Gilroy
– They’re as much a part of this
”
Tree City, U.S.A.
”
as the trees lining Miller Avenue: The cedars that frame Hecker
Pass Highway.
The trees could come down some day, according to city planners,
but not as a result of the Hecker Pass Specific Plan.
Gilroy – They’re as much a part of this “Tree City, U.S.A.” as the trees lining Miller Avenue: The cedars that frame Hecker Pass Highway.
The trees could come down some day, according to city planners, but not as a result of the Hecker Pass Specific Plan.
The plan strives to keep the highway scenic, with buildings no closer than 100 feet to the road. The trees will stay, Planner Melissa Durkin said, because the road is wide enough.
“There are no plans to widen it at this point, no plans at all,” she said. “Certainly, if the commission and the council don’t think the setback (of buildings from the road) is wide enough, certainly, they could change that.”
Landscaping or agriculture may go in that 100-foot space, but no buildings.
At issue is whether Hecker Pass Highway will ever be designated a State Scenic Highway. If the road is eventually widened, and the trees come down, critics say, it could lose its scenic status.
“That’s one of the basic goals of the specific plan, that after this area is developed, that it is consistent with scenic highway standards,” Durkin said.
Even with complete General Plan build-out, there shouldn’t be a need to widen the highway or jeopardize its scenic status, she said.
“We don’t know whether Highway 152 will ever be widened, that’s something that Caltrans will have to determine,” she said. “It would have to be some external project that would necessitate widening.”
For now, the highway is not officially designated “scenic.” That process would have to be initiated by City Council, Durkin said.
