Gavilan Community College is withdrawing its application to
annex its campus into Gilroy city limits, complaining that it’s
being treated
”
like a developer
”
by the city. Annexation is best way for the two-year college to
begin to develop housing on its golf course acreage. Gavilan
president Steve Kinsella says the college will resubmit its
application in a year.
City is treating Gavilan fairly
Gavilan Community College is withdrawing its application to annex its campus into Gilroy city limits, complaining that it’s being treated “like a developer” by the city. Annexation is best way for the two-year college to begin to develop housing on its golf course acreage. Gavilan president Steve Kinsella says the college will resubmit its application in a year.
“We’ll be back next year because the environmental impact report really mischaracterized Gavilan’s status and treated us like a developer, but we’re a governmental agency. We’re a not-for-profit agency, and what we’re trying to do is for the benefit of the community,” Kinsella said.
“Developer” and “governmental agency” are not mutually exclusive roles, and the city – and the EIR – are properly evaluating Gavilan College as a developer. It’s the same way that the city treats other entities, including the Gilroy Unified School District, a public education agency like Gavilan, when they present development plans.
Need development savvy
Further, it’s important to note that almost every developer – public or private, for-profit or non-profit – can claim, as Kinsella did, that their development plans will benefit the community. That’s not the point of an EIR.
Kinsella’s comments reveal a worrying lack of development knowledge that, if it extends to the financial and market analysis facets of this project, raises red flags. After watching the GUSD struggle with developing its former Las Animas site, and the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association struggle with its downtown condo development, there’s clearly cause for concern when agencies step outside of their areas of expertise with development projects. When those projects involve taxpayer dollars, there’s reason for even more scrutiny.
A year to learn, evaluate
Kudos to Gavilan officials for thinking creatively about using the land that is one of the college’s best untapped assets. But any plans they make must involve clear understanding and realistic expectations about the development process. They’ve made the correct first step by not trying to develop the land under the auspices of the county government, but instead seeking annexation into the city of Gilroy.
But that’s not enough. We hope Gavilan Community College officials will use their self-imposed one-year project suspension to obtain expert advice about the development process and expert analysis about the real estate market so that they can accurately evaluate the risks, realities and rewards associated with this undertaking.
