GILROY
– Armed with a stack of documents and a new lawyer, a well-known
Gilroy family is claiming the city violated its Constitutional
rights when it approved a housing development.
The family wants Council to spearhead an investigation into
whether City of Gilroy staff and a developer intentionally misled
Councilmembers to believe the 60-unit project had cleared
environmental muster.
GILROY – Armed with a stack of documents and a new lawyer, a well-known Gilroy family is claiming the city violated its Constitutional rights when it approved a housing development.
The family wants Council to spearhead an investigation into whether City of Gilroy staff and a developer intentionally misled Councilmembers to believe the 60-unit project had cleared environmental muster.
The Christopher family, of garlic-producing Christopher Ranch fame, implored Council Monday night to halt the project, which is being developed by their longtime friends the Filice family. Both families are famous for their ties to the Garlic Festival and other Gilroy charity events.
The development, known as Mesa Ridge, borders the Christopher family property near Miller Avenue in southwest Gilroy.
The Christophers’ new lawyer, Morgan Hill-based Bruce Tichinin, says the city did not give the family due process under the law when staff did not personally notify them an environmental study on the Filice’s project was under review.
“The failure to give notice is a denial of procedural due process,” Tichinin said during a contentious City Council meeting Monday. “It would be entirely appropriate for you at this point to suspend these proceedings.”
Mesa Ridge developer Skip Spiering, his lawyer, city staff and some Councilmembers Monday night and Tuesday steadfastly rebutted claims that due process was denied. Notification of the environmental report was placed in a local newspaper and letters were sent to a long list of government and environmental agencies.
In addition, Karen Christopher was personally notified of two public hearings, one held in front of the city’s Planning Commission and another at the Jan. 20 City Council session, Planning Division Manager Bill Faus said.
“Adjacent property owners within 300 feet of the project were notified by the city,” Faus said. “They weren’t personally notified when the (environmental impact report) came out, but the (environmental review) process is not a single-step process. Clearly, the most important part of the process is the public hearing.”
Even though they acknowledge environmental concerns over habitat preservation for the California Tiger Salamander remain murky, developers and city officials say the project at Miller Avenue and Mesa Road can’t and won’t be built until the issues are resolved.
But the Christopher family doesn’t think Council and staff are getting their point. When Council approved the Mesa Ridge project Jan. 20 on a split vote, it was approving a project design that included a breeding pond for the salamander. However, it is now clear the state Department of Fish and Game is not requiring the breeding pond. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may.
Spiering said the project will continue to be proposed with a salamander breeding pond.
“We plan to propose a pond. Let the agencies decide,” Spiering said.
The Christophers, at the very least, want the city to halt the approval process for Mesa Ridge until habitat preservation plans are finalized and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Fish and Game.
Many neighbors to the Mesa Ridge project would also like a delay – if it means making the project less dense. Neighbors want the project to have between 10 and 30 fewer homes, because it lies in a formerly agricultural and still pristine foothill area.
Calls to make the project less dense, however, went unheeded by a majority of Councilmen Jan. 20. Only Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilman Roland Velasco voted against the project.
A majority of Councilmen Monday night dismissed the need for a delay, noting that the city’s paperwork clearly states the project’s salamander habitat preservation plans must get U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Department of Fish and Game approval before it moves forward.
They also didn’t buy Tichinin’s argument about violating the Christopher family’s rights. Councilman Russ Valiquette mentioned the family had been commenting on the project dating back to November.
“I have not seen anything that justifies a continuance on this,” Valiquette said. “Sometimes projects get killed by paperwork. We’re getting hit again with last minute testimony. This is the same information just cut and paste into a different order.”
Tichinin called the city’s lack of notification tantamount to the situation Gilroy found itself in 20 years ago when it exceeded its sewer capacity.
Back then, city officials illegally dumped excess sewage into the Pajaro River, violating state environmental laws. An investigation ensued and the state’s water quality control board slapped the city with a building moratorium.
Tichinin’s claims angered City Administrator Jay Baksa who, uncharacteristically, interrupted the speaker saying, “Not even close, Bruce. Not even close.”
Pinheiro had to regain control of the meeting by asking Tichinin to conclude his testimony. Tichinin already had taken more than the customary three minutes.
A court may need to decide whether the law dictates the city should have directly notified the Christophers of the Mesa Ridge project from step one – the environmental review process.
But for Councilman Bob Dillon, the city process worked in this instance.
“If I wanted to find a lawyer who would swear the moon was made of green cheese, it’d take me three phone calls,” Dillon said Monday night.
Meanwhile, the Christopher family will consider its legal options and worry that its own 12-unit development will be harmed by the murky environmental issues surrounding Mesa Ridge.
The Christopher family is preserving more than half of its acreage due to the presence of the California Tiger Salamander breeding ponds nearby.
Even though Mesa Ridge has roughly a third of its acreage preserved, the homes block off a part of the Christophers’ habitat preserve. As salamanders migrate from a breeding pond on nearby Eagle Ridge to the east, they will have difficulty getting to the Christophers’ upland habitat to the west.
The Christophers worry this will ultimately impact their development when they get final approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Fish and Game.
Department of Fish and Game biologist David Johnston, however, said the Christophers mitigation plan will not be impacted. Johnston said the habitat configuration was acceptable to officials at regional headquarters.
“There’s no way we’d go back and make the Christophers change their mitigation plan,” Johnston said.
