Council passes two more projects for mixed-use homes and
offices
Gilroy leaders have yet to come to grips with a solid affordable
housing policy even as they approve them. Gilroy’s City Council
passed two more large developments Monday night which essentially
cinches the downtown Cannery Project as well as the 11th Street
Commons Project.
Council passes two more projects for mixed-use homes and offices
Gilroy leaders have yet to come to grips with a solid affordable housing policy even as they approve them. Gilroy’s City Council passed two more large developments Monday night which essentially cinches the downtown Cannery Project as well as the 11th Street Commons Project.
Altogether, the projects will result in 227 more mixed-use units – one for 94 residential and office spaces on Monterey Street and the other for 109 residential and office units spread over 13 acres on Lewis Street. The latter is part of South County Housing’s so-called Cannery Project, which altogether will result in about 205 affordable units. They also gave final approval for the Garlic Festival’s 24-unit urban apartment/townhouse complex across from the old Greyhound Bus Station parking lot.
There was little discussion about any of the developments on the table, as all have been in the planning process for some time. However, Councilman Roland Velasco was the lone dissenter, voting against the 109 units on Lewis Street, part of South County Housing’s Cannery Project.
In an interview after the meeting, Velasco said he wants better definitions spelled out on what affordable housing is, and is concerned that the non-profit affordable housing giant South County Housing is unduly carrying the lion’s share in providing such housing – which lets other developers off the hook for providing it. It’s the reason Velasco earlier voted against approval of the organization’s Rancho del Sol community, a 260-home mixed housing project in Gilroy.
“When we started to have this discussion regarding Rancho del Sol, I felt the council was approving various projects under the guise of affordability by design, versus true affordable housing projects,” Velasco said. “When you get to the issue of true affordable housing it’s important for the council to look at what is it, who does it serve? We need a debate on affordable housing in Gilroy.”
Velasco also said he wants the council to finalize the still confusing Residential Development Ordinance, particularly in its relation to the Neighborhood District Policy. The two ordinances are at odds with one another because the RDO puts a cap on low-income and affordable housing. The newer Neighborhood District Policy says all housing in the garlic capital has to be 15 percent affordable, spread out throughout entire neighborhoods, and it’s a policy that considers entire neighborhoods as a whole, not just separate parcels and what a landowner wants to do with a single property.
“Two weeks ago we were to have a study session, but they decided not to have that and instead passed Rancho del Sol,” Velasco added. “That’s why I voted no. I’m not going to be voting in favor [of these affordable projects] until we do that. I want us to – have a grown up debate about it, how much is too much? It’s hard to see the big picture when you’re standing in the picture frame.”
Other Gilroy councilmen seem to agree with Velasco that there needs to be further discussion on affordable projects, but they’re not willing to put the projects coming down the pike on hold, after South County Housing has worked out every detail. The council is expected to take up the discussion again on affordable housing policies at a meeting March 20.
Councilman Craig Gartman, while he has voted in favor of the flurry of recent applications for affordable housing projects, said he agrees with Velasco in that there needs to be more discussion on policies.
“One of the things we talked about with the Neighborhood District policy was to make affordable housing inclusionary so that you don’t have affordable housing standing by themselves,” Gartman said. “The Neighborhood District [policy] took years to put together. It’s not something you can figure overnight.”
Councilman Peter Arellano said he also agrees that affordable housing is done right, but said he wasn’t willing to stop the Cannery Project or Rancho del Sol. He also said there is a strong need for interspersing the housing, not just for very low income winners, so that people of all incomes can live in areas close to good schools.
“If you look at the areas where the good schools are there are no rental properties,” Arellano said. “They are all single family homes. The other thing is we’re finding a lot of homes that are sold as low income and affordable, the people who get them are turning them around and selling them. We have those rules in place but they’re getting around it. We need to look at all these things on more detail.”
Regarding Velasco’s point that South County Housing seems to be doing all the affordable housing projects, Jan Lindenthal, SCH’s Director of Affordable Housing, said that’s what her organization does best.
“Affordable housing is really hard to do,” Lindenthal said. “But we’ve been around 25 years. We’re based here in the community, it’s our profession. It’s what we do for a living, and it’s complex. It takes a lot of different financing sources.”
Velasco, however, seems to want to the brakes on the building, at least until the policies are more defined.
“I don’t think government is in a position to provide every citizen a house, but we need to do our share,” Velasco said. “But no one can say anything bad about affordable housing because it’s like talking about your mom, or baseball or apple pie.”
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In another matter, the council unanimously voted to allow a one-year extension on the completion of a tentative map for the Mesa Ridge housing development. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services discovered threatened or endangered species on the property, specifically the Red Legged Frog and the California Tiger Salamander. The developer, Dividend Homes, will have to “resolve the species habitat issues,” but it is not clear how they will do that.
