GILROY
– When City Council considers annexing a 60-acre Day Road parcel
into Gilroy proper next week, it will be looking at plans for
nearly 300 houses and a Catholic parish, not the 1,800-student high
school that 50 acres of the property may ultimately become.
GILROY – When City Council considers annexing a 60-acre Day Road parcel into Gilroy proper next week, it will be looking at plans for nearly 300 houses and a Catholic parish, not the 1,800-student high school that 50 acres of the property may ultimately become.
It’s a detail the property owners and developers say has been lost in the shuffle since school district and city leaders began publicly debating where Gilroy’s second comprehensive high school should go.
Last week, the attorney for the family that owns the Day Road parcel (the Silveira family) submitted a letter to the editor in The Dispatch calling plans for a new high school “speculative at best.” Also last week, a monsignor from the Diocese of San Jose called The Dispatch to remind editorial staff he has been searching for an appropriate site for a second Catholic church in Gilroy since 1996.
Gilroy Unified School District, which would locate its high school next to the Catholic parish and school, became interested in the Day Road property only months ago.
“Whether the high school actually goes there is still to be determined,” Monsignor Michael Mitchell said. “Right now it’s a red herring.”
School district trustee John Gurich – the only trustee to vote against moving forward with environmental testing and purchase negotiations on the Day Road property – worries the recent media outreach by the Silveiras and the Catholic church is a red herring of its own.
Gurich worries that the developers are feigning interest in especially the residential development of the property to make the land more valuable. Although the city may not allocate housing for the 50-acre portion of the parcel for another 10 to 15 years, a parcel annexed for residential use is likely to be more valuable than a parcel for public use.
As momentum builds for a residential development at Day Road, Gurich worries the school may need to use its historically effective – but politically divisive – power of eminent domain. Eminent domain allows public agencies to buy land at fair market value from unwilling sellers if it serves a public good.
“There is a concern it could be a way to shoot the price up,” Gurich said. “When I read that in the paper it was really weird. It was strange they came out with that now.”
Gurich recalls public discussions about the 93-year-old Silveira matriarch not being able to afford the property taxes from the parcel. If those discussions were valid, it would mean the Silveiras could be better off selling to the school district cheaper and sooner than to a developer at a higher rate but later.
When news broke regarding the school district’s interest in the Silveiras’ Day Road property in January, John Filice – the site’s current developer – said, “My personal opinion is that there is a very good chance this property will become the new high school. The Silveiras are willing to sell (to the district).”
Lawyers and developers are now calling the Silveiras “realistic sellers.”
The Silveiras recently granted permission to the school district to conduct preliminary environmental work it will need to complete before the state OKs the multimillion dollar purchase.
Jon Campisi, the attorney for the Silveiras, could not be reached before deadline. However, in an interview prior to Gurich’s comments, Campisi said the primary goal is to make sure the church can develop its 10 acres. He also acknowledged the financial advantage a residential development would bring his clients.
The value of the Day Road parcel has been estimated at less than $200,000 an acre.
Filice said Monday he feels the high school is not an issue related to the annexation and that the school district has at least a year to conduct environmental studies proving the Day Road site is the best alternative for locating a new high school in Gilroy.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re happy with our project the way it is and would like to keep it that way,” Filice said. “We’ll deal with the high school a year from now if it’s an issue.
“This is certainly not a ploy,” Filice said regarding the push for annexation.
Regardless of the seller’s intentions, Gilroy Planning Division Manager Bill Faus says the public knowledge that the site could become a high school and not a residential development will “cloud” the City Council’s decision July 21.
“The Council will look at a property (to be annexed) from a more generic standpoint. They have to ask ‘What would you reasonably expect (to be developed there?),’ ” Faus said. “It may be argued one day that City Council would have made a different decision on annexation if it knew it were a high school. It can get politically dicey.”
If City Council annexes the Silveira property next week but 50 acres of the parcel ultimately are sold to the school district, the property would need to get rezoned, Faus said. At that point, City Council would review the school district’s plans to make sure it meets city guidelines.
“That could definitely hold things up,” said Gurich, a school district trustee. “It seems it could at least delay the process.”
