Families in the market for a new home could soon have their sights set on Gilroy, as two developments proposing a total of 78 single-family residential lots are slated for construction as early as this summer.
Council unanimously approved Monday the Glen Loma Group’s tentative map – the second to last hurdle in the development approval process before construction can begin – for plans to subdivide 14.9 acres of agricultural land for the Silveira residential subdivision near the southwest corner of Day Road and Cougar Court. Here, Glen Loma wants to build 55 of the 68 single-family residential lots.
Meanwhile, another 23 single-family residential lot development – the Masoni III subdivision spearheaded by the Gilroy-based James Group – is also bounding toward the construction phase.
City Council approved a zoning change from agricultural to a planned unit development; a tentative map request to build 23 single-family residential lots; and an architectural and site review for the project; which will be sandwiched between Starling Drive and Santa Teresa Boulevard, with Babbs Creek to the north.
Though both developers will be required to submit their final maps for review by City staff and City Council – a deadline for which has not been set – all signs are pointing towards a healing “robust development economy” that has been stalled since the Great Recession, Councilman Perry Woodward said.
“These developments are some of the first developments to get restarted after the economic collapse,” he added. “There’s a tremendous amount of activity in the pipeline that hasn’t made its way up to Council just yet. Now, you’re going to see – for the first time in a long time – development start to take off in Gilroy and it will be an interesting challenge for City Council.”
First filed by the Glen Loma Group in 2000, the proposed Silveira residential subdivision would also include a 1.5-acre detention pond and open space parcel, installation of public streets with access to Day Road and off-site widening improvements providing access to Day Road and Cougar Court.
The Masoni III project alone will create nearly 0.4 acres of private open space and expand the existing Babbs Creek Park Preserve by 1.4 acres, according to City documents.
City Council approved all stages of the planning process for the Silveira project, but voted 4-2 to require the developer, James Suner of Gilroy, to change the size of the front yards for roughly a third of the lots.
The Planning Commission recommended that Suner follow the standard R-1 residential development plan, where all houses have the same amount of front yard. But after Councilman Peter Arellano suggested residents have larger homes and smaller yards, and following Council’s approval of Arellano’s motion, Suner will have to change his plans – slightly.
“If you have a small yard it’s easier to take care of,” Arellano posited. “I’ve had a huge front yard and I didn’t use it. All I did was water it, that’s pretty much it. I think it’s a better use of the property (to decrease the size of the front yard); it’s better planning and I think it gives better aesthetics. I think it’s the best bet.”
Suner was less than thrilled with that suggestion.
“We thought it was relatively minor in terms of the site but I think as a developer and a builder, I should have the ability to make those decisions myself,” Suner argued. “If I want larger rear yards and smaller front yards in a PUD, that’s something I should be able to do. It’s becoming more of a design process and less of a design review process.”
The Planning Commission also required Suner to change his roofing plans from composite shale roofing on some units to tile roofing on all units. Those revised plans will come before City Council within the next three weeks, according to Ketchum.
Both the Silveira and Masoni III projects are infill projects, which involve a zoning change from open space or agriculture to a housing development – and they’re exactly the type of development the City wants right now, according to Mayor Don Gage.
“We don’t want pockets of development,” Gage said. “We want all the infill parcels built on, and when they build the big ones out, they can connect to them.”
And big projects are on their way, as the final maps for a total of more than 1,800 homes were approved last year by City Council. That includes the 1,643-home Glen-Loma Ranch Project located between Santa Teresa Boulevard and the Uvas Creek Corridor, proposed by the Arizona-based developer Meritage Homes.
Last November, City Council voted to approve the final map and property improvement agreement for the 26-acre, 237-unit Oak Place development located on Gilroy’s south side near the intersection of Luchessa Avenue and Monterey Road. Situated not far from the Gilroy Sports Park, which is under construction, the project would include 213 single-family homes and 24 condominium units.
While those projects are in various stages of completion, Gage says these smaller infill projects will round out the larger developments, such as Glen-Loma Ranch and Oak Place. But it will be the larger developers who are footing the bill for large-scale infrastructure projects such as street widening, traffic improvements and impacts to public schools, Gage added.
“We have already negotiated those improvements and the developers are handling them,” he said. “It takes a lot of infrastructure, and with these smaller projects, they just can’t afford to do that. The impact (from developments like the Masoni III subdivision and the Silveira project) is smaller because the increase to traffic is not large.”
