Preliminary inquires about developing 2,000 acres outside the
city’s influence have been met with a proper city response, and
that should end it
A proposal to extend Gilroy’s boundaries beyond it’s sphere of influence so that developer Gary Gillmor, the wealthy and influential former mayor of Santa Clara, can build houses on more than 2,000 acres isn’t one worth entertaining at the present time and won’t be for a long time.
Day Ranch, the proposal in question, is located north of Hecker Pass Highway, stretching almost to Highland Avenue, and east of Monterey Highway, stretching to Watsonville Road.
Day Ranch is so far northwest of the city limits that it is outside of the area designated as Gilroy’s “sphere of influence,” the area the city is expected to develop in the next several decades.
Day Ranch is so far northwest that developing it would create an isolated neighborhood not contiguous with current development. Even laying the preliminary groundwork for any plan is ludicrous given the stretch to city services like police, fire, water, sewer, roads and sidewalks any development on the property would trigger.
Day Ranch is so vast that it would increase Gilroy’s geographic size by 20 percent.
City Planner Melissa Durkin has properly given Gillmor and his Lucky Day Partnership little reason to be hopeful about his project’s prospects.
“The area contained within your request is vast and discontinuous. It will prematurely extend city services, and it will strain police and fire services,” she wrote to Gillmor on Aug. 29.
The project ignores the hard work and vision of Gilroyans as expressed in the city’s General Plan. It would require that the city expand its sphere of influence, that the Local Agency Formation Commission approve the annexation, and then that the city amend its General Plan.
Gillmor has struck out previously with plans to expand the city golf course in exchange for housing, and an absurd trial balloon floated to provide a Hispanic-oriented university in exchange for the right to build homes. This is strike three.
There’s no need for the city to waste any more time on this. The city is already building more houses for more people than the school district can accommodate within its current boundaries. Including this property is simply beyond reason at this point.
Real estate development is a highly speculative business. We’re sure that Gillmor and his investors want to turn a profit on the 2,000-plus acres they own northwest of Gilroy.
But developing Day Ranch is not in the best interest of Gilroy residents now, and it won’t be in the best interest of Gilroy residents for the foreseeable future.
If it needs to be sold now for some unknown reason, perhaps the Open Space Authority would be interested.
