Five-year project will begin with 87 homes that should be
completed by 2008
Gilroy – City leaders have cleared the way for development of 400-plus homes along farmland and hillsides on Hecker Pass Highway.
Monday night marked a watershed in the five-year development process for 423 acres in west Gilroy. Councilmen unanimously approved a plan for new roads, parks and other public infrastructure; the first 87 homes of the project; and a development agreement that allows the remaining balance of homes to be constructed up to three years earlier or later than planned.
The approvals came after some soul searching about the plight of the school district, whose officials worry that the possibility of faster development could put unexpected pressure on classrooms.
“There were many years put into this development and there was a cross-section of the community that worked for two and a half years on the plans,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “There’s been a lot of give and take. Is it perfect? I don’t think we’ll ever do that. Is it something we feel pretty good about? I’d say yes.”
On Monday night, Pinheiro and councilmen signed off on compromises to three sticking points that threatened to derail the development agreement between City Hall and roughly a dozen landowners responsible for the project. They agreed that property owners should not be responsible for the so-called “under-grounding” of utility lines on three light poles just east of Uvas Creek bridge, and that the city should take ownership of a nature trail extension that will stretch west of Santa Teresa Boulevard.
In exchange, landowners agreed to underground utility lines on 18 other poles and complete the Uvas Creek nature trail from Santa Teresa Boulevard to Hecker Pass Highway.
As part of the deal, the city will get $2 million earmarked for road improvements on Santa Teresa Boulevard and a three-acre public park. Developers will get the flexibility to fast-track or slow down construction to keep in step with market conditions, as well as a guarantee that no new fees will be slapped on the project down the road.
“It’s been a long, long process and I’m glad we can get down to specific projects,” said Joel Goldsmith, one of a dozen Hecker Pass landowners and a member of the task force that spent nearly three years crafting development guidelines for the area.
The Hecker Pass Specific Plan was approved early in 2005 and came under fire at the beginning of this year, when developers released a detailed road widening plan that called for cutting down about 30 historic cedars along Hecker Pass Highway.
The outcry from environmentalists and residents inspired a solution that pleased all sides: Eliminate one of the two intersections planned for Hecker Pass and avoid cutting down all but a handful of the trees. (Developers eliminated plans for an intersection at the driveway of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, just west of Santa Teresa Boulevard; they will only construct an intersection to the west near Gilroy public golf course).
More recently, the Hecker Pass development agreement has come under criticism because of the school district’s increasing concerns about the effects of growth. State law limits the amount of fees developers must pay to finance educational facilities to accommodate new school children, and the law ties the hands of cities when it comes to forcing developer concessions.
Councilman, who are now working with the school district on creative ways to induce more developer give-backs for the school system, decided against holding up the Hecker Pass development because of such broader growth issues. Even Edwin Diaz tempered the school districts’ earlier opposition to the project.
“The reason is that they have been going through their process for a number of months,” Diaz said. “They have been heading down one track, and I thought it was unfair that when they have dealt with everything they were required to deal with, that we get up there and object to it. We still have the same concerns, but we are looking into other ways to resolve those.”
The first Hecker Pass homes are expected to be constructed in 2008.
