GILROY
– A more flexible approach to farmland preservation just got
more rigid.
When a farmland preservation bill goes before City Council next
month, it will contain a developer-unfriendly provision
– when an acre of farmland gets developed, an acre of farmland
somewhere else must get preserved.
GILROY – A more flexible approach to farmland preservation just got more rigid.
When a farmland preservation bill goes before City Council next month, it will contain a developer-unfriendly provision – when an acre of farmland gets developed, an acre of farmland somewhere else must get preserved.
The new provision means that landowners building a home or business on even one acre will be subject to the city’s stringent agricultural mitigation rules.
Previously, a task force, made up partly of farmland owners, said preservation should not have to occur when less than 10 acres of prime ag land is developed.
“If the criteria is less than 10 acres … the guy with 12 acres is going to develop only 8 (acres). Then what are we going to do with 4 acres of farmland?” task force member Peter Arellano said.
Arellano, a former Gilroy City Councilman, suggested the acre-per-acre provision to close potential loopholes for developers.
For instance, if a developer owned a 12-acre parcel but built homes on 8 acres, he or she could come back at a future date and, under the city’s small project exemption clause, ask for housing permits for the remaining acres.
“It doesn’t promote cooperation between landowners,” Arellano said regarding the 10-acre minimum.
Arellano’s fellow task force members – a compilation of farmland owners, farmers and open space interests – supported the medical doctor’s idea. Only Gilroy Planning Commission member Norm Thompson dissented.
Thompson wanted developers to be responsible for farmland preservation after they urbanize 10 acres or more.
“Anything less than that you’re going to give yourselves headaches in the long run,” Thompson said.
If even the small scale ones must mitigate for farmland impacts, Thompson is concerned that an already tapped out city staff will not be able to efficiently process future projects .
It is unclear how many farmland parcels around Gilroy are under 10 acres.
Chairman Richard Barberi, who owns more than 20 acres of land off Luchessa Avenue and Monterey Street, had been a staunch proponent of a 10-acre limit. He gave in Wednesday night at the task force meeting.
Because mitigation will be mandatory only for parcels not in the General Plan boundaries set prior to 2000, Barberi said he could support a one-acre trigger. General Plan boundaries extend past the actual incorporated city limits, including lands the city believes will ultimately become a part of Gilroy proper within 20 years.
“There’s not a whole heck of a lot of small farmers out there that far out,” Barberi said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal.”
It will take yet another policy writing session to complete the controversial farmland preservation bill. The task force, which has been meeting for more than a year, was supposed to finish their discussions Wednesday night. However, certain questions regarding the language of their bill need revision, the group decided.
“I think (one more meeting) is minor in the big picture,” said Alex Kennett, a task force member and the representative of the Open Space Authority. “I think (the next meeting) is just a wrap up.”
City Council is slated to approve or modify the bill at its April 19 meeting. Last October, the previous Gilroy City Council sent the bill back to the task force asking for certain components of the plan to be significantly changed.
Most of the Council’s requests have been met, now that the 10-acre mitigation trigger has been dropped. One final sticking point will be the group’s recommendation to base a farmland impact fee on a figure less than fair market value.
The city attorney has found that such a policy would require new environmental studies to be conducted on Gilroy’s General Plan. Those studies could cost the city $100,000.
The task force’s next meeting is March 31 at 7 p.m. at. The location is yet to be determined. Barberi said he wants the group to write a mission statement at that time.
