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Politics & Government

Council OKs Holiday Inn Site Review

In a 5-2 vote, the Gilroy City Council approved a request by the developer to conduct an architectural and site review of the property where two hotels would be built.

After an hour of discussion, the  voted to allow architectural and site review for two proposed hotels on the corner of Leavesely Road and Forest Street.

The 5-2 vote had councilmen Peter Luroe-Munoz and Perry Woodward in the minority.

The hotels will be part of a two-building Holiday Inn. Building A is a four-story, 113,100 square-foot hotel with 180 rooms and Building B will be a four-story, 43,100 square-foot hotel with 80 rooms designated for extended stay.

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The developer has told the city that they won't develop a portion of the property at this time, but will landscape and irrigate it until it's ready to be developed.

Don Day, a city transportation engineer, presented traffic issues related to the project. Day said early on that residents along Murray Avenue have expressed concern regarding truck traffic from the Forest Street industrial development area.

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The council had previously taken steps to mitigate the problem of the potential traffic by looking at Leavesley Road, but Holiday Inn traffic engineers reported that trucks’ can't navigate the intersection of Forest Street and Leavesley Road without going onto the sidewalk or colliding with the center median.

Staff also reported that the hotels would “cause a significant amount of traffic” along Forest Street and Leavesley Road. Currently, there is infrequent enough traffic along Forest Street that allows trucks to pass the intersection safely, though they do need to cross a double yellow line to make the turn.

The project cannot be approved without the implementation of traffic mitigation measures, but city staff believes that, based on conversations with the developer, the project can proceed while the issue of traffic is worked out.

The council indicated that the city would take over the road improvements from Caltrans as the developer is wary of working with a government agency they do not have oversight over. The developer will have to pay for the improvements.

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