GILROY
– Ralph Titus and his family have been looking at the vacant lot
across from their Valley Oaks Drive home since they moved in seven
years ago.
GILROY – Ralph Titus and his family have been looking at the vacant lot across from their Valley Oaks Drive home since they moved in seven years ago.
Titus said they were promised a park there. Members of the neighborhood even met with the city to give their input.
“When we first moved here, it was supposed to be completed upon the last phase of this project, which was nine months after we moved in.”
But now the three acres across from their home might actually become the park that Titus and members of his neighborhood had a hand in designing.
After years of planning, the City of Gilroy will open bids Thursday for three new neighborhood parks – including the one across from Titus’s property – in Gilroy’s northwest side. Officials say construction could begin as soon as August.
The project will go to City Council for bid awards on Aug. 2; building will begin shortly after, said City Facilities Development Manager Bill Headley.
“Hey, these things don’t happen overnight,” Headley said. “We certainly wish they did.”
The three new parks, all in Gilroy’s northwest quad, will join Gilroy’s five existing neighborhood parks; plots for the three parks sit vacant now, all surrounded by young neighborhoods, many of which have residents with young children.
Meanwhile, Titus said he’s not holding his breath.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said, chuckling.
For now, the plot, which will become Carriage Hill Park, sits empty at the base of tree-covered hills; Titus said he often sees deer, vultures, cows and once even a mountain lion in the field. For his 13-year-old son and the other boys in the neighborhood, the tangling weeds hold more promise than any park will, Titus said with a smile.
Over the years, the city has met with residents in each of the neighborhoods in an effort to understand what each development would like to see in its park. Headley said it was important to design the parks with the individual needs of the community in mind.
“We kind of wanted more of a family park,” Titus said. “They’re trying to keep it simple – no bathrooms, no barbecue pits.”
The park will, however, have a sports court, a childrens’ play area, a tots’ play area and a large turf area.
Headley said the city wants to provide these parks so that all people within a half mile-radius can use them.
“Having an environment where we get people out of their vehicles and on their feet, and kids recreating and involved in sports and using the environment in helpful ways is keeping with the city’s vision,” Headley said.
“The legacy that we leave our children is as much what we do with what we have now as it is what we leave for them,” he added.
At eight acres, Sunrise Park, located at Saddler Drive and Hogan Way, will be the largest of the three – with more land than the other two combined.
“That’s a little bit larger than our normal park,” Headley said. “It was just the amount of property we were able to acquire.”
Within the next five to eight years the city plans to add a community building, he said, though that will be the last improvement to be made to Sunrise Park. The master plans for the park call for two tennis courts, a water play area, a basketball court, an exercise area and a large open lawn.
Area housing developer South County Housing donated the final 2.3 acres to the city, which will become Los Arroyos Park. Located at Hirasaki Avenue and Martiri Drive, the space for the park sits in the center of a new housing development and is adjacent to a daycare facility.
Like the others, the semi-circular lot currently sits vacant, ringed by homes, the lawns of which are dotted with plastic slides and swingsets. Headley said the age of the residents – not to mention that of their children – was taken into consideration when planning the parks.
Ultimately the choice of location for the parks had to do with the number of houses built in the northwest side of the city in the last few years, he said.
The land for Carriage Hill and Sunrise Parks, which was purchased in 1986 and 1998 respectively, totaled $1.06 million at the time of purchase and was bought entirely with city money.
“These are city funds that are associated with new developments called development impact fees,” Headley said. “These are dedicated funds that can’t be used for anything but capital improvements.”
As the city grows, development impact fees are used to mitigate the impact of the city’s expansion, he said. So because the city is growing on the northwest side, the city placed the three parks there. Headley said there are more parks in the planning phase, including one on the southwest side.
To see the master plans on the three parks, visit www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/new_facilities.
