Agenda Item # 14.3 - Chris Sutton | Received 01/16/2024CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening
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From:Chris Sutton
To:Public Comments
Subject:EXTERNAL - Public Comment for Item 14.3 for January 22nd council meeting relating to 3050 Hecker Pass Road,
Gilroy
Date:Monday, January 15, 2024 1:40:37 PM
Dear Council Members,
As you are hopefully all aware, our company, Select Contracts, has been working with Gilroy
Gardens and the City of Gilroy since late 2016 to try and bring an adventure park to the 536
acres of 3050 Hecker Pass Road.
In 2021, it was declared at a council meeting that 342 of the 536 acres could be declared as
surplus so the City then proceeded to issue the Notice of Availability to developers registered
with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), pursuant to
the Surplus Lands Act (SLA). This land was approved as surplus in March 2022.
It states in Council Packet 202330223211150655 (agenda packet item 11.2) that "The City
received interest and proceeded through the negotiation with the interested party, but
ultimately no deal was closed". Select Contracts was that interested party to develop the
adventure park on those surplus lands and a full Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) had
been negotiated between ourselves and the City, however, the reason why it never closed
was:-
1) The City only applied for 245 acres of the proposed 342 acres and specifically excluded the
base area of the adventure park which makes the park impossible to develop as there would be
no base for the chairlift or parking and;
2) The discussion prior to applying had included all 536 acres of land to be declared as
Surplus but only 245 were applied for
We had negotiated the ENA with the City and were about to sign when we finally got to see
Exhibit A which showed the findings listed above. When this was discovered we requested
that the correct piece of land be declared as surplus so that the ENA could then be signed
between Select Contracts and the City and the City proceeded with this.
Now that the full 536 acres has been declared as Surplus, we have signed the ENA and have
submitted to the City for counter signature, however, we see on agenda item 14.3 under the
closed session on January 22nd, that there are now other Parties interested in the land. The
only reason that the ENA was not signed in early 2023 was because of a mistake made by the
City so we would very kindly request a counter signature on the ENA so that we can all
continue towards an adventure park at 3050 Hecker Pass Road. If any of these other Parties
are interested in a tourism attraction on the land, we would be more than happy to have a
discussion with them once the ENA is in place.
We very much look forward to hearing from you and assure you of our very best attention at
all times.
Yours sincerely
Chris Sutton
CEO
Select Contracts