Residents upset with last week’s vote to add as many as 5,300 homes to Gilroy descended on Monday’s City Council meeting hoping to have their objections heard.
However, Mayor Don Gage interrupted the commenters, who weren’t on the agenda, and invited more than one of them out for coffee from the dais.
On Dec. 7, the city council overruled its planning commission and approved moving forward on a new development north of town that includes annexing 721 acres of farmland. Angry residents have started a petition drive and wanted to be heard again at the meeting, although it wasn’t on the agenda.
This special meeting, only a week after the last one, was originally scheduled to discuss the city’s new General Plan, but that was put off until Jan. 4 to give councilmembers more time to study the document.
“You’re going to be creating a bunch of market-value houses that, for people coming here to this area, it’s only going to be affordable for people who commute to San Jose, who have higher-paying jobs,” said Robert Carrera, one of three speakers who managed to get a few words in.
“I think it is an absolute terrible idea and that it will destroy Gilroy.”
Critics of the proposal were characterized as being against all growth by Mayor Pro Tempore Perry Woodward, but Carrera said he acknowledges that the city will grow, but he wants it done well, with a higher density downtown.
Others wanted to know what the city was doing about its current water shortage. Speaking during the public comment period reserved for ideas on how to fill the vacant mayoral seat, two residents argued the council needed to buckle down on construction, which they contend is using all of the city’s water levees for storage.
In response to one resident who had come to ask the mayor why he was leaving as soon as the Urban Service Area expansion was approved, Gage said as he cut him off, “I would like you to call me. I’d like to sit down, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and I’ll let you ask all the questions you want to ask.”
About a dozen people turned out to express their opposition to the farmland conversion. The proposal next goes to the state-mandated Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), a county board that is charged with monitoring growth to make sure it doesn’t become sprawl.
One of the protestors, Sandie Silva, started an online petition at a website called Keep Gilroy a Small Town that has collected 1,888 signatures as of Wednesday, with a goal of reaching 2000. She talked to the Dispatch outside the council chambers.
“I felt that the people’s voice was not listened to and that this would be a way that the people’s voice could be heard,” Silva said in an interview. “And I’m hoping that with enough people, we can come up with a plan to stop it from going through, whether it be at the city level or LAFCO.”
Councilwoman Cat Tucker, who voted against the proposal, sits on the LAFCO board.
The big agenda item for the council’s last meeting of 2015 was to discuss how to replace Gage, who announced his retirement Dec. 7 after 34 years in public office, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
The new mayor will be selected at the council’s Jan. 4 meeting. In accord with the city charter, whoever is selected to fill the seat must be a current council member and their term will end December 2016, following general elections in November. The council will also appoint someone Jan. 25 to fill the vacant council seat. Any Gilroy resident can apply at the city’s website. Applications are due Jan. 15.
Before the meeting, about 30 people huddled into the lobby of City Hall to honor Mayor Gage. Several shared stories, remembering the mayor as a fair and sometimes stubborn man.
During the meeting, Woodward shared fond memories working alongside Gage when he was a member of the County Board of Supervisors, a position Gage held from 1997 until 2010.
“This is a tremendous loss for the city of Gilroy,” Woodward said. “As it’s said in sports, there is no doubt you are a first ballot hall-of-famer.”
The city council also announced that is lacking applicants for various commissions.
Commissions with available seats are: Arts & Culture Commission, Bicycle Pedestrian Commission, Building Board of Appeals, Historic Heritage Committee, Housing Advisory Committee, Library Commission, Parks & Recreation Commission, Physically Challenged Board of Appeals, Planning Commission and the Public Art Committee. Terms on these committees range from two to four years.
For more details, visit www.cityofgilroy.org/
David Barclay contributed to this report.
