GILROY
– A recent San Jose City Council decision may jump-start a local
effort to bring city-funded police and traffic patrols to the
private roads of Eagle Ridge.
GILROY – A recent San Jose City Council decision may jump-start a local effort to bring city-funded police and traffic patrols to the private roads of Eagle Ridge.
In May, San Jose police will begin enforcing traffic laws at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club, a gated community in south San Jose. The decision by San Jose’s City Council is what some Eagle Ridge residents are hoping, and in some cases expecting, Gilroy’s ruling body to do.
“We’ve been watching the development of the Silver Creek issue closely. This is a positive precedent,” said Eagle Ridge resident Joe Lomeli. “We’re just trying to make our streets safe is the bottom line.”
Lomeli said homeowners at Eagle Ridge are meeting this week with a loose network of other homeowners association members in the South Valley area. The groups, who Lomeli said have similar traffic enforcement concerns, will discuss details of the San Jose agreement and how those items may affect their own causes.
“We’re going to compare notes with other associations and eventually go to our city halls,” Lomeli said.
Lomeli said his goal is to make sure the city never again allows streets in a private development like Eagle Ridge to be built without sticking to city code.
Despite wrangling with Shapell to build its streets to code, the city ultimately permitted the developer to construct them by its own standards. The deal saved Shapell hundreds of thousands of dollars, but has left many residents longing for traffic enforcement.
Since they pay property and sales taxes like everyone else, many within the homeowners association figure they deserve traffic enforcement like everyone else, too.
Nonetheless, the idea still gets a less than lukewarm reception from Gilroy’s mayor and city administrator.
Jay Baksa, the city administrator, said with tongue planted in cheek: “San Jose’s decision has no direct impact on Gilroy business until the San Jose City Council takes over the Gilroy City Council.”
“But the San Jose Council has set an interesting precedent,” he said.
Essentially, San Jose is making Silver Creek residents pay for traffic calming devices – like speed bumps and stop signs – as well as a traffic study. The study will determine speed limits. With the study and the calming devices in place, the city will pay for traffic enforcement.
For Mayor Al Pinheiro, who has lent an open ear to Eagle Ridge residents’ concerns, such a system lends itself to a potential compromise between Eagle Ridge and the city.
Pinheiro says he would support traffic enforcement within Eagle Ridge to the point it did not exceed what anyone in any other neighborhood would receive. He said he is waiting for Eagle Ridge board president Dave Light to present a list of requested services.
“For me, nothing changes until the day we sit and talk with the president of the board,” Pinheiro said.
Light did not return phone calls before press time.
Eagle Ridge residents have been fighting for more than two years with the city and Shapell Industries to find a way to stop motorists who break the neighborhood’s 25 mph speed limit. In a recent St. Andrew’s Circle accident, two cars drove through a fence. Their speeds were estimated at 60 mph by Gilroy police.
Now that Shapell needs the support of homeowners to pull off a lucrative real estate deal with neighboring Bonfante Gardens, Eagle Ridge residents are open to arranging a quid pro quo agreement. If Shapell provides traffic enforcement, especially around Eagle Ridge’s popular public golf course, some homeowners may support the land deal that could bring 118 luxury homes on what would become the northwest edge of the development.
Shapell has expressed willingness to pay for more traffic calming devices.
On May 2, Eagle Ridge will approve or deny the land deal.
