Project to widen busy interchange for new shopping center back
on track
Gilroy officials breathed a sigh of relief this week when Santa
Clara County Supervisors Tuesday returned $3 million that had been
taken for a transportation project in the north county in September
and voted to give it back to the South County.
Project to widen busy interchange for new shopping center back on track
Gilroy officials breathed a sigh of relief this week when Santa Clara County Supervisors Tuesday returned $3 million that had been taken for a transportation project in the north county in September and voted to give it back to the South County.
“Everybody thought the sky was falling but this project won’t miss a beat,” said Santa Clara County District 1 Supervisor Don Gage, who originally voted with his fellow supervisors to cut the funding. “I work for, care and look out for South County.”
The money will now be used to complete necessary work along Highway 152 and U.S. 101 to accommodate the building of a the sprawling Regency Centers, Lowe’s and Costco – a total of 1 million square feet of retail space east of the freeway.
“That vote was vital,” said Gilroy City Administrator Jay Baksa. “If we didn’t get that money back either the city, or the developer, or a combination would have had to pay for the improvements. And we didn’t have the money to do it.”
Measure B officials had said at the time that the supervisors’ original vote moved the project to the bottom rung of a three-tier funding system with no guarantees.
Most likely the city, which would have lost an estimated $2.7 million annually in sales tax revenue without the deal, would have found a way to make it work.
“The developer would have had to re-pencil his project and the city council would have had to make some tough decisions,” said Baksa. “They would have to chose between the Santa Teresa project and this.”
The reason for the project’s uncertain status stemmed from an earlier decision by Caltrans, which has the final say on the project. The state transportation agency was not willing to issue the necessary encroachment permits for use of the surrounding roadways until the agency was certain that those improvements would take place.
When the Board of Supervisors voted to shift money that was earmarked for the ramp work on U.S. 101 and Highway 152 to the north county to help fund, the Highway 85/U.S. 101-interchange project that was $8 million under budget, Caltrans threatened to halt the process.
In all, traffic mitigations to both highways surrounding the proposed shopping center will total $6 million. The widening of Highway 152 from U.S. 101 east to just beyond Gilroy Foods was not affected by the process and is still moving forward.
Now, the whole thing is a go.
Gage, who represents the South County area, received a lot of flack when he voted in September with his constituents to shift the money to the north. He insisted all along that the vote to delay funding for the 101 off ramp near the center would never jeopardized a thing.
“I told everybody that this would happen,” said Gage. “But we had a project that was under construction and needed the funds. That’s how this all works. The money is all in one pot. As projects go it gets taken out and paid for. Sometimes they are done all at once or in phases. Then, when more money comes in from the half-cent sales tax, we back fill the next project.”
Baksa agreed and went to bat for Gage.
“Everybody thought they were whacking this off the table,” he said. “But when Don Gage gives you his word, things happen.”
Mitigations to Highway 152 include its widening from two to four lanes from U.S. 101 all the way east to Silacci Way. Mitigations also include signal lights at Camino Arroyo as well as the placement of ramps in both directions on U.S. 101 and 152 that link the two roadways.
Valley Transportation Authority Measure B money, property assessment bonds and city traffic impact fees are funding the roadway mitigations.
With the final stamp of approval for funding coming Tuesday and the city off the hook for bankrolling the mitigations, the city council adopted a resolution making the project, its incentives and the roadway mitigations official on Wednesday morning by a unanimous vote.
