GILROY
– City Council directed staff Monday to move forward with a
downtown stimulus package that, among other long-sought incentives,
includes a blanket waiver of all permit fees for downtown
businesses until a specific plan for the lagging main street is
passed.
The stimulus package
– which includes waivers of building permit fees, plan check
fees and expensive development impact fees – will tap city coffers
over the next year or more, as a specific plan for downtown gets
updated.
GILROY – City Council directed staff Monday to move forward with a downtown stimulus package that, among other long-sought incentives, includes a blanket waiver of all permit fees for downtown businesses until a specific plan for the lagging main street is passed.
The stimulus package – which includes waivers of building permit fees, plan check fees and expensive development impact fees – will tap city coffers over the next year or more, as a specific plan for downtown gets updated.
“The impact is negligible, minuscule, insignificant, pick a word,” a happy Mayor Tom Springer said Tuesday. “This is government that takes forever finally getting its act together.”
Over the last two and a half years, city documents state, Gilroy has collected $70,000 in the now-waived fees – funds that will be difficult to recoup since many of the downtown’s businesses do not sell taxable items. Nonetheless, city staff, council members and business leadership are touting the waivers.
“It’s like any business decision,” Councilman Al Pinheiro said. “You’re investing something in order to receive something later.”
City officials believe the fee waivers will help achieve a number of downtown commercial and cultural goals, including:
• Increasing the amount of new businesses on Monterey Street
• Encouraging companies to renovate and expand structures
• Creating affordable housing units atop downtown shops
City Administrator Jay Baksa said his staff will now hammer out the new policies needed to implement the waivers. Baksa said businesses interested in making improvements should be eligible for the fee waivers by fall.
“I think the Council did a great job last night,” said Bill Lindsteadt, executive director of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation. “We asked for a lot, and they gave us a lot.”
Lindsteadt, whose role with the Gilroy EDC is to stimulate downtown commercial development, sat on a special task force which made the fee waiver recommendation last night. Roughly a year ago, City Council established the task force to generate ideas for revitalizing a downtown spotted with an unfinished streetscape, blighted structures and empty shops.
The city will send letters to business owners in the downtown business district informing them of the upcoming fee waivers. Lindsteadt said an owner who may be considering constructing, expanding or renovating 5,000-square-foot downtown business could save upward of $60,000 under the temporary law.
In addition to the business fee waivers, Council gave the go-ahead to other measures that can directly and indirectly revitalize Monterey Street.
Council authorized staff to spend $92,000 on a parcel on the west side of Monterey Street between Sixth and Seventh streets. The parcel will be a 4,480-square-foot pocket park connecting Gourmet Alley to the public parking area off Eigleberry Street. Developing the park will run another $140,000 to $300,000.
Council supported easing new parking requirements – also temporarily – for businesses that expand or change uses. The task force stated in documents that the group “believes that adequate parking is available” downtown.
Beyond stimulating business developments and expansions, the easing of the requirements could trigger more residential development above existing shops.
“That’s always been an obstacle to opening the door to residential development,” Lindsteadt said.
Lindsteadt and the task force were pushing council to allow for a blanket waiver of all new parking requirements. However, city staff recommended a “stepped” approach that would require a different amount of new parking depending on the level of development being sought.
The eased restrictions were a combination of the two plans. City staff will review each downtown business development on a case-by-case basis. It will waive new parking requirements if, for instance, the business has an adequate number of spaces or is near a parking lot now.
City staff will bring back to Council standards for the case-by-case reviews. The staff decisions will likely be appealable to the planning commission or City Council.
City Council could not agree on how to implement another mechanism for revitalizing downtown. A so-called Business Improvement District, which could tax businesses for city imporvements to the downtown area, will come back to Council for further discussion.
The Council is currently split on how to assess businesses for improvements that directly and indirectly affect them. Some Council members want to see a tax on business operators, others want the tax to be levied also on commercial property owners who could benefit in increased property value and rent prices when improvements come.
