Heartlands Estates gets green light from city

GILROY—Families in the market for a new home could soon set their sights on Gilroy, following approval of the tentative map and architectural and site plans by the Gilroy City Council of Arizona-based developer Meritage Homes’ Heartlands Estates project.
Plans on file at City Hall show a 16-acre lot along the 1700 block of Hecker Pass Highway, or 152, will be transformed into the site for 15 single-story homes.
The council Monday granted approvals for the project documents.
It’s west of the Village Green senior living community and south of property owned by South Valley Community Church along the 1700 block of Hecker Pass Road.
Approval plans and map for phase one are the next to last hurdle in the approval process before construction can begin, according to city planners.
The lots range between 7,400 to 11,100-square-feet in size, plans on file show.
While the council was silent on the matter at Monday’s meeting, aside from Councilwoman Terri Aulman recusing herself because she lives within 500-feet of the proposed development, the planning commission talked at length about the project.
Concerns about a lack in parking were raised at the April 2 planning commission meeting, where Commissioner Tom Fischer said he would not support phase two of the project if sufficient guest parking is not made available, stating it’s a “necessity.”
Ultimately, the commission voted unanimously to support both the tentative map and architectural and site plans.
Responding to concerns expressed about parking, a representative for Meritage Homes, Skip Spiering, said each of the single-story homes will have a two-to-three car garage and there will be 91 parking spaces throughout the 16-acre project.
The development came about after the South Valley Community Church decided to sell off 15 units, which will be the site of the future residential planned-unit development, Spiering said.
Meritage Homes has agreed to pay $2 million in “public benefit” fees to create a 3-acre neighborhood park, and install new traffic improvements at critical intersections in the area.
The developer must also avoid removal of deodar cedar trees along Hecker Pass Highway, as stipulated in the development agreement.