San Jose's park redesign project blocked because of its own historical preservation laws
The city of San Jose spent decades and millions of dollars to develop a plan to rebuild a city park, but the project is at a standstill after a court found the city broke its own laws.
St. James Park sits right next to downtown San Jose and city officials would love for it to become an amenity for all the new housing they want to build. But those plans are on hold, as the park's future has run head-first into its past.
"It's extremely historic. The park has been around for hundreds of years," said Fil Maresca, who lives less than two blocks away.
But in more recent times, St. James Park became a haven for drug sales and, lately, a hangout for homeless people.
"It's an urban park that people are — Outside of downtown, people are afraid to come here. It has a horrible reputation," said Maresca.
But he is part of an effort to change that. The city has spent 10 years and $4.6 million to develop a redesign of the park. And the centerpiece would be a new music venue called the Levitt Pavillion San Jose.
"Because that's the part that will bring people to this location," said Maresca. "That's the part of it that will activate it on a regular basis."
A very regular basis because to get help from a philanthropic developer called the Levitt Foundation, Maresca, who is an outdoor concert promoter, has committed to putting on at least 50, and possibly up to 300, free music shows per year, with the goal being to attract crowds of up to 5,000 people.
"And this can become our living room," he said. "This can be where we come and meet our neighbors and hang out in our front yard and spend time with our community."
But the park is already somebody's front yard. Right across the street from the proposed pavillion is the St. Claire Club, with its stately building constructed in 1892. The members treasure being part of the St. James Historic District, and Shawn Atkisson, the club's general manager, said they were alarmed to discover that the city's plans would disqualify the area from its historic designation.
"It's destroying the historical district, and that's a problem for anybody that's sitting in a building that's as beautiful as ours and wants to still keep the district intact," he said.
Atkisson said they also object to the size and frequency of the proposed concert venue and its futuristic look.
"It just seemed very aggressive and destructive to the park," he said.
So, the club challenged the city in court and won.
"The court said they broke their own laws. They broke their own historic ordinance," Atkisson said."They told them, you violated your own laws. And you can redesign it, and you can maybe even change your own ordinance. But you have to be ready for a challenge. You have to do it above board."
In its ruling, the California Courts of Appeal said San Jose could not approve its own permit for the redesign because the park is registered as a national historic site. So, now the plans are on hold, as the city decides what to do about its own historic preservation law. And the park sits at a crossroads, whether to move forward to tomorrow, or preserve what's left of yesterday.