Gilroy has, in a manner of speaking, gotten away from its roots
over the last decade. With the pressure of high land prices and
demands for more square footage per home, we’ve sacrificed the
spacious, tree-lined neighborhood feel prevalent in some of our
older neighborhoods.
Gilroy has, in a manner of speaking, gotten away from its roots over the last decade. With the pressure of high land prices and demands for more square footage per home, we’ve sacrificed the spacious, tree-lined neighborhood feel prevalent in some of our older neighborhoods. A stroll down Fifth Street from Miller Avenue easily makes the point. The canopy muffles the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The trees engage the senses and the wide walkway forces a slower pace.
That stands in stark contrast to many of our newer neighborhoods which allocate plenty of space for the automobile, but precious little for the soul.
We are grateful to two members of the city Parks and Recreation Commission for bringing public light to bear on this issue.
Sherri Stuart and Phil Buchanan believe Gilroy can do better – and why not? Points for mature tree plantings and wider walkways can be awarded in the building permit process. Street tree ordinances can be strengthened and revised. Developers can be coaxed into building neighbor-friendly landscapes that encourage people to say “hello” on the street.
It’s a good time to swing the pendulum back toward aesthetics in Gilroy housing developments, which have clearly been more about maximum profit and square footage per lot than about building neighborhoods to stand the test of time. Even the homes in Eagle Ridge, with the gorgeous setting against the hillsides, have mushroomed into a collection of look-alike, behemoth boxes stacked one right next to another. It’s a shame.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The city can – and should – take a more pro-active role in defining projects. Perhaps Stuart and Buchanan should take the tree-lined street idea a step farther and propose an Architectural Review Board with authority to work with developers to shape and monitor projects.
We can choose to be pro-active and work together to shape a city landscape that will bespeak a proud heritage, or we can just let it go, piece by piece, until Gilroy is hardly distinguishable from Tracy or Sunnyvale.
