The roughly 60 residents who attended a California High-Speed
Rail Authority outreach meeting Tuesday night made one message
clear: Don’t build a rail station east of Gilroy.
The roughly 60 residents who attended a California High-Speed Rail Authority outreach meeting Tuesday night made one message clear: Don’t build a rail station east of Gilroy.
Gilroyans and other area residents who attended the meeting, held at Gilroy High School’s Student Center from 6 p.m. until about 8:40 p.m., overwhelmingly came out in favor of building a high-speed rail station in downtown over its alternative – east of town, where valuable agricultural land exists.
“No matter where it goes, it’s going to impact farmland,” said Jennifer Williams, executive director of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau. “The east station design is the worst.”
After being briefed by rail officials on the overall project and its impacts on Gilroy and south Santa Clara County, residents and project engineers split into “breakout sessions,” where they discussed different preliminary designs related to the high-speed rail, which is slated to pass through Gilroy, Morgan Hill and other communities when it’s completed.
Afterward, designated session spokespersons announced the pros and cons of early project designs the groups discussed, including fear of destroying agricultural land east of Gilroy, building the station downtown to revitalize that area and the impact on private residences that stand in the way of rail construction according to current drawings.
Sen Luan, who bought his property near Frazier Lake Road over a year ago, said preliminary plans for at-grade design east of town require a rail maintenance station to be constructed almost on top of his home.
“I don’t know yet what I can do,” Luan said.
Rail engineer Peter Chu said the drawings could be changed to accommodate residents’ needs if possible.
“This is preliminary,” Chu said. “It’ll be completely different tomorrow. People have been living here a long time. Feedback we get from citizens can be used to tweak our designs so there are fewer impacts.”
CHSRA Regional Manager Gary Kennerley also said the project’s draft environmental impact report, which he said can be shaped by public comments at meetings such as Tuesday night’s, would be completed either in August or September of this year.
San Martin resident John Sanders said he had issues with the CHSRA’s projected costs and ridership numbers, but said officials were doing a better job of listening to residents than they had in the past.
“It seems to be getting better,” Sanders said. “They do seem to be making a much better effort to involve the public.”
Gilroy City Councilman Dion Bracco said he sensed “a lot of anger” from residents Tuesday night.
“It’s changing their way of life,” he said of the high-speed rail. “How do you plan for retirement if this thing might come through your home in 10 years?”
