Residents had a chance Thursday night to comment on four
projects heading to the Planning Commission that would expand the
city by nearly 800 acres.
Residents will have a chance Thursday night to comment on four projects heading to the Planning Commission that would expand the city by nearly 800 acres.
In a project long in the works, Gavilan College has proposed to convert its golf course along Santa Teresa Boulevard into housing, with more than 400 dormitories for students and faculty that would tap into the city’s infrastructure. This would enlarge Gilroy by 148 acres.
Next door, Shapell Industries, the firm that developed Eagle Ridge, wants the city to include nearly 300 acres north of Santa Teresa Boulevard so the company can build 670 homes east of Thomas Road and west of Monterey Road.
The Lucky Day Partnership has a long-term application to add 285 idyllic acres straddling Burchell Road north of Hecker Pass, which represents a 15-percent sliver of the 2,014 acres the company proposed to annex nearly two years ago. Since then, the applicants have scaled back their request and proposed 23 acres of open space, 41 acres for up to 138 homes and 221 acres of park land that could accommodate nine more holes at the Gilroy Golf Course. The applicants have also talked about dedicating the rest to an environmental mitigation bank, from which local developers could purchase credits.
For the past nine years, Wren Investors has an application to bring 48 acres near Christopher High School into the city south of Vickery Avenue, East of Kern Avenue and West of Wren Avenue.
If the City Council and Planning Commission approve any of these “urban service area amendments” – which include fees and environmental reports paid for by the applicants – then it’s up to San Jose-based Local Agency Formation Commission to cast final approval on annexation of the land into the city. Former Gilroy mayor Don Gage sits on, this agency.
