A church and an apartment builder received permission from the
city council to build their separate residential projects, which
means the city has exceeded its pre-set growth limit by nearly
1,000 homes.
A church and an apartment builder received permission from the city council to build their separate residential projects, which means the city has exceeded its pre-set growth limit by nearly 1,000 homes.
It was hard to tell among all the cheering and clapping Monday night, though, when more than 150 members of the South Valley Community Church showed up for the city council meeting. The dozens who poured out of the 142-seat chambers relocated across the street to the police station to watch the meeting on TV.
The flood of people effectively persuaded the council to allow the church along Hecker Pass Highway to build 15 houses. For months church representatives have said they need the houses to help finance the construction of a new church, private school and sports field. But the city has already allocated all of its available housing units through 2013 and can only grant special exemptions for certain areas of town and small projects designed to promote city in-fill.
“I know you do a lot of good in the community, but we do have to follow laws and procedures,” Councilman Peter Arellano told a packed room. He added that building more homes might irk residents who want the city to stop growing ahead of schedule.
Councilmen debated the strengths and weaknesses of the project – from its ultimate exclusion from the Hecker Pass Specific Plan to its proposed road improvements and elementary school for about 650 students – before unanimously voting in favor of the church. To keep units available for in-fill projects closer to downtown, the city council decided specifically to grant the church’s 15 units through a separate process that will involve amending the city’s long-term General Plan.
Church pastor Eric Smith will be involved in the process after collecting hundreds of supportive e-mails and letters and more than 700 signatures from his congregations during the past month, he said.
“It is not an exaggeration to say our church and school serve the need of thousands of Gilroyans,” Smith said after asking church supporters to stand, which they did quietly and in unison, leaving all but a few non-church members seating. “Our 15-unit project will allow our church to continue on its mission of assisting Gilroy families.”
The council has already granted, or is in the process of granting, 3,286 housing units to developers. The limit for the years between 2004 and 2013 is 3,450 units, but the remaining difference is reserved for small projects and affordable and senior housing. On top of this, the council has also granted another 831 units for the downtown area and other developments such as Glen Loma and Gilroy Gardens. The church’s project will add another 15 to this number, meaning the city has exceeded its own growth cap by almost 900 units.
Councilman Roland Velasco said growing beyond the council’s intent might not be in the best interest of the community, but like his colleagues, he decided that the church will better the community overall.
“Too often we don’t recognize the value that churches bring to our city,” said Velasco, adding that the church bolsters the area’s sense of community and will educate residents with its school while also paying impact fees to the Gilroy Unified School District. “Just like a Realtor might promote the schools in town, I think they also go out of their way to reference the churches in their town.”
The cheering and opera-house-style clapping that followed contrasted with the church’s muted response to the Planning Commission’s split vote on the issue Oct. 4.
Before voting Monday night, Mayor Al Pinheiro cautioned the church not to see the council’s approval as a free pass.
“Just because you are a church does not mean you can come in and ask for something,” Pinheiro said. “But this is a project that stays within what the (Hecker Pass) Specific Plan intentions were.”
Debate has centered around the fact that the church’s land lies within the confines of the 2005 Hecker Pass Specific Plan, which took two years to create and limits the number of homes built in the area to 506. The church, however, wanted a “small project exemption” to build 15 homes on a 6-acre portion of its 27-acre rectangular property along Hecker Pass Highway.
Herein lies another problem: The exemption only allows for projects of 12 units or less, but the original specific plan that Pinheiro referenced allowed for 530 units, and the church’s houses would not increase the area’s overall housing density.
The church’s extra three mean it required special council approval, which it received Monday night. Now it will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete environmental inspections on the land, amend the specific plan and begin filling out city paperwork for development. Two years is the target time frame, said city planner Melissa Durkin, but the church said it was up for it and promised the council the church would not come back and ask for more units.
“We really (needed) to know up front the intent (of the council) for us to go forward with the General Plan amendments,” said church member Bob Costamagna. “For us to invest $100,000 is very difficult and challenging.”
After the congregation emptied out, less than 15 people, including staff, remained.
The council then approved another six housing units under a special downtown exemption so Phoi Phan can build a four-story downtown apartment building with a first-floor business.
The project requires that the old earthquake-vulnerable building there be demolished, and the Historical Heritage Committee approved the destruction before the council did so unanimously Monday night.
Councilmen lauded Phan’s sketches of the relatively tall building’s sleek facade, but Councilman Craig Gartman recommended that the builder use something other than aluminum for the street-side balconies after hearing complaints from downtown business and residents of a “sea of aluminum.”
Either way, the council proved that its former growth limit is nothing more than a number.
