His recycling and compost trucks help keep streets clean and
farms fertile, but residents don’t want Oscar Sencion’s smelly
fleet near their homes, and the Planning Commission agreed.
Gilroy – His recycling and compost trucks help keep streets clean and farms fertile, but residents don’t want Oscar Sencion’s smelly fleet near their homes, and the Planning Commission agreed.
After hearing protests from a handful of about 30 residents who are already surrounded by mostly industrial operations, the body voted 6-1 to deny Sencion Trucking a permit to build an office and overnight parking lot for its dozen trucks at the northeast corner of Murray and Las Animas avenues, according to Planning Commissioner Tim Day.
Day, who is also running for City Council this year, described the meeting as “very emotional” and said residents’ vocal concerns turned the commission away from staff’s recommendation to approve the parking lot-office combo.
“That part of the community – I don’t want to say they’re treated unfairly – but (South County Housing) went and built homes there many years ago, and then we changed our direction and went commercial, so now there’s an isolated little pocket of homes in Gilroy having to deal with commercial issues,” he said.
Day was referring to homes in the residential-zone island on Murray Avenue built by South County Housing after the city annexed the county land in the early 1980s and then designated the area as “industrial park,” or light industrial. The houses adjoin seven other cul-de-sacs of homes along Murray Avenue south of Las Animas Avenue, which were built in the late ’60s and early ’70s and then brought into the city as a residential pocket within a largely commercial zone, according to Planning Division Manager Bill Faus.
The 87-year-old farm house at 9120 Murray Ave., where Sencion wants to build his parking lot, is what’s known as a “non-conforming” residence because it was grandfathered into the light industrial area when the city annexed the county’s “rural residential” land and then designated it light industrial.
Even though it’s already in the light industrial area, a truck yard requires a “conditional use permit,” which is what the Planning Commission denied Sencion.
“The Planning Commission was concerned about 12 large trucks rolling down Murray and the storage of those trucks in that area,” Day said. “Normally our approach would be to reconcile and work through the issue, but most of us last night didn’t feel like that was a possibility” after hearing residents who “spoke from their hearts.”
The head of the Murray Avenue Residents Association did not return calls for comment, and Sencion’s project engineer, Theresa Wang of RW Engineering, also did not return calls.
Planning staff’s primary concerns centered around “unpleasant odors from waste residue on the trucks, noise from trucks engines, and visual impacts from truck storage,” according to a report by City Planner Laura McIntyre. Although Day said Sencion, who planned to live on site, had offered to wash his trucks each night and mitigate noise pollution, the residents carried the day.
Sencion has three choices now: He can accept the decision, wait a year to re-apply, or appeal to the City Council in October after filing $600 worth of paperwork by Sept. 26.
“The community didn’t reject the project, but the idea of the industrialized area versus the residential area – the bigger issue came into play,” said McIntyre, who also lauded the dialogue.
“Everybody got to have a say,” McIntyre said. “The community is well organized and politically savvy. They know the process and they worked it to their advantage.”
Day agreed and added that the city needs to turn its attention toward this part of the city. Although it remains largely vacant, the area west of Sencion’s farm house could see a 27-acre industrial subdivision if a separate project passes muster. Vice-chair Thomas Boe was the dissenting vote Thursday.
“There’s a bigger issue than just trucking. A recycling place is good for all of us, but that’s just not the right spot for it,” Day said. “How do we want to prepare that area? How will it be handled in future? There’s no park out there, for example. These are issues we need to address.”
