GGS Meeting Minutes from April 16, 2019
/7:00 P.M. Called to Order
Treasurers Report- by Carolyn
OLD BUSINESS:
High Speed Rail: Meeting 4/22/19 6-8 at the Portuguese Hall in Gilroy-Agenda-How community will give input on the EIR? -This might be the only official voice that Gilroy residents will have. Gilroy Growing Smarter needs to have representation. An agreement hasn’t been reached with Union Pacific and HSR so alignment could change. Route will be in the EIR this fall. HSR has the final say.
Review of Economic Development Report: General Plan Committee was given the report a few weeks ago. April 29 will be a city council study session to discuss direction to give to general plan committee and what to do with the results of the report.
Carolyn and Connie met with the Mayor: Discussion about “not enough land” comment that continues to be made. The mayor listened and Carolyn and Connie illustrated all of the land that is available which is plenty. Examples were given of other cities with successful Urban Growth Boundaries.
Study Session on Emergency Response Times: 4-5 minute response time is recommended for medical survival, but our response time is 8-10 minutes. Gilroy needs a Glen Loma fire station to accommodate current and future growth, but money is not there. Glen Loma hasn’t built station due to bids being higher than fees collected even with those estimated in the escalation clause in the Glen Loma contract with city. There is $2 million shortfall of money. The city has not made a decision to take the money necessary to build from the city’s general fund to pay for the short fall and staffing. There is money in the city’s Emergency Fund. But the city is reluctant to use it. The public needs to speak up now as the city is in a budget cycle. The Tenth Street Bridge by GHS should be included in this also as it impacts response times. The city will get $27 million dollars in impact fees from the Glen Loma development so the money will be coming in to pay for the bridge. All meetings and info are available on the city website. Discussion: It is a direct connection between growth and services not being provided adequately with the development. The true cost of development is not being mitigated and taken on by the developers. It is a health and safety issue that can be life threatening in an emergency medical situation. The public does not get to give input on the development agreement or privy to the information before being put into place. Group agreed that GGS should write a letter stating our concerns and necessary action needed with the fire station and Tenth Street Bridge.
Gilroy Demonstration / Community Garden Report: Girl Scout and Boy Scout projects are at risk of being destroyed with the garden being turned into a parking lot. It is the only green space in downtown Gilroy. Large swaths of blacktop change the climate. A proposal to move it to Christmas Hill Park by the Red Barn is in the works. There are vacant lots next to the garden that could be used for parking. A section close to the Veteran’s Building could be saved instead of paving over the entire garden. Individual GGS members could comment to support if so inclined.
GGS Organizational Structure: Every other month meeting works well. Additional meetings can be called as needed. We are waiting for General Plan Updates. Chrys will look into putting our website updates onto Facebook. It was suggested to email reminders about council meetings, HSR meetings, etc.
2020 Council Election: Tovar, Marques, Tucker, and the Mayor will be up for election. Newly elected would be 4-year terms. Citizens who have held other leadership positions and are well known are good candidates. It was suggested that we start to think about people that we know. It is important that we start thinking about it now so we are not waiting until the last minute to encourage/support candidates.
Next Meeting: June 11, 2019
Meeting Adjourned: 9:00 P.M.