It’s a bit baffling to consider that the Gilroy Unified School
District may be in for a fight over its application for 72 housing
permits to be built on the former Las Animas Elementary School
site. But it’s unfathomable that the city is trying to blackmail
our financially strapped school district into paying for a
stoplight at Wren and Welburn avenues.
1. Requiring a stoplight at $350,000 is an undue burden for the district
It’s a bit baffling to consider that the Gilroy Unified School District may be in for a fight over its application for 72 housing permits to be built on the former Las Animas Elementary School site. But it’s unfathomable that the city is trying to blackmail our financially strapped school district into paying for a stoplight at Wren and Welburn avenues.
Remember Council, that $400,000 or so for the stoplight, represents a few new badly needed classrooms for our students.
The district’s housing proposal represents a level-headed compromise which, of course, is seeking to maximize value for a redeeming purpose – the building of schools. There isn’t anything outrageous about the proposal. The number of units and the site plan have been done considerately of the neighborhood, and the Council should approve it.
2. Traffic study doesn’t support the requirement for a stoplight
It should also summarily drop the requirement for the district to pay for a new stoplight. Since GUSD moved the school across town, traffic obviously has decreased. But the traffic study done for the housing proposal demonstrates that there won’t be increased traffic compared to when the school was operational.
So, unless there’s other evidence to the contrary, the city’s requirement for a stoplight is more along the lines of goring the school district’s ox simply to shift the burden off the city. That’s clearly unfair, and moreover it represents a wholesale misconception that has, unfortunately, stained Gilroy’s recent growth.
The city has to understand that it is a partner in ensuring that our community has well located and adequate school facilities.
The stoplight requirement represents a disconnect in that basic understanding.
The intersection in question is and has been on the city’s target list for improvement – i.e. a stoplight. This development proposal is easy pickings in that regard for city staff despite the facts, including the key fact that the traffic study is based on the lowest of enrollment numbers at the former Las Animas School site. Even those numbers won’t increase traffic, but yet there’s the $400,000 stoplight requirement.
3. Let’s be clear: the school district isn’t just like any other developer
The city knows the district is financially strapped with regards to facilities and that GUSD is asking voters to approve $150 million bond this November primarily to finish Christopher High School.
The city should take care of its responsibility regarding the stoplight and assist the school district in its plan to raise facility funds by approving the development proposal. It’s not carte blanche, of course, but the housing proposal has been significantly reduced and reconfigured to address neighborhood concerns.
Lastly, the notion that the school district should be treated like any other private developer is nonsense. Private developers aren’t in the “business” of educating our children, and therefore it’s important for the Council to understand this and use their “judicial discretion” for the betterment of the community.
Having adequate school facilities isn’t just a concern for GUSD officials, it’s a quality of life issue for everyone who lives here.
