Commendably, the Gilroy City Council has taken great care in its
review of the draft Hecker Pass Specific Plan. The outcome has the
most important earmark of a good negotiation
– neither side is completely happy.
Commendably, the Gilroy City Council has taken great care in its review of the draft Hecker Pass Specific Plan. The outcome has the most important earmark of a good negotiation – neither side is completely happy.
Here’s the primary example: Landowners and developers are less than pleased that the overall number of homes has been reduced, but critics would have liked the number to go much lower.
While a final plan has not been adopted by City Council, it’s clear that after a month of meetings and study sessions, we’re well on our way to adoption of an improved plan for this key corridor in our fair community.
Hopefully, the scrutiny this development plan has received from City Council signals another change in the Gilroy culture: that the City Council will take a more hands-on approach when it comes to important development proposals.
A drive along the
sound-wall-tunneled Santa Teresa Boulevard, a glance at the senior housing project that dominates the key Santa Teresa/First Street intersection and a gaze at the cookie-cutter homes packed alongside one another at Eagle Ridge demonstrate how important it is for that era to end.
Councilman Craig Gartman deserves recognition for championing the cause of creating a loophole-free plan, and we call on him to keep an equally sharp eye on any development proposals made for the corridor after the plan is adopted. His vigilance has been key to improving the draft specific plan, and will be just as important when it comes time to enforce it.
It’s been a long, hard month for everyone involved in Hecker Pass Specific Plan: the landowners who created the committee that drafted the plan, everyone who served on the committee, city planning staff and members of the Planning Commission and City Council.
Patience, however, will likely result in the adoption of a Hecker Pass Specific Plan that will preserve the beauty of the corridor for generations.
City Planner Melissa Durkin assessed the situation well: “This is a major policy document, and it needed a lot of scrutiny. Any time you have a document of this importance and size, it’s always a collaborative effort. There’s no question that, having gone through the Planning Commission and City Council, it’s a better document.”
Amen.
