The city of San Jose greenlit a controversial plan to establish the largest safe RV parking site in the South Bay Tuesday.
The site will house 85 RVs, and their residents, year round -- a proposal that's already drawing protests from people who live near the property.
“Right now, it’s too close to residential areas. That’s the problem,” said Christine Li of San Jose.
Opponents say they worry about safety and want to know if the homeless living there would be screened.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“If all the neighbors in the surrounding area are opposing this plan, it means this is not a good plan,” said Li.
The site is a 6-acre lot at 1300 Berryessa Road, about a mile from the BART station.
The city will lease the vacant lot from a developer for the next 10 years at a price of $18 million.
“They are moving people from one place to another, like musical chairs, they are not solving the problem. But they’re just getting people off the streets that other people will complain about,” said Alex Pang of San Jose.
“We’re going to have security and supportive services and other things the residents need,” said Councilmember David Cohen.
The site is in his district and proposed the property as an option, saying it used to be a truck depot.
He added it’s more than a mile and a half away from the nearest school and said it’ll work better for everyone to bring the homeless parked on the street to the lot.
“But if we have a place where they can go and be stable, there would be no reason for them to move from place to place,” said Cohen. “This is actually a solution that gives them the opportunity to have services and be stable in one spot.”
Mayor Matt Mahan said it's a much-needed solution, noting there are at least 400 RVs parking in various San Jose neighborhoods right now.
“We need change,” he said. “We need to accelerate solutions and address unsheltered street homelessness. These kinds of interim solutions give us a pathway to doing that, that works.”
The city will move forward to set the area up, but there’s no set date on when it will open up.
