GILROY
– With the help of city officials, Bonfante Gardens climbed half
way out of its financial trappings Monday night.
City Council confirmed it would give the debt-heavy theme park
the go-ahead to place 99 housing permits on an excess 33-acre
parcel.
GILROY – With the help of city officials, Bonfante Gardens climbed half way out of its financial trappings Monday night.
City Council confirmed it would give the debt-heavy theme park the go-ahead to place 99 housing permits on an excess 33-acre parcel. Bonfante Gardens now can sell the underutilized storage lot to the neighboring Eagle Ridge housing development, ultimately reducing its debt by $56 million.
However, Eagle Ridge homeowners, who already complain about traffic in their gated community, must approve the land deal. The homeowners association meets tonight to discuss plans that could bring up to 120 luxury homes to the northwest side of Eagle Ridge.
Councilmen made it clear they wanted to help the park accomplish, what could be, a miraculous turnaround. However, some drew a thick line in the sand between the park and the city after Bonfante Gardens officials described the granting of housing permits as a “symbol” and a “show of support” that would keep the park alive.
“I don’t want the onus of the park’s success to fall on City Council,” Councilman Bob Dillon said. “The public is starting to look at Council as the governing body out there.”
Dillon told park officials that the word on the street regarding Bonfante Gardens was “50/50.”
“I’ve heard both good and bad things about the park,” Dillon said. “I hear people complaining that tickets are expensive.”
Councilman Charlie Morales told park officials the city would have more faith in Bonfante Gardens if officials would be more open about their marketing plans to draw more people, especially youth, into the Hecker Pass amusement park.
“You asked us for our confidence,” Morales said. “We want full disclosure.”
Council spent an hour listening to city and park officials clarify the financially turmoiled history that led up to Bonfante Gardens’ unprecedented housing permit request.
Originally, Michael Bonfante requested housing permits to increase the value of his 34-acre nursery east of the park off Hecker Pass. Increasing the value of the nursery site was important because Bonfante used it for leveraging millions of dollars in loans, keeping the park solvent.
Bob Kraemer, Bonfante Gardens’ board president, and Mayor Al Pinheiro, who sits on the park’s board, said Michael Bonfante will not benefit from the 99 housing permits that will now be used on the 33-acre parcel. And City Administrator Jay Baksa produced a letter by Bonfante relinquishing any claim on housing permits for the 34-acre nursery site.
However, Bonfante is one of the park’s creditors who will get paid back at a less-than-full-value rate, thanks to the pending Bonfante Gardens-Eagle Ridge land deal. Also, Bonfante still owns the nursery parcel and has rights to develop it into a commercial property, among other possibilities.
The granting of the 99 housing permits marks the first time a special exemption in the city’s growth-control ordinance will be invoked. The clause, which lets Gilroy-based nonprofits ask for housing permit exemptions, was put in the growth-control ordinance at the request of Michael Bonfante and Bonfante Gardens two years ago.
“There’s no doubt we need to restructure our debt to avoid foreclosure” and the land deal with Shapell will fund the restructuring, Kraemer told Council. “We are on the edge. We need the city’s help.”
City Council will formally grant the housing permits at a future meeting. But on Tuesday night, the second leg of the land deal gets under way.
That’s when Shapell Industries, the developer of Eagle Ridge, will meet with residents of the west-side golf course community. Shapell needs the OK of Eagle Ridge homeowners before it can annex and buy the 33-acre Bonfante Gardens parcel.
But many of the residents are disgruntled over what they say are broken promises by the developer and neglect by the city. In exchange for their support of the land deal, residents are gearing up to ask the developer to provide long sought amenities like tennis courts and a swimming pool.
For many residents, traffic enforcement will be the carrot for the stick.
Some residents want Shapell to pay for traffic enforcement on the narrow, private roads. Others expect the city to deliver the same level of patrol to Eagle Ridge as any other area of town, since residents there pay taxes like everyone else.
The city claims its policy has always been clear – it does not patrol private streets and only responds to the gated community for emergencies.
