August 14, 2008

County names interim executive, defines Martial Cottle Park plan

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors announced that Gary Graves, the assistant county executive, will serve as acting county executive beginning Nov. 1 when County Executive Pete Kutras retires.

The supervisors also reached a planning milestone for Martial Cottle Park, a joint venture by the county and the state. With goals and objectives established for the park’s future development, the park is one step closer to its anticipated opening in 2012.

“Graves is uniquely suited to provide stability to the county organization because of his tenure and intimate knowledge of county programs and services, his financial background and his involvement in statewide issues that affect counties,” said Board Chair Pete McHugh.

Graves has served in a variety of Santa Clara County executive management positions since 1984. For the most of the past five years, Graves has served as assistant county executive directly supervising Information Services, Procurement, Facilities and Fleet, the Office of Budget and Analysis and the Office of Emergency Services.

He also serves as chair of several committees on a number of topics, including Administrative Capital, County Space Allocation, Proposition 36, Disaster Preparedness and the Jail Population Task Force. Graves also serves as executive liaison to the Superior Court and is the lead negotiator in the transfer of court facilities to the state. Graves provides lead staff support to the board’s Health and Hospital Committee, Public Safety and Justice Committee, Finance and Government Operations Committee and the Disaster Council.

Graves has played a pivotal role in the following initiatives: the plan to restructure indigent defense services in Santa Clara County; and state prison overpopulation and the pending Coleman/Plata litigation. He also is overseeing the current review of the Criminal Justice System to develop a new model for managing criminal cases in the Criminal Court. In addition, he is developing strategies to maximize the use of the county’s real estate assets.

During his six-year assignment as deputy county executive from 1997-2003, Graves was responsible for management and oversight of the county’s resource allocation process, information services and technology strategies.

Prior to joining the county, Graves held financial management positions for five years in New York, where he participated in restructuring that city’s budget, implemented fiscal management policies and procedures, supervised the Office of Management and Budget for the 14 agencies that provided direct staff support to the mayor and analysis and fiscal oversight to New York City Police, Transit Police and the Housing Authority Police Departments – budgets totaling $1.2 billion.

Martial Cottle Park
The 287.54-acre Martial Cottle Park is a new urban county and state park facility in South San Jose, bounded by Snell Avenue, Branham Lane, Chynoweth Avenue and Highway 85. Walter Cottle Lester generously donated 151.02 acres of this land to the county and sold 136.52 acres of the site to the state. Since then, the county’s Parks Department has been working closely with Lester and his representatives, community partners and stakeholders, and the state to complete a master plan and environmental review in compliance with county and state regulations.

Since April 2007, the Parks Department has facilitated a public participatory planning process that involves agency coordination and community outreach through project committees and with members of the public.

The also has been engaged throughout the planning process at the regular Task Force and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings, community workshop, the county Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the board’s Housing, Land Use, Environment and Transportation (HLUET) Committee meetings and via the Department’s project Web site. To date, the Parks Department has facilitated five project team meetings, three task force meetings, two TAC meetings, and a community workshop that was well attended with approximately 155 participants.

Based on the public and agency input received, eight goals and objectives were established:

—Recreation: the park will provide a range of passive recreation opportunities that complement Lester’s vision and is consistent with the property’s deed restrictions;

—Agriculture: the park will provide a working farm that supports sustainable and multi-faceted agriculture including educational and community-serving components and commercial concessions consistent with Lester’s vision;

—Education and interpretation: the park will provide educational opportunities for the public that addresses the agricultural and historical themes;

—Natural resources: preservation and enhancement will be consistent with park’s focus on agriculture, public education and passive recreation;

—Visual and scenic resources: the park will preserve high quality visual vistas;

—Land use: The park’s uses will be located with consideration to the site’s natural resources and to avoid conflict with neighboring uses;

—Circulation and access: the park will provide safe and convenient access for a wide range of users;

—Management, funding and implementation: adequate funding will be pursued for the park’s operation, maintenance and quality visitor services; partnership opportunities and cost-recovery measures will be adopted; a strategic approach will be applied to a phased implementation for the park development.

“We are very pleased that the Martial Cottle Park master plan goals and objectives are based on extensive public outreach,” said Supervisor Don Gage, “The process has been one of collaboration between the county, the state of California and the community.”