Gilroy to discuss General Plan, High Speed Rail on Tuesday

High speed rail downtown station and resumption of the General Plan 2040 process will be discussed at a special joint session of the Gilroy City Council and Planning Commission starting at 6 p.m. at Council Chambers on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Halted in April when the citizen-led movement to put an urban growth boundary around Gilroy started gathering momentum last year, General Plan 2040 sets out a blueprint for development for the city over the next twenty years.
With the successful passage of the Urban Growth Boundary Initiative – Measure H – in November, General Plan 2040 and the city’s current development plan – General Plan 2020, must incorporate the growth restrictions included in the Measure. The City Council on Tuesday, will determine the best way to go about doing that.
The City Council can decide to move forward with the General Plan 2040 process and incorporate the restrictions imposed by the UGB or open up the process to further analysis – by consultants and city staff and enlist more community engagement, which could include reconvening the General Plan Advisory Committee. 
Revisions to General Plan 2020 are already underway.
What the UGB takes away
According to the city staff report: per the draft General Plan 2040, the Urban Growth Boundary will reduce the amount of land available for residential and commercial and industrial development by 450 acres/4,344 dwelling units in Neighborhood District North, north of Day Road; 171 acres of General Commercial land use north of Buena Vista and east of Highway 101; and 156 acres of Industrial Park land use north of Buena Vista between Monterey/Highway 101.
The city commissioned 9212 report stated this translated to the loss of 4344 housing units and 5900 jobs.
In the 2020 General Plan, the UGB initiative also excludes the Campus Industrial area east of Highway 101 known as “the 660”. The Draft 2040 Plan has this area converted to open space/agriculture.
On Tuesday, Gilroyans will also get an update on high speed rail in downtown. The subject of public meetings and special committee, city staff will present the Draft Preferred Alternative Land Use and Circulation Plan for the High Speed Rail Station Area Plan.
The plan encompasses the area between Swanston Lane and the Union Pacific railroad tracks and all of the land between the tracks and Highway 101 south of Old Gilroy Street. 
City Council will have to determine whether to accept and/or modify the proposed changes to the land use and circulation system as presented in the draft alternative plan in the downtown area and incorporate them into the city’s Downtown Specific Plan, adopted in 2005.
Gilroyans will get an opportunity to learn what the city’s new growth reality under the UGB and high speed rail really means for the city — don’t miss it.
Meeting agenda material are at: http://www.cityofgilroy.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/2216?fileID=5758