Agenda Item # 9.3 - Alexander Melendrez | Received 08/01/2022YIMBY Action advocates for welcoming communities where
everyone can thrive.
yimbyaction.org
July 29, 2022
Re: Public Hearing for 700 W. Sixth St Residential Subdivision
Project Number: AS 22-01, TM 22-01, Z 22-01
Project Title: 700 W. Sixth St Residential Subdivision
Project Applicant: M. Bakri Musa, Gilroy Professional Group, LLC
Project Location: 700 W Sixth St
Gilroy City Council,
YIMBY Action is pleased to respond to the 700 W. Sixth St. Residential Subdivision Architectural and
Site Review, Tentative Map, and General Plan Zoning Amendment coming before you on August 1,
2022. Comments below are based on the review of the staff report. Additional comments may be
forthcoming pending final review.
YIMBY Action is a network of pro-housing activists fighting for more inclusive housing policies.
Our vision is an integrated society where every person has access to a safe, affordable home
near jobs, services, and opportunity.
Project Description-Construct 19 new single-family,two-story homes on individual lots, and related
site improvements consisting of a new cul-de-sac private roadway from W Sixth Street and 0.26 acre
open space area for stormwater quality treatment along the southerly boundary. The project has a net
density of 6.1 dwelling units per acre which falls midrange within the general plan density requirement
of 3 to 8 units per net acre. Property was zoned as Professional Office until the General Plan 2040
changed the zoning to Single Family Residential R1.
Response to Project Description-
This neighborhood is not exclusively single-family homes, across the street it’s zoned for high density
residential. Within a half-mile of this neighborhood is a mix of apartments, single family homes, and
neighborhoods serving commercial. In the current General Plan 2040 this property was re-zoned to
single family but Gilroy doesn’t need any more of this type of zoning which already takes up ~75% of
our land use. The close proximity to transit, access to off-street paved bike/ped trails, schools, civic
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center, grocery, shopping, and restaurants makes it an ideal location for medium to high density
housing.1
It’s been discussed in public meetings that some modest rezoning of the City of Gilroy’s General Plan
2040 will need to occur in order to accommodate the affordable housing that is needed for the future.
This next and current RHNA cycle is going to take some creativity on housing production, and that
includes small projects to big ones. You can't grow when ~75% of our land is zoned for single family
homes.2
In the City Council’s FY22 & FY23 work plan it’s identified that staff will be bringing to City Council an
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. This is an important ordinance that has been overlooked, and
was called out in 2018. According to Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report “Affordable
Housing: Density is Our Destiny”included a recommendation stating that “Gilroy (should) increase3
inclusionary housing requirements for the below market housing to at least 15% (of new dwelling
units) by the end of 2019. If that ordinance were in effect today this project could have added 3 Below
Market Rate (BMR)units to the city’s portfolio.
California has a statewide housing shortage of nearly 3.5 million homes. Low and middle-income
households face a historic rent burden in California, and the problem worsens by the day as
middle-income households move into naturally affordable housing previously occupied by low-income
renters forcing these households to move further away from their jobs, and in some cases, onto the
streets. Undersupply of “Missing Middle” housing, or medium density housing near jobs and transit, is
one of the key factors contributing to the displacement and rent burden of Californians across the
state. This sort of housing is banned in over 70 percent of the state.
Gilroy, South County and Santa Clara County’s severe housing shortage is causing
skyrocketing experiences in homelessness, crippling our economy, and leading to debilitating
commutes that exacerbate our global climate crisis. These impacts fall disproportionately on
our city’s low-income workers and families, and disproportionately deny communities of color
access to opportunity. If we strive to be a society that advances racial and class justice, we
3 https://www.cityofgilroy.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3131?fileID=8169
2 https://belonging.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/gilroy_zoning_map_0.png
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https://siliconvalleyathome.org/resource-map/gilroy/
YIMBY Action advocates for welcoming communities where
everyone can thrive.
yimbyaction.org
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must do more to ensure abundant housing in our region. Thank you for the opportunity to
comment.
Alex Melendrez,
Organizing Manager at YIMBY Action
YIMBY Action advocates for welcoming communities where
everyone can thrive.
yimbyaction.org
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