Rezoning at the Flea Market

As everyone in Berryessa knows, BART is coming and will terminate (for now) next to the current Berryessa Flea Market. In order to take advantage of this transit hub, the Flea Market is being converted to new housing developments, starting at the north end of the parking lot.

When new housing developments are built, school districts are guaranteed a developer's fee to cover the cost of dealing with the impacts of the new neighborhoods. About 8 years ago, the district negotiated a deal with the Flea Market to take ownership of a parcel of land in lieu of the $6 million developer fees that would have otherwise been due. The land was to be used for a possible new school if demographics dictated the need. 

Recently, the district has concluded that the new housing is not generating the number of new students that had been anticipated. At the same time, the district is experiencing a rapid decline in the number of students living here. This is true across the entire county, due to the high cost of housing and a decline in the birth rates since the recession. The upshot for Berryessa is that our district, which had about 8300 students when I joined the board, is anticipated to serve just over 7000 students next year. As a result, there is plenty of capacity at our current school sites for the small number of new students that the housing at the Flea Market will generate.

Last year, the district entered into a new agreement to sell our land back to the developer so they can build additional housing units there. The land is valued at about $14 million. That money will help the district modernize our existing sites and make sure there is capacity at Vinci Park Elementary School for any new students that arrive due to the new housing developments west of 680.

In order for the deal to be finalized, the City of San Jose must rezone the parcel. There is a community meeting being held on the subject tonight (March 16) at 6:00 at Vinci Park Elementary School. The district and other interested parties will give testimony in order to convince the city to approve the rezoning.

Here are the main points:

1) Our demographer predicts that the Flea Market will only generate 6 students per 100 housing units. The overall district population is declining by over 100 students per year and is more than 1000 students below where it was a decade ago.

2) The property the district owns at the Flea Market is too small for a typical suburban school, which means a school built there would have to be multi-story. That would cost more money. The district currently has no money set aside to build a new school, which could cost $30 million or more.

3) Selling the land back to the Flea Market developers could net the district $14 million, which would allow for expansion at Vinci Park Elementary School if necessary to accommodate an influx of new students. Vinci Park could potentially be turned into a K-8 campus.

4) The school location at the Flea Market isn't an ideal place for a school, with traffic flow issues, close proximity to train tracks, and high density housing surrounding it. 

Please let our City Council member, Manh Nguyen, know that the land transfer is a good deal for Berryessa School District and our entire community, and ask him to support rezoning the property.