An 81-acre retirement community planned for the southeastern
edge of Gilroy may be up for City Council approval in late 2010, if
all goes as planned.
An 81-acre retirement community planned for the southeastern edge of Gilroy may be up for City Council approval in late 2010, if all goes as planned.
Bill Cusack of the Pacific Grove-based CW Development, which plans to build the Cherry Orchard Ranch project, said an environmental impact report should be ready in August. He also hopes the project would go before the city planning commission and the City Council about December 2010.
Cusack said the environmental impact report process so far has cost about $120,000, and his company plans to spend about $500,000 on the entire planning process.
“It’s not a small commitment,” he said.
In the meantime, Cusack plans to talk about the project with local groups and community members. He has prepared a computer presentation that gives statistics about Gilroy’s growing aging population and housing needs. He plans to give presentations to the Rotary Breakfast Club, senior advisory group and gatherings at individuals” homes.
“We are telling our story in the community wherever we get a chance,” Cusack said.
The project will require rezoning 83 acres of land from open space to residential and amending Gilroy’s long-term general plan, which encourages affordable housing but also calls for eventual commercial and light industrial development in what is now mostly an agricultural area.
Cusack compared the project to the Woodland Estates development in Morgan Hill, although he said it would have more amenities. Homes would cost about $220,000 on average.
