Westfield abandons years-long application process and potential
annexation headache – sticks within city limits
The Westfield Group has withdrawn its specific plan application with the city and only plans to build a portion of its once-mammoth mall on a fraction of the original project site that is still within the city, Mayor Al Pinheiro said Friday.
Pinheiro declined to speculate why the Australian-based company has scaled back its business venture, but he agreed that a looming recession could be a factor. Westfield representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
Regardless, there is no longer any need for the East Gilroy Specific Plan Task Force. The city council planned to conduct interviews for the task force Monday, but now it will only discuss the issue of aging and cracked sidewalks.
The EGSP task force was going to evaluate the 681 acres – known as the “660” – outside the city east of the Gilroy Premium Outlets because Westfield wanted to build its 1.5 million-square-foot mall on 108 of those acres. Now Westfield has dropped the 108 acres and another 11 outside the city and will only build on 66.5 acres of vacant land within the city limits that is zoned as industrial and will likely be re-zoned as more commercial-oriented. Westfield will also build on the old Wal-Mart site on Camino Arroyo, adding about 10 acres to the now-much-smaller project, according to Pinheiro.
All of this means there is no need for a General Plan Amendment, Urban Service Area amendment or an East Gilroy Specific Plan – and no need for the simultaneous environmental reports that Westfield had already begun to pay for as part of about $1 million it planned to pay the city as all the applications and staff time added up. These steps were all necessary for the city to re-zone part of the 660 for the mall and expand its boundaries as part of an indefinite multi-step process that could have stretched through 2010.
Now there will be markedly less room for the department stores, a movie theater, retail, restaurants, and hotel and office space: These uses are not allowed under the 660’s current zoning that calls for high-paying industrial jobs (hence the need for a task force), but they are allowed within 75-or-so acres within the city.
All this means Monday night’s council meeting will be half as busy, but the sidewalk issue will likely take a while, according to council members.
The council shelved an ordinance before the November election that would have placed more liability on property owners if someone slips on a buckled sidewalk outside their home, and now they will begin reconsidering the ordinance that has been split into separate ordinances that each address sidewalk maintenance and liability.
Councilman Bob Dillon fell ill during the semi-annual council policy summit late last month, so the body decided to postpone the issue because he has a PowerPoint presentation prepared about the hot-button issue.*
