A split Gilroy City Council asked city staff Monday night not to pursue bids for a traffic study on Welburn Avenue – one of the city’s busiest streets – because of concerns over the study’s price tag and whether the results would foster any changes.
The Council shied away from possibly spending an estimated $125,000 to do the study, which carried the potential of shelling out an additional $75,000 for an environmental report if the study unveils needed changes to Gilroy’s General Plan.
Councilman Bob Dillon made a motion to receive bids to do the study, but it failed, 4-3, with Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilmen Dion Bracco, Peter Arellano and Peter Leroe-Munoz voting against it.
Councilman Perry Woodward then motioned to take no further action, and it passed 5-2, with Pinheiro and Dillon voting against the motion. Pinheiro said he wants to revisit the issue when the city looks at circulation issues later on, but said the $125,000 study wasn’t needed.
“I don’t need a traffic study to tell me I’m not going get what they want,” Pinheiro said in reference to a desire to take 5,000 cars off traffic-heavy Welburn. “I’m just being realistic about what we’re dealing with.”
It was the second time this year the Council struck down the proposed Welburn study. In January, the Council voted against the study – estimated then at $100,000 – but the topic was placed back on an agenda last month after complaints from Tim Gavin and other outspoken Welburn residents.
But several Council members said Monday they didn’t think the results from such a study would reveal any next steps, and spending the money just to do a study was wrong, they argued.
“We’ve had this before us again and again,” Councilman Dion Bracco said, adding he doesn’t want to spend money “to do nothing.”
“You don’t have to be a traffic engineer to drive down Welburn, to drive down First Street. It is what it is.” Bracco said.
He added, “I won’t support spending money just for the sake of saying I’m doing something and spending your money.”
Councilman Peter Arellano said the city should wait two years before approaching Welburn’s traffic problems.
“Do I want to sit here and say, I want Welburn changed and take 5,000 cars off?’ Yes. Am I willing to spend the money now, in this economy? No,” Arellano said. “I couldn’t support this right now. But I could support it in two years.”
Councilwoman Cat Tucker, who voted against pursuing the study, still said Welburn presented “a traffic hazard out there.”
“We just can’t just keep going and saying, ‘Oh well, too bad that’s the way it is.'”
When asked by Woodward why the city couldn’t handle the traffic study in-house, City Transportation Engineer Don Dey said the city’s current setup “does not have the expertise or the staff necessary.”
To do the study, Dey would have to drop all projects he’s currently engaged in, which includes the city’s high-speed rail visioning project, City Administrator Tom Haglund said.
WORTH NOTING:
– A moment of silence in was held in memory of John Garcia, a 33-year city recreation employee and beloved local football coach for four decades who died Friday at age 64. The meeting was also adjourned in his memory. Memorial service will be held Saturday, October 22, 2011, at 11:00 A.M. at the residence of Bob and Linda Garcia, 100 Cohansey Ave. Gilroy. Private burial services were held at Gavilan Hills Memorial Park.
– GPD Chief Denise Turner updated the Council on “Operation Garlic Press,” which last week netted the arrests of many known gang members and other violent criminals for theft, weapons and narcotics crimes. Turner said the arrest count was up to 105.
– The Council voted unanimously to allow the GPD to pursue a $25,000 federal grant that would pay for a new robot, similar to one used by law enforcement officials in the Oct. 5 manhunt for a Cupertino shooting suspect. The robot, developed by a Palo Alto copmany, can climb stairs and uses a two-way audio systems that would allow police and suspects to communicate, GPD Capt. Kurt Svardal said.
– The Council voted 4-3 to direct staff to draft an ordinance regarding restrictions on chickens and rabbits within city limits. Council members Bracco, Dillon and Peter Leroe-Muñoz voted against the motion, made by Woodward.
