Plans to raze the barn and build a community center move
forward
By Betsy Avelar Staff Writer
Gilroy – Katherine McBride reluctantly voted to have a century-old red barn near Christmas Hill Park torn down after hearing from the city that the structure is hazardous and irreparable. Plans also include building a new facility in its place.
McBride serves on the Historic Heritage Committee, which was presented with a proposal to raze the red barn that sits on the Ranch side (east side) of the sprawling Gilroy park. A city planner, Cydney Casper, who died recently in a motorcycle crash, along with others from the city, proposed a plan that would build a community center in place of the barn.
But the proposal raised questions about whether the public was given an opportunity to provide sufficient feedback on the demolition of a historical structure, as well as destroying the habitat of an owl, bats, pigeons and cats that have made the barn their home.
Former city councilwoman Connie Rogers said she does not recall the public having input in the process.
“The public should have been informed, and the way they usually get informed is through an environmental impact report,” said Rogers. “There should have been one. I just have a feeling that the city’s plans to tear down the barn were not well known.”
McBride acknowledged that the city presented the plan to demolish the barn to the HHC without prior public input.
“It didn’t seem like there was input from the public,” said McBride. The city had already made the decisions before they even brought it to us. It was just the matter of going through the motions of asking us. I ended up voting for it, too, because everybody else voted for it. It was already a hopeless case. I should have not voted for it.”
City staff are crafting a master plan for the area that envisions replacing the barn with a community center closely resembling the original design. The new center would house classrooms, a kitchen and an assembly area. Officials expect it will cost between $3.5 million and $4.2 million, though they say it will be at least five years before the project gets off the ground.
In the meantime, McBride, along with Gilroy resident Carol de Santos, both are trying to find more history about the barn hoping to add more historical value in the eyes of the city, who claim the barn has no history.
“I think its a shame because there is a lot of history, and it just hasn’t been documented.” If we had more time we could probably find out more,” said McBride.
De Santos has also helped McBride with the initial documentation of history of the red structure.
“Nobody in the city has done really any research on the barn,” said De Santos
The existence of the barn dates back to the late 1800s. The barn sits on land that was purchased from the Filice family by the city in 1990. It was used to keep several horses for recreational purposes until the late 1950s. The Filice family believes that the barn was constructed by Miller and Lux company in supporting cattle operations it maintained in Gilroy. It is now used to store items for the Gilroy Garlic Festival, but the question of when exactly it was built remains a mystery.
Even with history of the facility, city planners claim that the facility is hazardous and must be demolished as soon as possible, but for Rogers, hazardous is not the case.
“Right now the city is claiming that it’s hazardous,” said Rogers. “I have a hard time believing that, but that’s what they are claiming.”
Rogers was present at the meeting in November when the unanimous vote to demolish the red barn was made. “It’s a shame that it has to come down, and I think that it really hasn’t been cared for since the city assumed ownership of the ranch site,” said Rogers.
There’s no doubt the barn is becoming dilapidated. Wood is rotting and its red paint is peeling from the wear, and sheets of aluminum on the roof flail in the wind.
The plan is to carefully deconstruct the building so that part of it could be displayed in the new facility. Officials plan to preserve the red planks and other wood used to construct the barn. They hope to rebuild the structure elsewhere or recycle some of the parts in the future community center.
City plans are finalized as of November, and though the HHC voted unanimously to tear the barn down, the proposal must still go to the planning commission and ultimately the Gilroy City Council for approval.
