Council members to consider project to transform vacant
motorcycle plant on 10th Street into condos and townhomes
Gilroy – A proposal to transform the vacant Indian Motorcycle plant into condominiums and townhouses contains the seeds for major policy debate among councilmen, who expect to get a first peek at the project in coming weeks.
Some city leaders and staff already look favorably on the project, which a former councilman is shepherding through the approval process, since it will rehabilitate a defunct industrial site. But Mayor Al Pinheiro remains cautious, saying the city should focus its downtown renewal efforts along the historic core of Monterey Street.
The project, slated for a 6.2-acre parcel at 200 East 10th St., lies within walking distance of two shopping centers as well as the historic downtown corridor. The site served as headquarters for Nob Hill Foods before changing over into an assembly plant for Indian Motorcycle.
A conversion to residential use jibes with the city’s desire to build inward, but the project could spark debate since it requires council permission to sidestep Gilroy’s building-permit competition – the heart of the city’s growth-control ordinance. An increasing number of residents are expressing concern about the number of projects allowed to bypass the competition. Those concerns peaked last month after officials disclosed that they expect the city to exceed its 10-year growth cap by 30 percent, or roughly 1,000 housing units.
City planners and proponents of the project say that emphasis should be placed on the type of growth rather than the overall number of new housing units, which are capped at 3,450 through 2013.
Former councilman Tony Sudol, hired to steer the project, has asked the city to change its General Plan to accommodate the project. If approved, he would then have to seek inclusion of the project in the city’s Downtown Specific Plan area, allowing the project to draw from the 1,700 units of housing city officials allocated to the downtown. Those units are above and beyond the 10-year limit set by council in 2003.
The old Indian Motorcycle plant has sat vacant since the company shut down in 2003. Ken Gimelli, a Hollister resident, purchased the land in 2004 for $3.5 million, although the county assessor values the property at $6.2 million. Sudol has said he has no ownership stake in the project but is simply guiding it through the permit process.
While the project may take advantage of housing permits set aside for downtown, it will not fall within the boundaries of an area that frees developers from having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in development fees, according to City Planner Gregg Polubinsky.
Sudol said an Environmental Impact Report, which is expected to account for any increases in traffic along the 10th Street corridor, is “progressing nicely.” He expected more detailed plans for the site to be ready by next week, but said he would not discuss details until the March 13 meeting.
“We’re just going to share the project with (council) and talk about it and we’ll see what happens,” Sudol said.
Polubinsky expected the project to reach planning commissioners for the first level of review as early as May.
But the study session, he said, would give Sudol a first chance to “sell his project” to councilmen.
