GILROY
– One day after Eagle Ridge residents were told they needed to
rush approval of a mega real estate deal, there are rumblings that
some homeowners are ready to take legal action to slow things
down.
GILROY – One day after Eagle Ridge residents were told they needed to rush approval of a mega real estate deal, there are rumblings that some homeowners are ready to take legal action to slow things down.
Eagle Ridge homeowners are reeling over a delegate-based voting system which will determine whether the gated community expands northwest to include up to 120 homes which would cost around $700,000. Many homeowners want the issue to be determined by popular vote, and some apparently are ready to have a judge make that happen.
“There is a group of residents soliciting financial resources to make that happen,” Eagle Ridge resident Joe Lomeli said Wednesday. “It’s clear there is a major concern over who is going to cast our vote.”
On Tuesday night, Eagle Ridge residents were asked to support a multimillion-dollar, 33-acre land sale between debt-ridden Bonfante Gardens Theme Park and Eagle Ridge developer Shapell Industries. However, up to seven homeowners representing particular neighborhoods in Eagle Ridge will cast the ballots.
The delegate debate
In less than 20 days, residents must choose those representatives and trust them to base their votes on the majority opinion of the neighborhood they represent.
“The voting process was a huge surprise for a lot of people,” said Eagle Ridge homeowner Bruce Hatz. “As little as four people can decide how we’re going to do things.”
Actually, it could be fewer than that.
Delegates will cast a particular number of votes based on how many people elected them to represent their respective neighborhoods (or districts).
For instance, if a delegate wins his or her 200-person district with, say, 101 votes, that delegate has a voting power of 101. Another delegate in, say, a smaller 150-person district, could receive all 150 votes and earn a heftier voting power of 150.
Under the delegate system, popular opinion at Eagle Ridge is achievable if a vast majority of homeowners show up at the clubhouse March 30 to vote on delegates. But if small numbers vote or if large districts have close races, popular opinion at Eagle Ridge could fly out the window.
The homeowners association board of directors will appoint delegates if an insufficient number of voters cast ballots.
Frustrating residents even more is that delegates are not bound to vote a certain way. All the voters who contributed to a delegate’s voting power may feel one way, but the delegate can vote the opposite way. Conventional wisdom says delegates, who are homeowners in Eagle Ridge, wouldn’t do that. But this is politics, not wisdom.
Several residents criticized the delegate system at Tuesday night’s jam-packed homeowners meeting. By Wednesday, some residents were contemplating hiring an attorney, filing a complaint and asking a judge to issue an injunction on the delegate vote scheduled for April 25.
Eagle Ridge board president Dave Light, who said he will likely run for a delegate spot, claims the homeowners association’s attorney, Sandy Bonato, has determined delegates must vote on the issue.
Lomeli says the Eagle Ridge board of directors could call a special meeting to scrap the delegate system (on this issue) and set up a popular vote.
One resident also claimed Bonato had said the delegate system may not be legal. She could not be reached before press time.
A rush to voting
Many homeowners are not necessarily opposed to the Bonfante Gardens land sale.
They say April 25 is not enough time, however, to digest the potential impacts of adding more homes, people and cars to Eagle Ridge.
Before homeowners support the land deal, some want secondary access road options further explored. Some want the issue over chronic traffic violations resolved.
Others believe the junior Olympic-size pool and other amenities would under serve the Eagle Ridge population at build out.
Shapell Vice president Chris Truebridge made a good-faith promise to homeowners Tuesday. He said delegates would know the size of the budget Shapell is allocating to build the 3-acre park and its amenities before they cast votes April 25.
Secondary access and traffic enforcement issues, however, remain at impasse.
For the Hecker Pass theme park, and its creditors, time is of the essence. The park currently is using “rainy day” funds to cover monthly payments on $70 million of debt.
Along with proceeds from the park, the debt payments can only last for another year and a half at the most.
A year and a half is an eye blink in the world of developers. Shapell must go through six months to a year of costly planning, engineering and environmental review by the City of Gilroy before it can build.
“Shapell is not going to spend gobs of money before the first step (the homeowners’ approval) is out of the way,” said Bob Kraemer, board president of Bonfante Gardens.
Also, Bonfante Gardens’ creditors have the right to foreclose now, if a majority of bondholders wanted to do so.
“I think we have to be realistic,” Light said. “I don’t think there’s any feasible way you could go through the process of changing the (association’s rules) within a time frame that would even come close to the time frame that Bonfante (Gardens) needs in order to sell the land.”
“It’s not a perfect situation,” Light said.
