City Beat
Council Changes Following
Mayor Gage’s resignation
Gilroy Mayor Don Gage announced his
resignation as Mayor effective December
31, 2015 during the City Council meeting
on December 7, 2015. Mayor Gage, who
was born and raised in Gilroy, has provided
decades of service to Gilroy and the citizens
of South County. He served on the Gilroy
City Council from 1981-1991, as Gilroy
Mayor 1991-1997, Santa Clara County
Supervisor 1997-2010, Santa Clara Valley
Water District 2010-2012, and Gilroy
Mayor from 2011 to present.
In accordance with the City Charter, on
January 4, the City Council will appoint a
member of the Council to serve as Mayor
for the balance of the term which ends
in December 2016. Because the Charter
requires the next Mayor to be appointed
from within the Council, a vacancy on
the Council will be created.
It is anticipated that the Council will
appoint the new councilmember at the
meeting on January 25.
Downtown Update
Improvements continue in downtown Gilroy. Retrofits were completed on all down-
town ornamental streetlights, converting them to LED fixtures with more energy
efficiency and color rendition. A new sports center expected to accommodate a South
County boxing club was recently opened at 7400 Railroad Street, with an adjacent
parking lot accommodating 61 public parking spaces serving downtown. Significant
progress has been made with making Gilroy’s unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings
safer, with over 1/3 of them having been retrofit in the last two years and with many
others under construction, and a number of businesses have recently started or
expanded in downtown, including restaurants, retail, and arts uses. In terms of long-
range planning efforts, Gilroy is now updating its Downtown Specific Plan, largely in
response to the future downtown high speed rail station. Find more information on
that effort at gilroyhighspeedtrain.org/.
Council Approves
Application for
Inclusion of 721 Acres
to Urban Service Area
The City Council has certified the Final
Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
and approved an application to the
Local Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCO) for inclusion of 721 acres into
the City’s Urban Service Area. (USA) The
area is designated as the “North Gilroy
Neighborhood District” in the General Plan
and already lies within the Urban Growth
Boundary, although outside the City limits.
If approved by LAFCO, the area could be
annexed to the City.
The application for inclusion in the USA
is sponsored by property owners in the area
who have asked the City of Gilroy to be
responsible for the Specific Plan that might
lead to eventual development of the area in
accordance with the neighborhood district
standards of the General Plan. If approved
by LAFCO, the Specific Planning process
might get underway within a few years and
take at least two years to complete because
it will provide specific guidance on the type
and location of development and how the
City will deliver and pay for services to the
developed area.
The City’s Specific Planning process
requires extensive community outreach
and engagement as well as separate
environmental analysis. Any future
residential development will also be subject
to the process and scheduling of the City’s
growth management system known as the
Residential Development Ordinance. (RDO)
It is anticipated that LAFCO will
hear the application for the North Gilroy
Neighborhood District USA in April 2016.
United Natural Foods Inc. Update
In February 2016, United Natural Foods,
Inc. (UNFI) is scheduled open their
new, approximately 450,000 square-foot
distribution center on the south side of
Venture Way in the McCarthy Business
Park. They will employ approximately 250
people in their early stages of operation.
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UNFI is one of the United States’
largest distributors of natural, organic,
and specialty foods, and they also have
facilities in Canada. The new UNFI
construction here in Gilroy is targeting
LEED Gold certification with the U.S.
Green Building Council’s Leadership
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
in Energy and Environmental Design
program. A second phase of development,
planned for construction in the coming
years, will increase the square footage
at the site to over 800,000 square feet,
which will accommodate approximately
450 employees.
gmhtoday.com