GILROY
– A special task force Wednesday stopped short of supporting an
all out ban on health care clinics in the core of downtown, but the
group wants City Council to review all future developments case by
case whenever retail shops or restaurants are not proposed.
GILROY – A special task force Wednesday stopped short of supporting an all out ban on health care clinics in the core of downtown, but the group wants City Council to review all future developments case by case whenever retail shops or restaurants are not proposed.
If Council approves the recommendation, case-by-case reviews would continue until a master plan for downtown is finalized roughly one year from now. Council will consider the task force’s recommendation at its Aug. 4 meeting, but before the city brass votes, the city’s attorney must determine if case-by-case reviews can pass legal muster.
The controversial task force suggestion comes just weeks after downtown revitalization activists learned the Garlic Festival Store, which sells garlic-themed and other specialty products, would become a Gardner Family Health Network medical and dental clinic. The Garlic Festival Store is a prime example of the kind of retail shop activists want in the downtown core which stretches along Monterey Street from roughly Third through Eighth streets. And there is concern that losing these types of stores will make revitalization more difficult, if not impossible.
“There are other places than right in the heart of downtown to put a clinic. I encourage professional people like doctors, dentists and lawyers to have offices downtown, but a complete clinic? No,” antiques store owner Charles Coachman said. “As a business person downtown, I don’t want it.”
Reymundo Espinoza, the chief executive officer for Gardner, addressed the task force at its Wednesday night session. Espinoza dispelled rumors that the health care clinic would serve as a drug or alcohol rehabilitation clinic. He also told task force members there would be no retail pharmacy at the 7526 Monterey Street site.
Espinoza said six physicians, two dentists and 12 other employees would staff the health care clinic which wants to expand the services it provides at an existing Sixth and Princevalle location.
“These are the types of folks you want in your downtown area,” Espinoza said Wednesday.
City Council wants help in deciding whether a moratorium on substance abuse rehabilitation clinics should be enacted while plans for the future of downtown are hashed out. Few task force members supported an overarching ban, since it would have to include a host of other, more desirable health care businesses for downtown.
The list of uses that would fit into the same category as rehab clinics includes chiropractic services, massage services, acupuncture services and herbal and aromatherapy offices.
“We believe it will be difficult to legally differentiate between these services (when processing project applications),” said Wendie Rooney, Gilroy’s Community Development director. “We need direction from counsel.”
To offset some of the legal concerns, task force members voted on three separate recommendations.
One recommendation is for the city to review the parking impacts of downtown developments. Another recommends health care clinics go through a formal Conditional Use Permit process when developing a project downtown. Both passed narrowly.
The third vote was on the all-out, albeit temporary, ban of health care clinics in the downtown core, until the master plan is done. It garnered only three out of a dozen potential votes.
Support seems strong for a downtown core with retail shops and restaurants on ground floors and professional offices and residences on second floors of buildings. However, the degree to which that vision is carried out could factor heavily in the upcoming November election.
City Council candidate and task force member Paul Correa voted against all three recommendations Wednesday.
“I’m willing to take the risk that having a clinic like Gardner will be an economic catalyst for the area,” Correa said. “Having medical and dental professionals and their clients and employees is in line with revitalizing downtown.”
Councilman Roland Velasco did not vote on the items since he acts as a liaison between Council and the task force. However, he supports the idea of keeping the core downtown clinic free.
“I don’t want to exclude medical and dental professionals and other professional offices we may want,” Velasco said. “But it’s generally correct to say I want to see retail store fronts with residential and other uses up above.”
Councilman Al Pinheiro, who is running for mayor and also acts as liaison on the task force, echoed Velasco’s sentiments Wednesday. Pinheiro is running unopposed for mayor.
