Mixed-use, transit-oriented housing sounds like a great use for
the hulking, long-empty cannery building at Lewis and Railroad
streets in downtown Gilroy.
Mixed-use, transit-oriented housing sounds like a great use for the hulking, long-empty cannery building at Lewis and Railroad streets in downtown Gilroy.
The announcement that South County Housing has an option to buy seven acres of the 12-acre site that is currently home to the dilapidated, fire-ravaged former cannery and is pursuing plans to replace it with affordable housing, shops and office space sent shock waves throughout Gilroy.
The project is promising for several reasons:
• Because it’s located near public transportation, it will likely qualify for federal funds intended to encourage transit-oriented housing;
• The housing permits will likely be awarded outside of the city’s highly competitive residential development ordinance process;
• It would remove an enormous eyesore blighting downtown Gilroy;
• It’s a sign of investment and development interest in our beleaguered downtown;
• Mixed-use housing would bring more people – in the form of residents, shoppers and workers – to the city center, giving existing downtown businesses a boost and enticing new businesses to locate there;
• The project is being proposed by South County Housing, a nonprofit organization with a track record of building good neighborhoods throughout South Valley and beyond.
But making the site work – economically and environmentally – won’t be easy. There are lots of potential stumbling blocks that must be overcome before the former cannery site can become home to residents or businesses.
We urge city leaders, civic groups, developers, lenders and contractors to do whatever they can to make this project a reality. We encourage South County Housing to look at innovative affordable housing programs – especially those setting aside housing for public servants such as teachers – for this project.
And we encourage members of the downtown specific plan task force to get involved with South County Housing immediately so that plans for the project will dovetail with the downtown vision they’re working so hard to craft.
If we all work together, perhaps the cannery can be transformed from an eyesore to a highlight of and the catalyst for a revitalized downtown Gilroy.
