GILROY
– If San Martin doesn’t successfully break off from the county
and become its own city one day, community planners will have the
next best thing when it comes to controlling land use in the rural
town.
GILROY – If San Martin doesn’t successfully break off from the county and become its own city one day, community planners will have the next best thing when it comes to controlling land use in the rural town.
The San Martin Planning Advisory Committee is chartering a 15-member task force that will recommend changes to current commercial and industrial zoning in San Martin. The task force is a tool San Martin residents and business owners can use to ultimately tweak the Santa Clara County zoning guidelines many believe are unfit for the community of 2,500 families.
“As it exists right now, the industrial area has the same rules and land-use requirements as any industrial area in Santa Clara County,” said Barry Shiller, a member of the San Martin Planning Advisory Committee. “The community has changed. No one wants half-million-dollar homes with junkyards in their backyard.”
The land use/zoning task force, which has been endorsed by Santa Clara County, is the latest gesture of political activism to come out of San Martin – a community embattled with perchlorate contamination, a lawsuit over increased airport hangars, the expansion of a waste transfer station and the development of a fish distribution center.
San Martin residents are also in the midst of investigating whether the town can afford to become its own city under existing state laws. A consultant residents hired for $23,000 is set to report on the feasibility of incorporation – the bureaucratic term for becoming a city – at a special meeting July 17.
As for the task force, San Martin activists hope to select guidelines from the county’s general plan that may not be appropriate in rural San Martin. They also hope to more clearly define a vision for downtown San Martin which currently is a mish-mosh of commercial entities from vehicle storage lots to a batting cage and driving range.
Shiller said community members have talked about making the downtown area more friendly for businesses such as coffee shops, bakeries and cafes, among other ideas.
The San Martin planning group is now taking applications for the task force. Criteria for members include effective communication skills, ability to work in a team environment and any professional experience beneficial to the work of the task force.
Roughly four task force members will be standing members of the San Martin planning group. Owners and operators of local businesses – regardless of where they reside – will also take up four seats. The remaining seven seats will be taken by four residents, a Santa Clara County planning department liaison and an experienced planning consultant.
“Our idea is to recruit a retired planner or consultant to help us out,” Shiller said.
The position would be paid, using out-of-pocket funds raised by the community.
“Ninety people contributed $20,000 for the feasibility study (on incorporation),” Shiller said. “So I don’t think raising money to pay someone (approximately $400 a month) is insurmountable.”
People interested in serving on the land-use task force should send a brief bio/resume to Shiller at ba**********@*******nk.net.
