The massive Heritage Oaks Memorial Park would sprawl over more than 100 acres of Coyote Valley – an area larger than 77 football fields. It would include a crematorium, multiple mausoleums and other buildings, and an extensive network of roads and parking lots. The developer will carve up Coyote Valley’s hillsides, excavating the ridges and knolls by as much as 75 feet and using the extracted soil to level out the natural contours of the hills. The developer also plans to install and irrigate 75 acres of non-native turf grass and remove more than 100 native oak trees.
Potential Environmental Damage to Coyote Valley
The proposed cemetery would:
Disrupt wildlife movement. The Heritage Oaks Memorial Park is located directly in the path of wildlife movement from the Santa Cruz Mountains across Coyote Valley. Wildlife attempting to migrate through these hills towards Coyote Valley would be deterred by the disturbance, noise, lights, and human activity associated with the multiple mausoleums, a crematorium, and an extensive network of roads and parking lots sprawling over many acres.
Waste water to irrigate millions of square feet of lawn. The developer also plans to install 1.4 million square feet of lawn burial grounds and non-native turf grass in this phase of the project, and to construct over 3 miles of pipeline through Coyote Valley to convey recycled water to irrigate all this non-native grass. Water, including recycled water, is precious in California, and should not be used to irrigate millions of square feet of grass lawns, particularly when ordinary residents are called upon to remove their grass lawns to conserve water.
Stretch fire protection services. Wildfire is another impact to be considered. This cemetery would be located in the wildland-urban interface, an area of concern for wildfire risk. Fire protection services would be further stretched by the need to protect this development.
Please sign this petition to tell the City of San Jose that you oppose the Heritage Oaks Memorial Park! All signatures will be submitted to the San Jose City Council. Thank you for helping to protect Coyote Valley!