71-Lot Rancho Hills Development Vote Postponed

In a 4-3 decision Monday, the Gilroy City Council voted to postpone approving a final map that would pave the way for the construction of a 71-lot subdivision west of Rancho Hills Drive until their next meeting Aug. 1.

The city will seek a third-party review of the project, responding to a highly mobilized group of area residents that claimed that there was not sufficient notice of the impending approval and that the development would take away a popular area of open space in the city.

State law, the Subdivision Map Act requires that the council vote on the map by its next meeting.

A draft map of the development, a project of the Arcadia Development Company and the Glen Loma Corporation, was approved by the council in 2007. Three members of the current council—Mayor Al Pinheiro, Dion Bracco and Bob Dillon—were on the dais during the vote on the draft and stood behind their initial decision.

Opposing the decision to postpone the vote, Mayor Pinheiro said that the rules related to the development and disclosure have been properly followed since 2007 and that deviating from the former vote would obstruct the natural flow of council governance.

Other concerns from dissenters included the unknown cost to the city of a short-notice outside reviewer.

Mayor Pro Tem Cat Tucker, on the majority that approved postponing the vote, said that the changes in both staff and the economy since that time made it worthwhile to spend the extra two weeks considering the project.

Statewide policy enacted to keep the interest of potential developers through the recession allowed the initial proposal to continue for several years without expiring, and opponents at the meeting suggested that the policies made it nearly impossible to know that the development would occur, even if parts of it were across the street from their own homes.

The map act might give the developer a foundation to sue the city if the proposal is not approved, according to City Attorney Linda Callon.

Check back on Gilroy Patch for further details about this development and the council's decision to postpone their vote.