Mushrooming proposals could mean big changes in store for older
tree-lined, large-lot neighborhood
Gilroy – It’s all or nothing for Robb Alonzo.
City leaders must either protect Miller Avenue and other showcase streets in the city’s historic core or open the floodgates to anyone looking to cash in on large lots by divvying them up and building more homes. And that includes Alonzo.
The local developer and Miller Avenue resident has spent months fighting plans to build six homes where two now stand at 7861 and 7891 Miller Ave., directly north of his home. He has organized Miller Avenue residents, both past and present, into a neighborhood alliance to oppose the project by Neil Mussallem Sr. and Jr., a father-son development team.
But Alonzo has said throughout that he too would subdivide his land – 1.3 acres at 7841 Miller Ave. – if city leaders approve the Mussallem project. True to his threat, he has pulled building applications and plans to meet today with a developer on the matter. The decision comes a week before council votes on final approval of his neighbor’s project.
“The reason we did that is because my parents decided that if they’re going to build those houses next door, they don’t want to live here,” Alonzo said.
The Mussallems declined to comment on the matter. The family’s controversial housing proposal has undergone a number of revisions in the last two years to meet both council and neighbor concerns. The changes include scaling back the number of houses, setting the homes facing Miller Avenue farther back from the street, and reducing the two homes in the middle of the project from two stories to one.
In May, city council voted 4-3 to rezone the land to allow the proposal. Councilmen who voted in favor and city staff who recommended it have denied objections that the development runs foul of the neighborhood’s character. The project, they point out, borders an apartment complex and lies a few hundred feet from the First Street shopping corridor.
But Alonzo fears that councilmen next week will allow the Mussallem’s to subdivide while taking steps to prevent others from doing the same. Councilman Charles Morales, who is facing re-election in November, has taken up Alonzo’s idea of a historic overlay district that would bar others from breaking up large lots along the street. At the same time, Morales has indicated he will cast a crucial swing vote in favor of the Mussallem project.
“We’re preparing ourselves because what triggered this is the possibility that (Councilman Charles) Morales is presenting the historic overlay idea,” Alonzo said. “That’s kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, especially because we’re the ones that got Charlie onto that and they’re basically using that against that us. If Charlie seeks support from the neighborhood association (in the election), he’s not going to get it.”
Morales expressed surprise at Alonzo’s willingness to subdivide his property, but said council would treat Alonzo the same as his neighbors in the event he chooses to develop.
“Obviously he has to go through the same process and he’ll have due respect for his application, if he follows the guidelines,” Morales said. “He has every entitlement to go through the process. However, I was under the impression he was looking to create a historic preservation policy. Either way, I think that he is exercising his privileges. However, having said that, ‘tit for tat’ is not the right approach to play with the residents’ emotions.”
Alonzo said he would shelve the development proposal if council denies the Mussallem project next week, or if a petition circulating among neighbors overturns the May rezoning.
Albert Gagliardi, who lives across the street at 7850 Miller Ave., has already signed the petition and plans to go door-to-door to get more signatures. He has collaborated closely with Alonzo in the Miller Avenue fight, but was not surprised to learn of his neighbor’s decision to move forward with a development application.
“I figured that he would do that,” Gagliardi said “I don’t want to see that (Mussallem project) go through, but if that guy gets it, it’s open – anybody can do it. What’s right for one is right for the other.”
