October 28, 2004

Almaden Valley Community Association News

School board candidate Leslie Reynolds speaks to the AVCA

By Bob Boydston, President, AVCA
Special to the Times

The new school board member representing the Almaden Valley is Leslie Reynolds, who is replacing Gary Rummelhoff (who is running for the County Board of Education). You will not see Reynolds on the ballot because she is running unopposed. Reynolds was the featured speaker at the AVCA meeting on Oct. 11.

In her introduction, Reynolds indicated her specific interest in SJUSD (a son at Leland and a daughter at Williams), and her past leadership roles in various levels of the PTA and as a member of the Measure C Bond Oversight Committee. In response to a question about the lack of minutes and other irregularities we have heard about the Measure C, BOC, Reynolds explained that she was not an original member of that board but joined later, when minutes were kept. She also explained that there was no legal requirement for the existence of the Measure C BOC, unlike the situation for the Measure F BOC.

AVCA members shared concerns regarding the lateness of the school district financial reports and how difficult they are to read. The report for the fiscal year ending June, 2002 is just now becoming available, 14 months after the fact.

The AVCA is also concerned with the process for selecting people for the BOC; the school district now has veto power on applicants. Also there is concern about some of the projects that use Measure F bond money in ways not specified by the bond proposal such as the Community Day School Project.

The AVCA offered to use their Web site as a conduit between Reynolds and the community.

Almaden Feed & Fuel noise disturbance
For some time the neighbors of the Almaden Feed & Fuel Restaurant have complained about the rock bands playing until 2 a.m. in violation of its type 47 license as a general eating place, and about the noise caused by large numbers of motorcycles leaving at closing time.

The nearby residents have made complaints to the Code Enforcement Dept. under code 10.16.020, (offenses against public peace), and have also called the San Jose Police, the San Jose City ABC office and the AF&F owners. Unfortunately, these actions have resulted in no decrease in the nighttime noise, according to a leader of the group of neighbors.

In a response to a public outcry as well as a letter from the AVCA, Vice Mayor Dando conducted a meeting at the Williams School on Oct. 6. There was a panel consisting of the Code Enforcement director, deputy director of planning and the police representatives with the Vice Mayor acting as moderator.

The AVCA was very pleased with the meeting result. Joe Horwedel, deputy director of planning, after examining all factors, declared that the AF&F was to be active as a restaurant with music and bar facilities to augment the dining only, with the music to stop at 10 p.m. and the restaurant was to close before midnight.

Regarding the concern about the bikers making noise at closing time, the police plan to issue tickets and require mufflers. However it was pointed out by the panel that by changing the AF&F back to a restaurant closing at midnight, some of the biker problems may go away, particularly if the restaurant becomes more family oriented.

It is reported that a compliance order has been issued from Mike Hannon, director of code enforcement as follows:

“Please be advised I expect nothing less than full compliance with the order to be issued by Code Enforcement. As I mentioned at the community meeting, failure to comply with the compliance order subjects the property owner to administrative penalties up to $2,500 per day, per violation. As mentioned previously, the order will require the operator to cease business operations by midnight, has that already occurred? In addition, entertainment, other than incidental entertainment, as permitted by the zoning code, will be allowed until 10 p.m. The entertainment that you have described, i.e., bands, karaoke, etc. will not be permitted after Nov. 7.”

The neighbors will continue to advise the AVCA as to whether the noise disturbance has stopped or not.

The next AVCA meeting will be held Monday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. The subject will be the removal of the Winfield extension bridge to McAbee from the General Plan with the speaker to be announced. The meeting will be held at the McDonalds Restaurant at 5925 Almaden Expressway.

For more information visit the AVCA Web site at www.avca-sj.org.