A first look at plans for 80 or more houses on the former Las Animas school site raised concerns Tuesday when project drawings were formally unveiled to folks who will have to live with the development.
Neighbors of the nine-acre site on Wren Avenue worried about privacy, crime, drainage, parking and viewscapes at a meeting hosted Tuesday evening by the Gilroy Unified School District. The district owns the land.
The conceptual development plan was presented by schools superintendent Deborah A. Flores to a 7 p.m. gathering of about 45 neighbors at Antonio Del Buono Elementary School on Wren Avenue.
“This is the kickoff of the public input process,” she said.
On and off the district’s books for years, site development was delayed in part by the economic recession and past concerns raised by neighbors.
The newest plan to sell the parcel was drawn up in partnership with Standard Pacific builders. If approved by the city council, which could take more than a year, Standard Pacific would buy the land and model homes could open by the late summer of 2016, officials said.
They emphasized that discussion now is focused on neighborhood input, which will drive future iterations of the single-family project that envisions four architectural styles, open space and around 80 two-story homes. That’s 20 fewer homes than is allowed under city rules, Gilroy Planning Manager Susan L. Martin told the crowd.
It was the two-story aspect that irked neighbors most. They suggested that while development might be inevitable, it should be the best possible fit for the established neighborhood that surrounds the site.
Two-story homes, possibly elevated, in an area dominated by one-story houses are incompatible and unacceptable because it would rob existing yards and houses of privacy and views, they said.
“I see nothing positive” about the plan, said one homeowner, a 30-year old man who asked that his name not be used. “I am not super happy, this is a huge development,” he said, adding he’s concerned about crime.
Steve Ashford, recently named to the Gilroy Planning Commission, and his wife, Linda, also worried about the impact of two-story homes on their street east of the site, Wayland Lane.
“We are just concerned citizens at this point,” Linda Ashford said, “It’s in our back door.”
Steve Ashford took strong exception to Flores’ assertion that the district’s next elementary school must be built south of First Street because that’s where all the new development will happen—and hence the district’s willingness to part with land it already owns that is north of First Street.
The district should have continued to use the Las Animas site for an elementary school, he said, citing an upcoming 700-acre north Gilroy annexation request that, if approved, will mean plenty of new housing north of First Street.
Developers and school officials said they’d return in about a month with revised drawings based on the neighborhood input.
