More Jobs and People for Santa Clara County
Slated to add more than 215,000 new jobs in the next 20 years, Santa Clara County employment will grow by 26%— with more new jobs than any other county in the region. Over 62,000 new jobs will be available in the "manufacturing and wholesale" sector (+22%), while nearly 94,000 new jobs will be in the "services" sector (+34%). In total, Santa Clara County should boast over one million jobs before the year 2010. With a forecast of 17% population growth by the year 2015, Santa Clara County is expected to grow by almost 270,000 new residents (second in growth only to Contra Costa County). The region’s most populous county in 1995, it will remain so in 2015. San Jose will lead growth among all Bay Area cities over the next 20 years with an expected increase of 160,100 persons. The City of Gilroy is expected to grow 27% (+27,600 persons) and Morgan Hill will grow 53% (+20,300 persons). San Jose will also lead job growth in the county, with almost 95,000 new jobs by 2015. Santa Clara will gain about 23,500 new jobs, and Milpitas will add nearly 19,000. In South County, Morgan Hill will experience 103% job growth over the next 20 years, and Gilroy will see 87% growth. Santa Clara County residents enjoyed a mean household income of $79,800 in 1995. This is forecast to grow to $98,700 by the year 2015.
San Jose Awarded for Five Year Affordable Housing Plan
The City of San Jose recently won the "James C. Howland Award for Urban Enrichment" for its Five Year Housing Investment Plan. The National League of Cities (NLC) presented the award to San Jose at the Annual Congress of Cities held in San Antonio, Texas, December 7-10. This particular national award is given to planning projects of special merit in high quality urban environments. San Jose's winning comprehensive plan focuses on the growing demand for housing in the City and aims at making housing more affordable to a greater number of its residents.
In addition, the City has been recognized for the successful implementation efforts of the San Jose Housing Investment Plan. San Jose received the "1997 National Planning Award for Outstanding Planning Implementation" from the American Planning Association (APA), which found the plan to be exceptional. The City received this award of excellence at the APA National Planning Conference in San Diego on April 8, 1997. This APA award is given to encourage quality land-use planning in cities, towns and rural areas.
The City of San Jose is working toward completing an update of the San Jose International Airport Master Plan. The Master Plan serves as a long range development guide for airport facility development. Since 1988, the Master Plan has been a very controversial issue in the community due to nearby residents concern with aircraft noise.
Currently, a draft of three different developments and an EIR Master Plan report have been issued, and they are in the process of completing the required written public comments for the EIR. The three project plans under consideration are:
§ Project Case Plan – designed to fully accommodate air carrier demand in 2010, approximately 17.6 million passengers, with two air carrier runways at maximum on-site length.
§ Project Case Alternative A – designed to adequately accommodate 13.1 million passengers in 2010 with two air carrier runways, only one of which at maximum on-site length.
§ Project Case Alternative B – limits the Airport to one air carrier runway, but is otherwise designed to accommodate the maximum amount of air carrier activity, approximately 12.4 million passengers in 2010.
A fourth unlisted option is to have no further development. This option would be to continue accommodating 10.8 million passengers annually in 2010.
The optional development alternatives will not officially be decided upon until the City Council makes a decision, which is not expected to occur earlier than May 1997.
Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative
The Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative (WMI) was established in April 1996 to produce a comprehensive plan for protecting and enhancing the watershed that drains to San Francisco Bay south of the Dumbarton Bridge. Located primarily in Santa Clara County, this highly urbanized basin was selected by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) as one of the first watersheds to participate in the statewide WMI.
The WMI implements a new approach to watershed and bay protection that involves diverse stakeholders working in partnership to craft an integrated management plan. The interests represented include Santa Clara County, all the cities in the County, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the RWQCB, state and federal agencies, business and industry, land development, environmental organizations, agriculture, public interest groups and the public at large.
In addition to a high level of stakeholder involvement, the approach emphasizes the need to: target priority problems; develop integrated solutions; and measure success through monitoring and other data gathering.
During the recently completed initiating phase, participants identified and convened the stakeholders, drafted a mission statement, gathered information resources needed to get started, and designed the processes to be used during the two-year planning phase. The comprehensive watershed plan crafted during this effort will guide watershed management activities in the Santa Clara Basin for years to come.