GILROY
– Drive a little, take a lot.
That’s in essence what some Gilroy auto dealers
– worried about unfair competition and their collective
reputation – told city officials that an out-of-town used-car
dealer would do if allowed to set up shop in a south Gilroy
shopping center.
And the city’s Planning Commission listened Thursday night,
voting 5-2 after moderate debate to reject permits for a temporary
used-car sales lot at the South Valley Plaza at 10th and Chestnut
streets.
GILROY – Drive a little, take a lot.

That’s in essence what some Gilroy auto dealers – worried about unfair competition and their collective reputation – told city officials that an out-of-town used-car dealer would do if allowed to set up shop in a south Gilroy shopping center.

And the city’s Planning Commission listened Thursday night, voting 5-2 after moderate debate to reject permits for a temporary used-car sales lot at the South Valley Plaza at 10th and Chestnut streets.

“They’re going to reap all of the benefits and not put in the muscle to establish it,” said Planning Commissioner Russ Valiquette, who seconded Commissioner Cat Tucker’s motion to deny permits that would have allowed The Car Store to set up shop in a corner of the old K-Mart center.

Representatives of the San Leandro-based dealer had sought permission to hold a series of once-monthly used-car sales in the eastern portion of the center’s parking lot, which lies just yards away from the city’s “auto row” of car dealerships off 10th Street.

According to city staff, Car Store officials expected to display up to 150 used cars during a series of four four-day sales events planned through this August. The events would also include four days of setup and cleanup for the cars, a 20-by-40-foot sales tent and bathrooms.

The car lot would have been the latest in a series of new occupants in the center. After a series of years where vacancy rates sometimes reached 90 percent, center owners Gray and Reynolds Properties expect to have most of the center’s 180,000 square-feet occupied by this spring. They also plan a major cosmetic renovation of the center, whose anchors include an Arteaga’s Supermarket and Western Appliance.

However, city planning officials said the sales area would be located in the easternmost section of the old center adjacent to U.S. 101, outside of the main parking lot for the center’s businesses.

Existing tenants also signed a notice stating they were aware of the sales events, officials said. And planners recommended a condition on the permit where if conflicts between businesses arose, the car lot’s permit would be able to be altered – or flat-out disapproved.

But those arguments were little consolation to representatives of long-established local dealerships – including Al Sanchez Volkswagen-Mazda-Jeep, South County Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge and Gilroy Toyota – who watched from the audience.

They expressed concerns about the introduction of an outside dealership which – with little stake in the community – could potentially threaten the image and reputations that the nearby local dealerships had spent years and large sums of advertising money to cultivate and maintain. Customers coming to auto row could think the Car Store was a Gilroy-based auto dealer, they said.

Meanwhile, local dealers pay property taxes, employ area residents and contribute to the local economy in many other ways, said Al Sanchez VW President Adam Sanchez.

“To allow (them) to just blow into town, scoop up local business, pack their tent and leave is a huge injustice to the community,” he told the commission.

Sanchez also honed in on parking concerns, calling the temporary sales events a potential “eight-day parking nightmare” at the fast-filling center, especially during lunchtime.

A Car Store representative admitted the business would not employ locals, but told the commission he would spend advertising dollars locally and also offer three-month, 3,000-mile warranties on every vehicle.

When discussion reached the dais, concerns initially centered on parking.

Tucker said the area slated for the used car lot was too enclosed and difficult to get to and said there seemed to be a high potential for Car Store customers to hamper parking for other businesses in the center’s lot.

“There’s no guarantee they won’t be interfering,” she said.

But Commissioners Norm Thompson and Thomas Boe seemed to disagree, noting the car lot required the equivalent of just 30 spaces and was forecast to draw 50 to 75 customers a day to a center that has hundreds of slots.

“Unless they come all at the same time, it does not appear to be a large impact,” Thompson said.

Valiquette said his problem was of a different kind: the new lot seemed too close to the existing dealerships, which he said had taken years to concentrate in one area and had paid impact fees and other costs of putting down more permanent roots.

Commissioner Joanie Lewis agreed, noting that local dealers need support – and business – during the slow economy.

“(The Car Store) may make a little sales tax, but we ought to think about our dealerships that are established here,” she said.

But Correa said commissioners were “jumping to conclusions” by rejecting the project on parking grounds when the center had never had a car lot operate on the premises before.

And if people didn’t like the cars the new seller offered, they didn’t have to buy them, he noted.

“It will be healthy competition that serves the overall consumer here in the city,” he said before casting his dissenting vote.

Previous articleGilroyans mourn the loss of a leader
Next article152 gets needed facelift

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here