unbundled Parking, 3) Incentivized Zoning, 4) Housing Overlay Zones, and 5) Value
Capture. Housing for people who can afford them incentivizes people to move to San Jose,
especially if their jobs are in San Jose and it’s near transit. The Diridon Station connects people
throughout the entire city and especially with the El Camino and Santa Clara/Alum Rock Bus Rapid
Transit lines in mind, it gets them there faster.
There have been discussions between us and staff and planning commissioners on the
prioritization of location (I.e. jobs vs housing being closest to Diridon Station), where they
recommended jobs should be closer to transit rather than homes. This topic stems from our
concerns with a southerly focus of housing in the Diridon Station Area Plan. We want to clarify
that we are speaking in behalf of the growing senior population that San Jose and the entire
County of Santa Clara is going to face in the next 30-50 years. We ask that housing not be
limited only to the southern portion of the Diridon area and have some flexibility such as to
provide affordable senior housing closest to transit so they can easily move around without
crossing too many busy streets.
2 See for economic benefits of affordable housing: http://www.nhc.org/The-Role-of-Affordable-Housing-in-Creating-
Jobs-and-Fostering-Economic-Growth.html and Transform’s latest study showing that most affordable housing tenants
do not use/own cars and therefore use transit much more, which lowers greenhouse gas emissions significantly:
http://www.transformca.org/sites/default/files/why_creating__preserving_affordables_homes_near_transit_is..._repor
t.pdf

3. Riparian Corridors
The Guadalupe River & Los Gatos Creek We spoke with staff and Planning
Commissioners about Guadalupe River. They believe that the Guadalupe is not a floodplain,
however the existing conditions report for the projects shows the northern portion of the plan area
near Julian and Howard Streets is in flood zone AH (1-percent-annual-chance shallow flooding).
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the area is historically known to be a flood-prone
area.3
Further, the Santa Clara Valley Water District describes the Guadalupe River to be a
floodplain and at risk of both a 100 year and 500 year flood zone area.4
In fact, the Guadalupe
Creek’s biggest flood occurred in 1995, which can easily be tied to the effects of Climate Change.5
Lastly, according to the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Guadalupe Watershed map, the Diridon
area is a “flood-prone” area (see below and red box, Figure 1). Please refer to our February 7th
, 2014
submitted comment letter for more information on flooding.
Figure 1 Santa Clara Valley Water District Flood Map of the Guadalupe Watershed,
notice the Diridon area in red.
3 See flooding graphs from USGS: http://museumca.org/creeks/z-tamingguadalupe.html
4 See pages 10-11: http://cf.valleywater.org/media/pdf/Guad%20_Final_Record.pdf
5
http://museumca.org/creeks/z-tamingguadalupe.html

4. As we mentioned in our comment letter submitted on February 7th
, 2014, we support
native alluvial open space parks along the Guadalupe floodplain because it can act as a
natural buffer from development and a way to control floods and erosion made possible by a
100 foot setback per Envision 2040 Policies ER-2.1 and 2.5 and the Riparian Corridor Policy
Study itself. This can be achieved by the City purchasing property along the creek and
working with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to ensure that wildlife and the vibrancy
of the Guadalupe River is enhanced. We also recommend any new surfaces in the Diridon Area
to be permeable and built with vegetative bio-swales and other low impact development (LID)
practices.
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter is advocating for San Jose to start thinking
about resiliency and stop building in flood plains. No additional building should be
allowed within the AH flood zone.
We would like to reemphasize our specific recommendation in the Draft Environmental
Impact Report for the Diridon Station Area Plan since it includes ambiguous and faulty language:
1. Respecting Riparian Corridor Setbacks: While these are good measures, we are concerned
about the final language, “The setback for a particular project is typically determined on a
case-by-case basis” (page 255). The SJCCT of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
recommends the language be modified to reflect that development will always respect the
setback guidelines. We recommend the language to state, “The setback for a particular
project is typically determined on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the
Riparian Corridor Policy Study setback guidelines.” This setback measure will help to
lessen the impacts of human activity, such as lighting, noise, litter, trampling, and house pets,
on critical riparian resources. If setbacks are not met, adequate mitigation measures and
a public review process must be mandated.
Please review the General Plan Envision 2040 Goals below on Riparian Corridors
(Figure 2) . If we don’t begin achieving these goals now, when will we? The Diridon Station
Area Plan could be the first in abiding by these visionary and brilliant goals that the City of
San Jose created and adopted.

5. Goal ER-2 – Riparian Corridors
Preserve, protect, and restore the City’s riparian resources in an environmentally responsible manner to protect them for habitat
value and recreational purposes.
Policies – Riparian Corridors
ER-2.1 Ensure that new public and private development adjacent to riparian corridors in San José are consistent with
the provisions of the City’s Riparian Corridor Policy Study and any adopted Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation
Plan/ Natural Communities Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP).
ER-2.2 Ensure that a 100-foot setback from riparian habitat is the standard to be achieved in all but a limited
number of instances, only where no significant environmental impacts would occur.
ER-2.3 Design new development to protect adjacent riparian corridors from encroachment of lighting, exotic
landscaping, noise and toxic substances into the riparian zone.
ER-2.4 When disturbances to riparian corridors cannot be avoided, implement appropriate measures to restore,
and/or mitigate damage and allow for fish passage during construction.
ER-2.5 Restore riparian habitat through native plant restoration and removal of non-native/invasive plants along
riparian corridors and adjacent areas.
Actions – Riparian Corridors
ER-2.6 Develop a City Council Policy based on the City’s Riparian Corridor Policy Study and HCP/NCCP to
successfully implement the riparian goals and policies of the Envision General Plan, which recognizes that a 100-foot
setback is the standard to be achieved in all but a limited number of instances, where no significant environmental
impacts would occur.
ER-2.7 Partner with public, private, and non-profit agencies on public outreach and education on the importance of
protecting our riparian corridor resources.
ER-2.8 Develop and require the use of a criteria checklist from the Riparian Corridor Policy Study to evaluate new
developments that propose to use riparian setback exceptions.
Lastly, the Los Gatos Creek currently has no access for people and wildlife, is heavily
littered, suffers from small distance setbacks, and lacks daylight due to its culvert state. Culverts
require costly and on-going maintenance. We recommend the City to conduct a study in
researching a variety of daylighting implementation options like the City of Berkeley
conducted on Strawberry Creek by working in conjunction with the Santa Clara Valley
Water District.6
Bird-Friendly Design
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter would like to again emphasize that approximately 750
million to 1 billion birds are killed in North America each year as a result of collisions with artificial
structures. 7
Several hundred million collisions result from windows in buildings, particularly plate
glass and other highly transparent or reflective glass. Specifically near riparian and migratory
corridors such as the Guadalupe River and the Los Gatos Creek, where bird life is in greater
abundance, collisions are much greater. Many cities are adopting bird friendly design guidelines or
ordinance to address this problem. Within the Bay Area, the City of San Francisco, Oakland, and
Sunnyvale have already adopted bird-safe building guidelines.8
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta
Chapter recommends the City of San José to adopt bird-friendly design guidelines in order
6 See: http://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/Level_3_-_DAP/StrawberryCreekReport.pdf
7 See: http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/conservation/make-the-city-safe-for-wildlife/standards-for-bird-safe-buildings/
8 See: http://www.mercurynews.com/sunnyvale/ci_25026760/sunnyvale-adopts-bird-safe-building-guidelines
Figure 2 List of policies taken directly from the City of San Jose’s General Plan: Envision 2040.

6. Kenneth Rosales
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter
Conservation Programs Coordinator
to help prevent bird deaths and continue its leadership in wildlife and environmental
protection. If not, we ask that the final EIR at least require bird safe building designs for all new
construction. There is no cost (or may save costs) to Bird Safe Design, no “competitive
disadvantage,” it makes sense and needs to be part of good housekeeping. If we wait for a
city-wide ordinance as the Planning Commission recommends, it will take years. Lastly,
because of the Guadalupe River and Creek, and the expected intense development this is an
important place to start to implement a policy that can then be adopted citywide in the
future.
We thank the Honorable Mayor and City Council, Michael Brillot, and David Keyon for
giving the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter the opportunity to comment on the Diridon Station
Area Plan’s DEIR. We hope that with our combined efforts the Diridon Station Area Plan will
thrive for the local community, the environment and the greater Bay Area.
Respectfully Submitted,
Katja Irvin
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
Water Committee Chair
Gladwyn DeSouza
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter
Sustainable Land Use Committee Vice
Chair