Almaden Valley residents last week told the San Jose Planning Commission they oppose a proposal to build homes on private open space in their neighborhood.

Although the project has been pitched as an opportunity to preserve some of the area’s scenic beauty and open it up to the public, opponents said it undermines the city’s General Plan and eventually will make acquisition of open space more difficult and expensive for local government.

The 20-acre parcel at 6100 Winfield Blvd., next to eight acres recently purchased by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, is owned by Valley Christian Schools. If approved, the plan submitted by developer Bill Myers would dedicate 19 of those acres to public open space in exchange for one acre being rezoned to residential for construction of eight to 10 housing units. A trail linking Almaden Lake Regional Park to Santa Teresa County Park would also be developed.

The commission postponed making a decision to give the city planning department more time to respond to residents’ questions received during last month’s review of a draft and environmental assessment of the Winfield project.

Planning department staff has recommended the project be denied because it “directly conflicts” with San Jose’s General Plan.

“This site is not within a designated growth area such as an urban village,” said planner Justin Daniels. “The proposed General Plan amendment is also inconsistent with policies related to infill development and rural and hillside development.”

Land use consultant Jerry Strangis, who is representing Myers, said he’s ready to present “the big picture” at the next meeting.

“The Santa Teresa Foothill Neighborhood Association has actively been pushing the proposition here to take private open space which is real pretty. You can look at it and the animals are all real nice, but guess what? The public’s not allowed here,” Strangis said.

But neighbors who live next to the site pushed back; Ann Hall, president of the Lakeview Terrace Homeowners Association, and her neighbors told The Resident that about 1,150 people have signed a petition demanding the project be stopped.

Hall told commissioners she’s worried that changing a General Plan land use designation would set a bad precedent.

“My concern is that by allowing conversion of open space to residential, we are going to compromise our ability to purchase additional open space for the Open Space Authority,” Hall said. “When owners see that land can be converted from open space to residential, they’ll see the value of their land increase in their minds, and Open Space Authority cannot pay the cost of a residential plot of land.”

Hall’s neighbor, Bernadette Troyan, cited studies that link health benefits to preserving open space.

“Researchers have found a correlation between views of nature, open space and human health,” Troyan said. “Currently, views of the open space from (Almaden Lake Regional Park) exist. I shudder to think of the drastic shift in those views if we’re looking out toward a hillside of dense housing. The quality of the park experience will be severely degraded.”

Troyan said approval of the project “sends us down a slippery slope” of encroaching on open space.

But Strangis said the project’s impact has been overstated because only one acre would be developed.

“It looks like it has a huge impact on the community to the north,” Strangis said. “But what’s important to realize is…we’re only talking about two acres on a frontage of Winfield. Of those two acres, half is going to be an improved park trail. The other half is going to be the residential project.”

Strangis added that development would require “another environmental clearance application, a geologic hazard clearance and a full planned development rezoning.”

“We have a lot of steps in front of us here,” he said. “It really comes down to, do you want to leave it as private open space not accessible to the public, or do you want an improved park trail that is accessible to the public?”

The planning commission will revisit the Winfield project 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at San Jose City Hall.