Construction on first phase could begin next spring with
council’s OK
Gilroy – Construction could begin next spring on 165 homes along farmland and hillsides surrounding Hecker Pass, assuming fall approval by city council on a new road and intersection for the city’s scenic western gateway.
Plans submitted by DeNova Homes, in Pleasanton, represent the first major phase in the development of 500-plus homes along the Hecker Pass corridor. A housing cluster south of Hecker Pass will include 87 units, while a northern cluster just east of the public golf course will include 78 units. The projects are slated for 2480 and 2485 Hecker Pass Highway.
No residents can move into the future homes until the city extends Third Street west along the Uvas Creek corridor and connects it to a new intersection with Hecker Pass, just east of the city’s public golf course. Construction can begin on the southern cluster of homes, accessible through existing private roads, as long as city leaders sign off on detailed plans for road improvements, new parks and other infrastructure slated for the area.
Developers are shepherding the infrastructure plans through City Hall on a parallel track with the housing projects. A DeNova representative could not be reached for comment, but plans show a variety of housing sizes and types, including French Country, Spanish and Victorian.
Landowner Jim Hoey, who has a deal to sell the property to DeNova once the city signs off on the plans, said the plans are designed to meet the principles embodied in the Hecker Pass Specific Plan. Hoey and about a dozen other area landowners, city staff members and residents spent five years crafting the 100-plus page document. The plan spells out broad development guidelines for the 423-acre area.
“We followed the specific plan on creating view corridors in our designs and all the homes are set back in clusters,” he said.
Hoey predicted construction of the southern development would begin sooner than the northern project. The latter cannot move forward until developers complete a new road running north from the future intersection of Third Street and Hecker Pass Highway. And approval of the intersection may lag behind the housing projects since it requires an additional layer of review by state transportation officials.
“The south portion will be going first,” Hoey said of the construction schedule. “The north will be at least a year later if not more.”
Hoey’s development plans represent the first concrete step toward developing the Hecker Pass corridor since city officials approved the Hecker Pass Specific Plan in early 2005.
The specific plan calls for a diverse mix of housing, preservation of farmland and open space, and the clustering of homes in areas set back 100 feet from the highway that leads to the Santa Cruz ridge line.
“It’s going to be the first major development in the Hecker Pass Specific Plan area,” City Planner Melissa Durkin said. “A lot of changes are going to go on out there. We’re hoping that everybody’s going to be pleased with the way it turns out. … The community’s expectations should be that it’s going to be different, not necessarily better or worse. It is an urban development, but we think it’s going to be a nice urban development.”
