Gilroy
– If his plans get the go ahead, Christopher Coté will usher in
the city’s first fully solar-powered housing development by this
time next year.
Gilroy – If his plans get the go ahead, Christopher Coté will usher in the city’s first fully solar-powered housing development by this time next year.
Coté, chairman and CEO of Hollings Cartaway Hunger-Relief Foundation, is planning to build Gilroy Independence: five homes generating their own energy via solar panels embedded in their roofs. Coté plans to sell each of the five homes for below-market rate – between $450,000 and $600,000 – to a Gilroy police officer, firefighter, Iraqi war veteran, CALSTAR emergency rescue helicopter pilot and Gilroy Unified School District teacher.
“These members of the community often have trouble finding housing, and I think it’s important to provide to those in the community who provide for us,” Coté said.
The homes will connect to the energy grid for electricity at night, and excess power generated during daylight will be sold back to Pacific Gas and Electric in accordance with state regulations. The result will be a net zero monthly power bill for homeowners, Coté said.
The development will sit adjacent to Las Animas Veterans Park, near the tennis courts. Coté described the homes’ aesthetic style as classic Southern plantation with an electric gate and gas lamps. The 1,400- to 1,700-square-foot units will have yards, front porches and solar hot water heaters and will sit on 3,000- to 6,000-square-foot lots.
While his 8-year-old foundation will pay for some of the project, Coté said he is personally footing much of the $2.6 million bill.
Coté was effectively exempt from permit competition in accordance with city planning regulations that grant exemptions to small projects. Currently, an old house sits on the lot, which Coté will demolish.
The development could serve as a model for developers that solar-powered housing is a realistic and cost-efficient goal, Coté said. Gilroy’s below-average air quality, coupled with specifications that budget 3,000 new homes over the next 10 years, are cause for concern, Coté said. He hopes Gilroy Independence will lead the way in establishing energy-efficient housing as convention.
But his innovative plans are not a go just yet. The city’s planning commission is reviewing his proposal and will vote in October. If passed, the plan must then go before the Gilroy City Council.
Coté’s push for alternative energy doesn’t end with Gilroy Independence. In December, he introduced the self-authored Gilroy Energy Independence Ordinance to the council, a proposal that would provide financial incentives for homeowners and businesses to integrate solar power into their construction projects. It also would impose a fee on businesses that violate air pollution limits set by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and fees would be pooled to aid the Economic Development Corporation in attracting new technology firms to Gilroy.
Additionally, new companies would be required to supplement 75 percent of their conventional power sources with renewable energy sources such as solar power if their projects cause Gilroy’s air quality to fall below standard.
Coté submitted a letter to Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro and the council specifying he would not accept financial incentives as detailed by the ordinance for his housing development should the ordinance pass into law. Council discussed the ordinance at its June mini-retreat and will further review it in January.
Councilman Bob Dillon said although he generally approves of solar-powered housing, he questions Coté’s proposal to store excess energy in lead-acid batteries. While lead-acid batteries are one of the most economical forms of electrical storage, they also pose extremely hazardous health threats due to sulfuric acid and lead content.
Dillon said the council’s discussion in June regarding the ordinance was mostly positive, but “there was a feeling that it’d be put on the back burner,” he said, as other, more urgent agenda items will take priority.
