Construction continues to chug along at the Glen Loma Ranch development along Santa Teresa Boulevard, with more homes recently going skyward near the intersection of Club Drive.
The development will consist of more than 1,200 residential units as well as a commercial component and a fire station once completed, according to its plans.
However, that fire station was the subject of a Nov. 20 letter from Gilroy City Attorney Andrew Faber to Glen Loma Corporation, which suggested the developer was reneging on its plans to build it.
The city and Glen Loma Corporation entered into an agreement in 2005, which, among other things, stated that the developer would construct a fire station adjacent to Miller Avenue before the 1,100th residential permit was issued. That number has not yet been reached.
Faber’s letter demanded the developer provide “reasonable assurance” within 30 days that it will “proceed expeditiously to construct and dedicate the fire station to the City.” Failure to do so, the letter noted, will free the city to “avail itself of any remedies available at law or equity under the Development Agreement.”
On Nov. 20, the same day the letter was sent, John Filice of Glen Loma Corporation wrote to Faber, City Administrator Jimmy Forbis and others, according to an email obtained by this publication.
Filice pointed to “numerous conversations and meetings” the developer has had with city officials “relative to this matter.”
“We continue to wait for the City Council to approve TM 20-05 with conditions that are feasible as required by the Development Agreement,” he wrote. “Once that has happened and Glen Loma projects can continue, we are prepared to discuss the ‘Fire Station.’”
The “TM 20-05” Filice is referring to is an application the developer filed in September 2020 that includes three new neighborhoods for the development. The 41-acre project consists of 123 units of single-family and townhomes.
The Gilroy Planning Commission and City Council will review the application to subdivide the property at a date to be determined this year.
The Gilroy City Council met in closed session on Jan. 22 with Glen Loma representatives to discuss the fire station.
So the Glen Loma Corp will not move forward with the fire station that was part of the agreement for the already permitted houses, unless they are granted permits for an additional 122 houses? The sounds like blackmail. And a stall tactic. Or is there key info missing from this article? What is the city’s next move then? And when?