GILROY
– Controversial plans to bring land that’s coveted as a
potential site for a new public high school, Catholic parish and
parochial school into the city’s boundaries will be delayed because
of environmental concerns.
GILROY – Controversial plans to bring land that’s coveted as a potential site for a new public high school, Catholic parish and parochial school into the city’s boundaries will be delayed because of environmental concerns.
City officials said Tuesday that the proposed annexation of the 60-acre parcel, which sits on the northwest edge of the city at Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard, will be delayed for several months because comments received by air quality regulators will prompt a full environmental impact report on the proposal.
The Gilroy Unified School District is eyeing 50 acres of the site for a new public high school, while the Diocese of San Jose wants to build a parish and parochial school on the remaining 10 acres. Glen-Loma Group, a major residential developer that is pursuing a 76-acre, 247-lot subdivision near the site, is representing the Diocese and the Silveira family, which owns the land.
The district hopes to open the new high school by 2008. Tuesday, school board President Jim Rogers said he was not discouraged by the delay.
“If we were building the school next year, this would be a problem,” Rogers said. “But because our target date is several years out, this is just a bump in the road.”
City officials had processed the annexation request at a more preliminary, lower level of environmental analysis, but said concerns from regulators over potential impacts to regional air quality triggered the more comprehensive – and costlier – full report.
Council was slated to consider the annexation and “prezone” request Monday night, but continued the request until the EIR can be done and circulated for comment, a process officials said could take three to four months.
City staffers met members of the public who came to speak on the issue at the door of the Council Chambers to warn them of the change and to gather names and addresses of those interested in receiving a notice of future hearings.
The Planning Commission had approved the proposal last week over the objections of several neighbors, who protested the sudden shift from rural to urban densities that new development on the parcel could bring.
Before the school district purchases land for a new school, the state needs to give its stamp of approval and the property must be appraised. Rogers said those processes have begun but are not completed.
“Obviously we’d like to do this as soon as possible because once we get a property, that’s one less thing to worry about,” Rogers said. “Frankly, this property looks really good at the moment.”
