Gilroy’s urban growth boundary (UGB) initiative has more than the required number of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.
On Monday, June 20, the City Council will hear that the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters has completed the verification of signatures submitted by Gilroy Growing Smarter on May 2, and found that 2743 signatures are verified as valid.
The group needed 1923 or 10 percent of registered voters in Gilroy to qualify.
“We feel very good about it,” said Dave Lima of Gilroy Growing Smarter, the group that is leading the campaign which, if successful, would place restrictions on development around Gilroy.
“We knew we had collected enough signatures and it is good to have that validated.”
City staff recommends the council wait to make any decision on what to do with the initiative until a previously authorized independent report, which looks at the potential impacts a UGB would have on Gilroy, is completed and presented at the July 5 council meeting.
Lima said the group expects the report, which the council approved up to $150,000 to fund, will show the benefits that a UGB will have for the city.
“We hope that Gilroy will join the growing ranks of cities around the Bay Area that have such boundaries and have continued to develop their cities with those boundaries in place.”
Lima said the group, which includes former planning commissioners, City Council members, and those who have participated in the city’s latest general plan discussions, is thankful for the support they have received from the community.
“We are very pleased that the citizens of Gilroy have voiced support yet again for compact development,” said Lima.
He added: “We are really pleased and at the same time understand there are elements, such as the local Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation and certain politicians that are clearly not in favor of it, and we expect opposition, but we are prepared to meet it.”
