GILROY
– After 53 years of making a left-hand turn from her Hecker Pass
Highway home to head to town, 85-year-old Betty Pappani was shocked
to wake up one morning in late May and find a sign pointed at her
driveway prohibiting her from making a left turn.
GILROY – After 53 years of making a left-hand turn from her Hecker Pass Highway home to head to town, 85-year-old Betty Pappani was shocked to wake up one morning in late May and find a sign pointed at her driveway prohibiting her from making a left turn.
“I’ve made that turn for 53 years without any accidents or tickets and now the city says it’s not safe,” said Pappani, whose home sits just northwest of the Hecker Pass Highway and Santa Teresa Boulevard intersection. “Now I have to drive to Goldsmith Seeds and turn around whenever I need to go to town – it’s ridiculous.
“More than anything, I’m upset the city never warned me.”
The sign in front of Pappani’s driveway is one of two “no left turn” signs recently erected on Hecker Pass Highway west of Santa Teresa Boulevard that prohibit Pappani and residents of neighboring 32-unit Oak Tree Corners condominiums from making a left turn onto Hecker Pass Highway going east toward Gilroy.
As part of the construction of Village Green development across Hecker Pass from Oak Tree Corners and the subsequent intersection expansion, city engineers approved the signs prohibiting left turns from Oak Tree Corners and Pappani’s home and the accompanying double-yellow lines that now cover the old dotted line.
Residents of Oak Tree Corners do have the option of using a second driveway leading to Santa Teresa Boulevard when they want to drive toward Gilroy, but Pappani has no option but to turn right onto Hecker Pass and drive until she can find a safe driveway to turn around.
According to Kristi Abrams, the city’s traffic engineer, the signs are designed as a safety precaution.
“With the expansions to the intersection, we felt the ground was just too expansive to make a left turn,” Abrams said. “We realized this would be a conflict for some residents, but unfortunately that’s part of growth.”
But regardless of the safety issue, Pappani and several residents of Oak Tree Corners are most upset with lack of communication from the city surrounding the project.
Oak Tree Corners resident Claire Bolfing said she was never notified of the changes that were coming with the intersection expansion, and she has been unsuccessful in getting responses to the new signs when calling the city.
“Everyone here is upset about the inconvenience and the way this was handled,” said Bolfing, who’s lived in her Oak Tree Corners condo since 1984. “We feel like we are being penalized because there’s a newer development going up across the street.”
Abrams said the city’s traffic engineering department does not have an established policy requiring notification to residents of changes due to nearby construction.
Responding to the Pappani and Oak Tree Corner situation, Abrams said: “To the best my knowledge, no one was notified. In the future, that’s something we should probably change – look into becoming more proactive in informing residents.”
Bill Faus, the city’s planning manager, did say that letters outlying the planned changes to the Hecker Pass Highway and Santa Teresa Boulevard intersection were mailed to area residents when the Village Green development plan was finalized two years ago. The city also regularly places such notices in local outlets such as The Dispatch, Channel 17 and the city’s Web site, www.ci.gilroy.ca.us, Faus said.
But Pappani, Bolfing and other neighbors said they never received a letter or saw any other notice from the city regarding the no left turn policy that would result from the construction.
“When the signs went up and they painted the double-yellow line, that was our notice,” said Margaret Baker, a Oak Tree Corners resident. “It’s frustrating feeling like you have no control.
“Yes, we can turn out onto Santa Teresa, but the traffic is heavier there,” she said, “and if you want to go east on Hecker Pass (from Santa Teresa) you need to cross three lanes to get to the turn lane. It’s not uncommon to wait four or five minutes to make that turn.”
Pappani said she’s fearful a concrete median will be added near the new double line to permanently prevent her from making a left turn, so she’s planning to go to City Hall this week to talk with engineers.
“There needs to be more communication,” Pappani said. “I don’t know if the city realizes how frustrating a thing like this can be.”
To inquire about future construction in Gilroy call 846-0460.
