Gilroy
 – A barrage of eco-friendly policies could soon take root in
Gilroy as city leaders call for a comprehensive package of
”
green
”
reforms.
Gilroy – A barrage of eco-friendly policies could soon take root in Gilroy as city leaders call for a comprehensive package of “green” reforms.
The effort comes at the urging of City Councilman Peter Arellano, who has emerged as the council’s environmental conscience since joining the seven-member body in late 2005.
During a day of informal policy talks last month, Arellano called for the city to use bio-degradable forks at luncheons, ban Styrofoam packaging at fast food restaurants, and increase maximum building heights from three to four stories – the latter idea aimed at curbing sprawl.
There’s no excuse, Arellano said, for city property not to have separate trash bins for garbage and recyclables.
“It takes the step of having city council say, ‘This is what we have to do. This is what we want to do,’ ” Arellano said last month. “Those are the things I was hoping to present to you and have some buy-in so we can start pushing it faster.”
His colleagues called for a comprehensive package of reforms, but not before throwing a few more ideas into the mix.
Mayor Al Pinheiro suggested giving incentives to developers who slap solar panels on the roofs of new homes, and Councilman Craig Gartman said that new garbage collection practices could make recycling less of a chore for homeowners – by using one bin instead of multiple bins.
In his annual state of the city speech, Pinheiro last week placed eco-reform at the top of the city’s priority list for 2007.
But Gilroy is far from a newcomer to the environmental scene.
Last year, the city earned a “green certification” from Santa Clara County for recycling, using energy-efficient light bulbs, and other eco-friendly business practices. On the policy front, officials passed an ordinance in 2005 requiring environmentally safe fireplaces in new homes and those undergoing major remodels. That policy is part of an effort to improve air quality in the Bay Area.
In a city expecting more than 2,000 new homes in the next decade, officials have turned their attention to raising standards in the building industry. An ordinance expected to reach council in May would require builders to recycle at least 50 percent of their construction debris, and officials are now looking at establishing “green building standards” for new homes. The realm of eco-friendly building practices ranges from the use of solar panels and energy efficient appliances to recyclable building materials.
Rob Oneto, a local engineer with Ruggeri-Jensen-Azar & Associates, has shepherded some of the city’s biggest developments through Gilroy’s regulatory process.
“I could tell you that many of our clients have adopted green building standards, as well as the architects and designers (we work with) that have certifications,” he said. “Many are being proactive.”
Oneto said he is not making a “blanket endorsement” of all green building standards, but simply pointing out that the development industry has started to adopt many of the “best practices” in the field.
Eric von Forstmeyer, 66, likes the “green” ideas tossed around by Arellano and other council members. The 66-year-old resident said banning Styrofoam is a good starting point, but he points out that plastic bags take 100 years to break down in a landfill.
He encounters many of them, he said, as a volunteer for the city’s Keep Gilroy Green and Clean program, which enlists residents to adopt a neighborhood and pick up trash throughout the year. While other volunteers clean up a single park or street, von Forstmeyer has adopted the entire city.
“I’m involved because I’m a citizen of the world and I’m tired of people littering,” von Forstmeyer. “The world is not a garbage can.”
