GILROY
– The ball is in the city’s court concerning important details
in the fate of two Gilroy Unified School District school sites, and
so far there’s some mixed opinion over what the city’s next moves
should be.
GILROY – The ball is in the city’s court concerning important details in the fate of two Gilroy Unified School District school sites, and so far there’s some mixed opinion over what the city’s next moves should be.
Issues with upset neighbors threaten to affect and delay the high school issue, while questions of procedure and fairness – as well as conflict with the prospect of a new post office there – could play out over the Las Animas site.
Some city leaders like Mayor Tom Springer have concerns they may have to stretch a little too far – or possibly commit a foot-fault – to help the district get the most value out of the high school site and an elementary school that’s due to be closed.
Others, like Councilman Al Pinheiro, don’t see much of a problem so far with either issue.
The GUSD wants the city to annex a Day Road parcel that is the district’s tentative favorite of four potential sites for a second high school. And this week, district officials also said they’d like the city to grant residential housing permits for the current Las Animas Elementary site.
But Springer said Thursday that the city will likely have to consider the annexation of a 60-acre Day Road plot that’s top-dog for the new high school “very, very carefully” so as not to create a legal quagmire involving neighbors, the city and the school district.
GUSD board member Bob Kraemer said that site is currently tops because it has the best chance of being in the city limits. It also has a single owner who’s willing to sell and the prospect of nearby utilities.
The district wants to enter into negotiations on the high school site by May 1 to keep on schedule with its recently passed facilities bond. The annexation doesn’t necessarily need to happen to start negotiations, Kraemer said – but if it doesn’t happen at some point for a second high school site, it could make things “very difficult” and cause significant time delays.
However, residents in the area around the high school site – located at the southwest corner of Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard just outside the city’s northern border – have expressed vehement opposition to annexation and development, barring lower-density residential lots.
They’ve balked at both the idea for apartments or other higher-density housing that could be required in future housing growth there and have also called the high school too dramatic a change in land use for an area that’s largely rural at the moment.
An attorney hired by some neighbors maintains the city must consider the public high school in environmental studies before it annexes the property.
City planners said Thursday that despite the attorney’s requests, at this point they don’t plan to require a new environmental review for the high school before the annexation, arguing the high school is speculative at this time and is not a specific project or contract that’s been formally undertaken.
But Springer worries if the city doesn’t analyze the site for a high school now that the GUSD has publicly declared such strong interest in it, the city could be on the hook for legal action from neighbors.
He would prefer to wait to see the school district choose its top high school site as expected May 1 and revisit the issue then.
“If that’s their choice for the high school, we could look at the annexation in terms of a high school, redo the environmental work so we analyze it correctly and make an informed, educated and properly reviewed decision on this site with its true intended use in mind,” Springer said. “It would give everyone a fair chance to discuss the issue.”
But the high school will have to undergo more specific environmental studies just like any other project, Pinheiro said – and he thinks the city should cross that bridge when it comes to it.
“It’s a piece of land and they must go through all the hoops to ensure they can mitigate all the impacts that need to be mitigated,” before building a high school, he said. “If at that time they can’t mitigate the impacts, it won’t be allowed.
“Our job is to annex it to the city and whatever project goes there must go through whatever hoops they must jump … ”
Meanwhile, the district’s heads-up for the city to grant residential building ability for the current Las Animas School site could also stir some debate at Council.
GUSD plans to relocate the school to the southwest section of town. It will likely purchase 10 acres of land in the massive Glen Loma Ranch development and sell the Las Animas site, and district officials say the value of the latter could jump significantly if there’s residential development ability there.
“Our customers and their customers are the same,” Kraemer said of the city and school district. “I believe it’s for the benefit of our community if the land has a higher value, which aids us in facility construction.
“But the city needs to do what the city needs to do.”
The city has already granted most of its residential units for the next decade, and has 191 market-rate residential units left through 2014 under current growth limits as a reserve. The units would not become available until 2011 unless city leaders decide to re-open the process and move some around, according to city planners.
It also has hundreds of units available in categories where senior, low-income and small “infill” housing projects are exempted from the usual competition for units with market-rate developers.
Springer – who has targeted the Las Animas site for an expanded, relocated post office – said he’s worried that granting the district the RDOs outside of last year’s competition could also generate legal concerns for the city.
“There’s a question of fairness,” he said. “How do we even assign units on that site without a competition? … Folks that didn’t get RDOs in the last competition would probably raise quite a stink, and rightfully so.”
The city also has no idea what type of housing the Las Animas site is suitable for, but under state laws concerning surplus school property it could be snatched up by affordable housing first, he said.
“I don’t know that putting an affordable housing project on that site would be the most appropriate location,” he said.
A post office is still Springer’s first choice for the site. The existing post office is already too small, and to try to expand it for future growth would be a “nightmare” because of how the building and property would need to be reconfigured, he said.
He feels the Las Animas site is a fairly central location for the growing city, close to the busy First Street commercial corridor and other major arterials.
“It’s convenient to people throughout the city,” he said.
At the moment, expansion and relocation plans are in their infancy. Springer has had initial conversations with area congressmen about the issue, but said things are “on hold” now and probably the next few years because of a shortage of federal funding with the dank economy.
But Springer foresees a possible three-way exchange that could send the school site to the city, the post office site to a private developer and a new elementary school site for the GUSD in the north-central part of town.
“That’s not the only solution, but there are different approaches we could be talking about,” he said.
But while he’s made no decision, so far Pinheiro doesn’t think the district’s request for permits is that unreasonable or unusual.
“I don’t think it’s an unfair request … ” he said. “The idea is we’re trying to find answers and work together,” he said. “If we can benefit the community and the school population together, they’re all part of the same pot, all part of this community.”
He notes city leaders made special arrangements to grant RDOs to a Hecker Pass property in the past that helped the nonprofit Bonfante Gardens theme park weather financial struggles.
“If I can help in making our schools better, I will look at it,” he said. “I’m not making any commitments, but I will look at it, just like the Council helped Bonfante stay alive.”
And off-the-cuff, Pinheiro doesn’t necessarily see the largely residential Las Animas area as a prime postal location. Areas such as First Street that are already heavily trafficked or the downtown, where officials are trying to boost foot traffic to spur business growth and revitalization, initially make more sense to him.
The city has the freedom to look at several different locations to find the best post office site, he said.
“We need to look at all these options,” he said.
