A plan to replace the Indian Motorcycle plant with 200 homes
will enter the first phase of public review Thursday, when planning
commissioners seek to balance growth and safety concerns with the
desire to see the redevelopment of an abandoned industrial
site.
Gilroy – A plan to replace the Indian Motorcycle plant with 200 homes will enter the first phase of public review Thursday, when planning commissioners seek to balance growth and safety concerns with the desire to see the redevelopment of an abandoned industrial site.
The proposal has been touted as a leap forward in efforts to rejuvenate Gilroy’s downtown, but city councilmen and top officials with Gilroy Unified School District have raised concerns about the safety of future school children living in the new development. The 6.2-acre site abuts the east side of the railroad tracks and lies just south of 10th Street, a traffic corridor that connects commuters and shoppers to U.S. Highway 101 and big-box stores off Pacheco Pass Highway.
Children from an eventual housing development would face both obstacles on the way to school, likely either Eliot or Glen View elementary schools.
“I’ve looked at it a lot but I haven’t made up my mind yet,” said Planning Commission Chairman Tim Day. “The positive is obvious. It’s taking an abandoned piece of property and doing a very nice project. The question still remains – is that the place to do it, and is getting the (building permits) through the downtown exemption the right way to do it?”
The reference to the exemption touches on a broader concern about the efforts of Tony Sudol, a former councilman and project representative, to fold the commercial site into an area designated as part of the downtown corridor. If successful, Sudol could draw down on 1,500-plus building permits pre-allocated for that area. If he fails, he may have to wait another six years for a citywide housing permit competition.
Sudol suggested that the 1,500-plus building permits earmarked for the downtown corridor are more than enough, and that the city could afford to let his project draw down on the pool of permits. As for the safety concerns, he pointed out that schoolchildren cross 10th Street at other points along the corridor, and that he plans to work with the district to “allay any concerns.”
“This site is pretty much no longer useful for industrial,” Sudol added. “Everything’s moved east of (U.S.) 101 for the most part. I think there’s a tremendous amount of commercial on 10th Street as it is, and this is a great opportunity to create housing that’s more affordable and more easily accessible to mass transit. I think what we need to get our downtown alive is more people living in walking distance. That creates more business opportunities.”
The site has sat vacant since the motorcycle assembly plant closed in 2003. Before the motorcycle plant moved in, the building at 200 East 10th St. served as headquarters for Nob Hill Foods. City planners and business leaders welcome the prospect of rehabilitating a site they say has outlived its use for manufacturing. And Sudol has plugged the development by arguing that traffic from housing would be far less than the round-trips generated when 350 employees worked at the motorcycle plant.
But the safety of school children and Sudol’s strategy to obtain building permits remain top concerns for Councilman Dion Bracco.
“I don’t support that project at all,” he said. “I don’t think Eliot School can take the impact of all these extra homes. There’s no safe way for the kids to cross 10th Street. And that is not part of the downtown. If they wanted to go through the normal (building permit) process, then I would be more favorable to it. But at this point … it would be sucking life out of the downtown.”
On Thursday, the city’s seven-member planning commission will review Sudol’s request for a change in zoning, the first step in pushing the project forward. The appointed body will forward a recommendation to city council for a final decision.
The meeting takes place 6pm at City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
