Gilroy
– The biggest development project ever undertaken in Gilroy’s
history is expected to go before city leaders for approval this
summer, when the Glen Loma Group submits revised plans for nearly
1,700 homes in the city’s southwest reaches.
Gilroy – The biggest development project ever undertaken in Gilroy’s history is expected to go before city leaders for approval this summer, when the Glen Loma Group submits revised plans for nearly 1,700 homes in the city’s southwest reaches.
Plans for the area – now in the final stages of revision – would transform 354 acres between Santa Teresa Boulevard and Uvas Creek into a miniature city, made up of 18 neighborhoods with mixed housing types, a new elementary school, senior housing and a “town center” that will serve as a business and transit hub.
Despite delays in the project caused by environmental issues, city leaders view Glen Loma as a model for future development.
“The one very good thing is that it’s being dealt with as a specific plan,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said, referring to the emerging planning trend of area-specific guidelines. “Their concept is really nice because it’s neighborhood-oriented – lots of open space, lots of parks. It’s really got some progressive elements.”
According to the original Glen Loma Specific Plan, submitted in 2003, many of the projects neighborhoods will blend a range of single-family detached homes and multi-family residences. City Planner Cydney Casper said the plans include a style of home new for the city – “manor” homes, multi-family residences designed to resemble a single family houses.
A centerpiece of the plan involves a town center area, which would lie just north of an easterly extension of 10th Street off Santa Teresa Boulevard. Planners located a 150-unit senior center next to the town center in order to better connect residents with shopping and transportation.
It remains unclear how much has changed since developers originally submitted the Glen Loma Specific Plan in 2003. Jack Kent, a lawyer for the development group, said the number of homes are currently the same, but declined to discuss the details of revisions.
The original plan was withdrawn in 2003 based on environmental issues, according to City Planner Cydney Casper, who said concerns were “minor” and centered largely on the impact of increased traffic. City officials expect to release the revised environmental report by the end of the month.
The Glen Loma plans are approaching completion as city officials also put the finishing touches on the Neighborhood District Policy, a set of guidelines that will likely contain baseline requirements for affordable housing. Councilmen, eager to see more homes within reach of low- to middle-income earners, have added a recommendation to the draft policy that would require 10 percent of all homes within neighborhood districts to be priced at affordable rates.
The 2003 plan for Glen Loma Ranch, which represents a single neighborhood district, satisfies the 10-percent requirement by providing for 175 affordable units, including 75 in the category of affordable senior housing. The plan also calls a special program to lower home costs by calling on “each entity involved in the development, construction, and approval process … to make a contribution in the form of discounts.”
Such reductions could trim $50,000 from projected home costs, according to one model in the plan.
The location of such homes is also an issue under the Neighborhood District Policy, which seeks to create a diverse mix of housing types within smaller neighborhoods.
The 2003 Glen Loma plan does not detail the location of affordable housing, but Kent said, “I think our preference would certainly be some sprinkling (across neighborhoods) if we can. Part of the benefit of the specific plan is to have some flexibility to put the housing where we can.”
Other than the revised environmental report, the biggest missing piece in the Glen Loma plan is the scale of affordable housing.
The exact number of affordable units Glen Loma must provide could change if councilmen revise the 10-percent minimum.
“We are going to have a significant affordable housing element,” Kent assured. “We’re certainly going to do our share.”
Glen Loma stats*
The project will create a virtual self-contained city in the southwest quadrant of Gilroy. Highlights include:
• 354 acres
• 1,693 housing units
• 175 affordable housing units
• a senior center, half of which is affordable
• a new elementary school
• Trails system, parks, and open space
*based on 2003 specific plan
