Council to decide what small projects should slip past growth
laws
n By Serdar Tumgoren Staff Writer
Gilroy – City Council members next week will decide which small housing projects should be allowed to slip past Gilroy’s growth-control laws.
The new guidelines will mean the difference between waiting months or years for developers looking to build homes on half-acre lots and other small parcels scattered throughout the city. Current regulations allow projects of up to 12 units to bypass the city’s formal competition for housing allotments, held every 10 years, and to obtain building permits in a more timely way by invoking the SPE.
Small projects are one of several housing types that city leaders freed from the competition in hopes of encouraging affordable housing and growth inside the city, rather than on its edges.
Council balked at a staff suggestion in July to limit its ability to decide exactly how big a small project can be. Instead, they asked staff to define “special circumstances” where it would be appropriate to allow small projects to exceed the 12-unit cap.
The latest proposal recommends that council only approve SPEs larger than 12 units when the project requires “only a few” units beyond the threshold and it does not create “remainder lots” that will require additional building permits in the future. The proposal also includes a requirement that the project meet “the intent” of the small project exemption.
During the last round of discussion in July, council members eliminated a proposal to require SPE applicants to have their project sites surrounded on all sides by existing development. The move helps avoid tying the hands of developers building on the city’s fringes. They also decided that to qualify for the exemption, small projects must have similar lot sizes to the surrounding neighborhood – typically a major concern of neighbors who fear a large number of low-income units sprouting up in their back yards.
Council will review the SPE will review the revised SPE Aug. 7 at 7pm. The meeting will take place at City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
Serdar Tumgoren, Senior Staff Writer, covers City Hall for The Dispatch. Reach him at 847-7109 or st*******@************ch.com.
