Politics

City Council will be holding a special meeting/study session Monday night to discuss planned unit development regulations and potential amendments to existing sign ordinances:

In what will surely make an interesting closed session of the Gilroy City Council on Jan. 19, not one, but two lawsuits have been filed against the city regarding its controversial annexation plan involving 721 acres north of Gilroy.A group of Gilroy property owners, who had tried to develop housing south of Gilroy have sued to stop the city from pursuing the northern project. They said they were told not to pursue their plans and then found that the city approved the other big project.Ken Kerley and Daniel Fiorio's suit challenges the City Council’s Dec. 7 decision to approve the 721-acre project and certify the environmental impact report (EIR), without first analyzing and mitigating potential environmental impacts, arguing such actions are “unlawful under CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] and California planning and zoning laws.”LAFCO, the state-mandated agency tasked with controlling urban sprawl, also filed a lawsuit on Jan. 13 at the Santa Clara County Superior Court, which argued the city broke the law when it approved the annexation of 721 acres of farmland as part of a planned 4,000-home development.The landowners’ lawsuit further attests the city council’s approval of the project causes the city’s general plan to be “internally inconsistent,” in violation of state planning and zoning laws.Both suits also name the project’s investors and landowners, including Martin Limited Partnership, Wren Investors LLC, and Mark Hewell.Like the first suit, this one asks the court to not allow this land to be annexed by the city.Kerley and Fiorio are no strangers to City Hall. In July 2013 they were part of a consortium of landowners that submitted their own application to amend the city’s Urban Service Area to encompass approximately 150 acres in the unincorporated south Gilroy neighborhood district (called South Gilroy USA Proposal in the lawsuit), where the two own property.The petitioners allege in the lawsuit that in January 2014, city staff provided them with an evaluation of the South Gilroy USA Proposal and advised them to withdraw their application and not to resubmit until after the city adopted its 2040 general plan, which was then underway. The petitioners followed the recommendation and withdrew their application five days later.In July 2014, the city accepted Martin Limited Partnership’s application to add 721 acres into the city’s USA boundary even as the city was still developing its 2040 general plan, contrary to the advice allegedly given to the landowners behind the 150-acre south Gilroy proposal.Approval of the 721-acre project is “premature and should await adoption of the 2040 general Plan,” the lawsuit states.The general plan was approved by the City Council on Jan. 4, clearing the way for an environmental review and final reading sometime this summer.        

Gilroy

The City Council's plans to pursue a two-tier city employee

A five-story apartment complex and the tallest building in the Garlic Capital—proposed to be 58 feet tall—is coming to downtown as soon as summer of 2016. The 263-unit affordable housing complex, developed by Idaho-based multifamily housing group Pacific Companies, is scheduled for construction on the southwest corner of 10th and Alexander streets.

California's total population increased by nearly one percent in 2013 to 38.3 million residents, and most of the growth is happening in the Bay area.

When Connie Rogers, president of the Gilroy Historical Society, first learned that City Council voted Nov. 18 to proceed with the demolition of the “Red Barn” in Christmas Hill Park within a year unless purchased or relocated by a private investor, to say she was disappointed would be an understatement.

The flames from the roasting that GUSD Superintendent Dr. Debbie Flores received in the Rod Kelley Elementary School Auditorium Tuesday night had barely died down before she was forced into explanation mode again Wednesday.