GILROY—A request to add 721 acres north of Gilroy to the city is under review by planners after the city council sidestepped most staff concerns and put it on the fast track to an expected summer vote.
The listed applicant for the proposed annexation is Jeff Martin of Gilroy, under the name Martin Limited Partnership.
But Martin said Tuesday he is hardly involved and that a group of investors that has a 20-year option to buy his land, about 400 of the acres, is behind the application.
He identified the group as the Rancho 101 LLC partnership and its head as Skip Spiering.
It was Spiering and his group of investors, according to Martin, that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a consulting firm to prepare an environmental analysis for the proposed annexation, which if approved would grow the city by nearly seven percent.
“I have been to one meeting with the city, period,” said Martin. He declined to name Rancho 101 LLC investors and referred questions to Spiering, who did not return calls as of press time.
In the meantime, city planners with workloads already stretched to the limit with building applications and permitting, according to a staff report, are hustling to process Martin’s application by the end of 2015.
That’s when Rancho 101 LLC wants the city to go before the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) for approval. The regional body has final say in annexations.
Martin called that time frame “very aggressive.”
LAFCO approval would amend Gilroy’s urban service area, the boundaries for future development, to add the parcel, step one towards annexation, Gilroy Community Development Director Kristi Abrams said.
Fitzgerald Avenue borders the land to the north, Day Road to the south, Santa Teresa Boulevard is on the west and to the east is Monterey Road.
“There’s a lot to be said about planning for large projects versus small in-fill developments,” said Gilroy Mayor Don Gage.
The city could have slowed the request because planning is underway for Gilroy’s 2040 General Plan, a process required by state law every 10 years. The process will be disrupted by any annexation that would happened before the new plan’s completion in 2016, and parts of the plan might have to be redone to accommodate additional land, according to a planning staff report.
In an Oct. 13, 2014 staff report, Abrams asked if the council wanted to slow the application, expedite it and bill the applicant or wait until the new General Plan is adopted. Only councilman woman Cat Tucker dissented in the vote to expedite.
Even with LAFCO approval it would be at least a decade before work starts, Martin said.
The size of the request nearly doubled after city staff and the applicant, Rancho 101 LLC according to Martin, agreed to add roughly 300 acres between Martin’s parcel and city limits—because LAFCO frowns on leapfrog annexations. Names of those parcel owners were not available by press time.
Such a large proposal typically takes three to four years to process, not under a year, Abrams said. All expenses to speed the request will be paid by the applicant, according to the city.
A private firm hired to prepare environmental documents will work directly for the city and will be paid $532,697 by the applicant, according to a city report.
Also, the city will hire more staff to allow senior planners to work on Martin’s request, according to Abrams, and the applicant must keep enough money on deposit for at least three months of project expenses.
Martin deposited $300,000 for environmental and administrative costs and paid a processing fee of $34,449, according to a staff report. Martin said all that money came from the investment group.
