July 21, 2005

San Jose City Council votes to take Bascom
Avenue property by eminent domain

Move paves the way for construction of community center and
branch library near Del Mar High School

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer 

Mark Donati’s property is about to be taken by force to help the city of San Jose build a community center and branch library at the intersection of Bascom and Lindaire Avenues. 

The City of San Jose plans to build a joint library/community center at 1000 S. Bascom Avenue (next to Streetlight Records.) The facility will be 43,000 sq. ft., which takes up half of the two acre lot. The rest of the space will be used for parking.

On June 14, the San Jose City Council unanimously voted to take Donati’s 86,000-square-feet lot, located at 1000 South Bascom Ave., by eminent domain, saying doing so is for the greatest public good and causes the least private injury.  

City library and recreation officials determined the site would provide sufficient land to locate the proposed District 6 multi-service community center and West Side Branch Library that’s expected to serve approximately 85,000 residents and be completed in the summer of 2009. 

The council also adopted an appropriation ordinance and funding sources resolution giving San Jose’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services the start-up money necessary to purchase the land. 

Supreme Court ruling
The controversial vote by the council came a week before a Supreme Court ruling June 23 reaffirming that governments have a right to use eminent domain to foster economic development. The ruling was a blow to many property-rights advocates. 

“If you work hard your whole life you should be rewarded, not have the government come in and seize your property from you,” declared an angry Donati to council members. 

Donati took the council to task for claiming his property is vacant saying he has building permits to begin construction of a two-building mini-strip mall with 23,209 square feet of retail space. 

“I don’t think any consideration has been placed on my business, my family, my children, my employees and their children and the people that I’ve hired to work for me including South Bay Construction,” he said. 

Andrew Turner, an attorney specializing in eminent domain cases who is representing Donati, disagreed that taking his client’s land by force was outweighed by the public’s good. 

“My client spent a lot of time, money and effort preparing (the property) for a building that would be ready to lease in November of this year,” he said.  

The city owns 57,860 square feet of land adjacent to the Donati property. The city will sell this property and it will not be used for the project. 

Land value
A staff report on the project states that an appraisal completed Jan. 31 by Diaz, Diaz & Boyd, Inc. valued the property at $5.6 million. An initial offer in that amount was sent to Donati on Feb. 16, together with a copy of the appraisal report. 

Donati rejected the city’s offer and has said he would not accept less than $8.5 million for the parcel, as he believes that would have been the value of the land after he would have completed his project. 

On March 4, the city sent a response to Donati stating that it’s only required to pay “fair market value” for the property and cannot pay an amount based upon prospective future valuation. 

Efforts to resolve the price dispute with Donati have not been successful to date, and city staff does not believe that further attempts at negotiation will be fruitful, the report says. 

Turner told council members to consider as an alternative option, an old 24,000-square-foot building being sold for $2.6 million that he contends is similar in size to Donati’s property, equaling two acres. He also said nobody would be displaced if the city purchased this property. 

City supporters
Supporting the city’s use of force to obtain the land are several school officials and youth workers who have been begging the council to build a community center and library to keep young people out of trouble in the Burbank/Del Monte Strong Neighborhood Initiative area. 

Jim Russell, Del Mar High School principal, attended the meeting, to support the community center and library project.  

He said in his two years at the high school, he’s grown worried about unsupervised children after school spending hours at the high school because they have no other place to go. 

“A community center would be a perfect place for these kids. This is the kind of situation where these kids are literally hanging in the balance… Does the community interest outweigh the personal property rights? I submit to you that in this circumstance the test is passed. The community interest will be well served by the use of eminent domain in this case,” Russell said. 

Russell’s support for the project was followed by testimony from several students from Sherman Oaks Community Charter Elementary School. They asked the council to move forward with the project to continue their quest for learning and to reverse urban underachievement by mostly minority students. 

“I’ve never had the opportunity to go study at a library,” one student noted, saying he has to travel to the Campbell Public Library for his reading needs. “We need a community center to help us learn. We need a community center to help people read books and learn English.” 

Angelita Figueroa, with the Richmond Menker tenants group, pleaded with the council in Spanish to build the center and library. So did a representative with the Burbank/Del Monte Neighborhood Advisory Committee, which during its May 26 meeting unanimously supported the city’s action to build the joint facility on Bascom Avenue because of a lack of recreational community services in the neighborhood.  

Many praised City Councilmember Ken Yeager’s work in helping city officials nail the project’s site. District 6 is the only in the city without a community center and full-fledged branch library. “This effort will help correct existing deficiencies in a much underserved community,” said the committee’s spokesman. 

Background 
In November 2000, voters approved the Neighborhood Libraries Bond measure that created funding for the expansion or relocation of 14 neighborhood libraries and construction of six branch libraries in communities without facilities. Included among the funded projects is the construction of a new 22,000 square foot West Side Branch Library in Yeager’s district, formerly known as the Willows Community Center project. 

The center was originally planned as an expansion to the existing Willows Senior Center, at 2175 Lincoln Ave., north of Curtner. Due to limited area for building expansion and parking at this site, it was concluded that another site would be more appropriate. 

On Feb. 10, 2004, the city purchased property at 1015 South Bascom Ave. for the facility. The land was bought after an extensive search. The city’s sole purpose is to construct the branch library. Other sites were being considered for a separate community center project, but they were determined to be too large, too small or to have a higher and better use. 

That’s when city staff studied the possibility of locating the two projects together to best serve the public good, minimize costs for design and construction, as well as long-term operating costs, while conveniently consolidating facilities to enhance public visibility and access, the report says. 

Consideration was given to locating the project at San Jose Community College. This option was dropped, however, due to policy and land-related constraints. City staff researched and evaluated six sites within the Burbank/Del Monte Strong Neighborhood Initiative area. 

After a thorough analysis of these potential sites and implementation options, city staff determined that none of the options available for constructing the community center and library as two separate facilities were completely satisfactory.  

The Donati property, located on the east side of Bascom Avenue, is accessible through Del Mar Avenue and would be user-friendly to residents of the Burbank/Del Monte SNI area. 

The area contains a large library/community center population made up of students attending Del Mar High School, Sherman Oaks Elementary School and San Jose City College. 

The facilities are also located on the east side of Bascom Avenue, and students would not be required to cross a busy street. In addition, because the property is vacant, its acquisition for the project will not require the displacement of any existing businesses. 

On May 26, a notice was sent to Donati Bascom Building, LLC, Donati’s company and legal owner of record, notifying it that a council hearing was scheduled on June 14 to consider the adoption of a resolution to determining whether the public’s interest required the proposed project. 

The new community center will need 60 to 70 parking spaces. The amount of required parking is based on the city’s zoning guidelines and building code provisions related to community centers, the report states. 

The community center and library project will be similar to the Almaden Community Center and branch library, under construction on Camden Avenue. 

The project’s service area reaches from approximately Stevens Creek Boulevard on the north, Hamilton Avenue on the south, San Tomas Expressway on the west and Meridian Avenue to the east. The only area that overlaps the service area of both the community center and the library would be central to the area of Highway 17 to the west, Stevens Creek Boulevard to the north, Hamilton Avenue on the south and Meridian Avenue to the east. 

For more information on the joint community center branch library project visit www.sanjoseca.gov/district6.