San Jose Approves Plan For Campbell To Annex Neighborhood
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- The San Jose City Council on Tuesday voted to move forward with a deal that would annex a neighborhood in unincorporated Santa Clara County to the city of Campbell.
The council voted 10-1 to authorize City Manager Debra Figone to finalize negotiations with the city of Campbell under which Campbell would annex the 103-acre neighborhood known as Cambrian 36.
As part of the deal, Campbell would pay San Jose $200,000 every year for the next five years following the annexation, in order to offset lost revenue.
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio cast the sole dissenting vote.
"This has been a long time coming," said Councilman Pete Constant. "I'm thankful to the residents that have stuck with it because it because it has been a very long and painful process."
The city agreed in 2006 to annex all unincorporated areas that are 150 acres or less by April 15, 2011, as part of a lawsuit settlement agreement between the city and Santa Clara County.
Over the last 4.5 years, the city has annexed more than 1,200 acres and gained nearly 16,000 residents.
The annexation has brought about changes in municipal services, shifting the authority of services such as garbage, police and fire from the county to the city instead of the county.
Many of the 1,000 residents who live in Cambrian 36 prefer to annex to Campbell or remain part of an unincorporated area because they are concerned that annexing to San Jose will result in significant reductions in basic safety services due to the city's budget deficit.
Opponents of the annexation have argued that it would result in slower response times with the nearest San Jose fire station being four times farther away than the nearest county station.
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