Though the direction from the City Council is to study the
possibility, the hint that Gilroy police might be directed to
patrol even a portion of the private streets in the gated Eagle
Ridge subdivision is opening a Pandora’s box.
Though the direction from the City Council is to study the possibility, the hint that Gilroy police might be directed to patrol even a portion of the private streets in the gated Eagle Ridge subdivision is opening a Pandora’s box.
The facts have not changed. For better or worse, when the city approved Eagle Ridge, it gave the developers a huge financial break by allowing them to gate their streets and to build to lower-than-normal street standards. The trade-off was that there would be no traffic patrols.
Flash forward a few years, and some residents of the upscale community are frustrated with neighbors who speed and run traffic lights, a situation that is especially dangerous in a neighborhood without the usual requirement of, say, sidewalks.
So, now some Eagle Ridge residents want to have their cake and eat it too. They want their gated, private, substandard streets and, perhaps understandably, they want city police patrols.
But it should not happen. City police shouldn’t patrol any Eagle Ridge street unless the gatehouse comes down and the streets are upgraded to meet city standards.
The argument that Eagle Ridge residents pay taxes and impact fees and thus are entitled to traffic patrols is off point. Impact fees go to building police stations and public safety infrastructure, and property taxes go to the general welfare.
Furthermore, Eagle Ridge residents knew exactly what they signed up for when they signed the final papers to buy a home: a private community with a guardhouse that doesn’t have traffic enforcement. And to say that Club Drive is a “public” street because people can drive into the golf course borders on the absurd. The truth is, without public access (paying customers), the golf course would shut down and declare bankruptcy. Are the golf course owners ready to sign off that the course will never become semi-private?
There is another solution to this: Eagle Ridge residents could make the necessary road improvements through an assessment and, following that, contract for private patrols with either the Gilroy police or the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department. The number, length and cost of those patrols could be controlled by the homeowners. Perhaps the development companies which struck the bargain with the city in the first place would be willing to help shoulder those costs.
Eagle Ridge is a wonderful addition to the Gilroy community, and the residents there own beautiful homes that, in many cases, have great views of Gilroy and the picturesque golf course. There’s no reason to spoil the relationship with the city and other Gilroy residents by incessantly demanding something that wasn’t “in the contract” when the development received approval. And city officials should not feel guilty about not providing services that were not promised or budgeted for.
Here’s the bottom line: Either open and upgrade Eagle Ridge’s streets or contract for private traffic patrols. Anything different requires a mulligan that the city just doesn’t have.
