The Gilroy City Council will vote on a tentative map and hold a public hearing at the Oct. 21 meeting for a 186 single-family residential lot development located in the East Cluster of the Hecker Pass Specific Plan Area.
The roughly 112-acre proposed development, south of Hecker Pass Highway and west of the intersection of Santa Teresa Boulevard and Third Street, would also include an eight acre park with detention pond designed to store runoff, three Uvas Creek parcels and three agricultural production parcels.
“A tentative map approval is the first step in subdividing land for the purposes of sale, lease or finance,” said Kristi Abrams, Gilroy Community Development director. “The tentative map has already gone before the planning commission. And as [is policy for] a public hearing, the City of Gilroy sends notices to anybody who lives within 500 feet of the project so that those people have an opportunity to speak if they have any concerns – or if they support the project.”
Abrams said the next step, after the tentative map is approved, is all about adjusting the details of the project.
“After the tentative map is approved, the developer goes into the process of preparing the public improvement plan and the fine-tuning of the map,” she said. “A final version of the map will then go to City Council for approval.”
After that second approval by City Council, Abrams said the developer, Arizona-based Meritage Homes, can sell the parcels, begin general improvements and construction of the development.
“In accordance with the specific plan, up to 259 units are envisioned in this area,” said Gilroy Planning Manager Sue Martin, referring to the East Cluster of the Hecker Pass Specific Plan Area. “Meritage Homes proposes 186 dwelling units on approximately 45 acres, encompassing about 80 percent of the entire East Residential Cluster.”
A public hearing on the tentative map for the proposed development was postponed at the Oct. 7 Council meeting after Abrams recommended the item be continued due to “lack of adequate time” between the Oct. 3 planning commission meeting and the council meeting, just days later.
Additionally, Councilmembers Perry Woodward and Terri Aulman recused themselves at the Oct. 7 meeting, citing personal and professional conflicts of interest. Woodward said he’s lead counsel in a case suing Meritage Homes on behalf of a Roseville family – over defective construction – and Aulman said she lives within 500 feet of the project.
Unless there is an outstanding reason or condition that the project needs an additional review by the planning commission, Abrams said it’s all in the hands of the City Council now.
The Gilroy City Council meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of every month in council chambers. The next meeting, including an agendized public hearing for the Meritage Homes development and a vote on the project’s tentative map, is scheduled for Oct. 21.
