Several lessons can be learned from the ongoing Miller
Avenue/Mussallem project debacle.
Several lessons can be learned from the ongoing Miller Avenue/Mussallem project debacle.
The first lesson, for Gilroy City Council members, is listen to your commissions. When the Mussallem project, which required a zoning change to put six homes where two now stand on Miller Avenue, was originally presented to the Planning Commission, the panel unanimously rejected it.
When Mussallem appealed, City Council wasn’t presented with a split decision from the body it appoints to advise it on zoning and development matters; it was presented with a project that was rejected by all seven planning commissioners.
Inexplicably, a split City Council voted to override the Planning Commission and rezone a historic neighborhood in a way that would radically change the character of the neighborhood in a way, as we said when we editorialized on this matter last May, “that no homeowner could anticipate.”
If the city corrects its mistake and reverses the zoning change, or if it lets the zoning change stand, lawsuits are likely ahead.
All commission decisions should not stand, of course. The City Council has a valuable role to play in the appeals process, especially because they are elected and accountable to voters, while commissioners are not. However, when a commission sends a unanimous recommendation on a proposal as radical and ill-advised as the Miller Avenue lot line erasure and rezoning plan was, it’s hard to justify Council’s decision to overturn it. Overturned commission recommendations ought to be unusual in general, and overturned unanimous recommendations ought to be rare as hens’ teeth.
Second, as we said last May, making policy on the fly is never a good idea, and the likelihood of unintended consequences is a major reason why. The precedent this zoning change sets would allow major character changes in any neighborhood where a few homeowners decide to combine lots, redraw lot lines, and create higher-density housing in the middle of a lower-density neighborhood.
That’s not smart growth, it’s stupid planning.
Third, Gilroy needs a policy to protect its “heritage” neighborhoods. The policy needs to be clear, understandable, and reasonable – balancing protection of historic homes and neighborhoods with character with private property rights.
If City Council had listened to its Planning Commission in the first place, if it had decided against seat-of-the-pants policy making, if it respected its historic neighborhoods, this whole mess would have been nipped in the bud last May with the Planning Commission’s unanimous rejection of Mussallem’s Miller Avenue proposal.
Now, it’s a case of learning lessons better late than never. The Council should prevent this radical change to the Miller Avenue neighborhood. For the good of this specific neighborhood and the entire city, the Gilroy City Council must reverse the zoning change and not allow redrawn lot lines on Miller Avenue.
