Resolution 2010-56
1
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GILROY VOICING "NO CONFIDENCE" IN THE PLANNING,
DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CALIFORNIA HIGH
SPEED RAIL PROJECT
WHEREAS, the California High Speed Rail Authority ("CHSRA") is charged by the state of
California with the planning, execution and delivery of a high speed train system stretching between
the Bay Area and Southern California; and
WHEREAS, the members of the City Council of the City of Gilroy are the directly elected
representatives of the approximately 52,000 citizens of Gilroy and the council is collectively charged
with the development of policy and programs in the furtherance of protecting and providing for the
needs of the community; and
WHEREAS, the members of the CHSRA Board of Directors are officials appointed by the
governor, assembly speaker and senate president and responsible for all decisions affecting the
planning, execution and delivery of the rail system; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA through its Board of Directors has been charged with creating a
comprehensive, transparent and inclusive process for the design and construction of the high speed
rail system across 800 miles of California affecting scores of communities and thousands of
Californians; and
WHEREAS, on September 2,2010, the CHSRA Board of Directors took the following
actions pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act: 1) certified the Revised Final Program
Environmental Impact Report; 2) approved Findings of Fact; 3) approved a Statement of Overriding
Considerations; 4) adopted a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program; and 5) approved the
Pacheco Pass Network Alternative as the preferred alignment and station locations; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA prepared a ridership study that identifies the City of Gilroy as a
major catchment location at which the CHSRA estimates that at full build out of the rail system
approximately 15,000 persons will board or disembark through a Gilroy based high speed train
station each day necessitating a parking facility or facilities for nearly 6,600 vehicles; and
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
2
WHEREAS, the CHSRA ridership study and its forecasts has been widely criticized as
inaccurate, ill prepared and flawed by notable transportation planning groups, namely the Berkeley
Institute for Transportation Studies amongst others; and
WHEREAS, the City of Gilroy has been meeting with the staff of the CHSRA for the past
two years to understand the CHSRA's planning process and intended track alignments and station
locations in Gilroy and how those alignments will affect the local community by their imposition of
traffic, noise, vibration, and growth inducing impacts; and
WHEREAS, information from the CHSRA regarding the high speed rail project generally
has been frustratingly limited and inadequate; and
WHEREAS, the City of Gilroy timely filed comments on the CHSRA's various project
related documents including the Revised Program EIR; Preliminary Alternatives Analysis; HST
Station Area Development General Principles and Guidelines; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA estimates the full cost of the high speed rail project at
approximately $42 billion; and
WHEREAS, CHSRA staff and board members have indicated that local governments will be
asked to fund the cost of constructing train stations and parking facilities to support the high speed
rail system; and
WHEREAS, these infrastructure costs if passed on to local governments will represent an
unfunded mandate on local taxpayers and underscore the fact that they also represent a "hidden cost"
of the rail system being passed on to Californians along the route; and
WHEREAS, the burden of reviewing the volumes of special studies, program and project
level environmental impact reports cost affected local governments time and money that should
otherwise be spent for essential city services and also represent a "hidden cost" of the high speed rail
system; and
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
3
WHEREAS, the City of Gilroy submitted a funding request for costs associated with
evaluation of CHSRA generated reports and coordination of the high speed rail project generally in
and through the City; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA has not shown the courtesy of responding to that funding request;
and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA has not provided the City of Gilroy with any specific level of detail
or substantive supporting information upon which to begin a detailed evaluation of either the
identified alignments or the identified station locations; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA continues in the preparation of project level design and
environmental analysis without first having conducted a community engagement process that
involves local Gilroy stakeholders so that local opinion and concern can be factored into such design
and environmental review; and
WHEREAS, the cumbersome level of review and approval of all official communications
from the CHSRA impedes transparency, candor and trust in the Authority's planning and design
process; and
WHEREAS, the CHSRA's actions, activities and access to date has failed to establish trust
between the Authority, local agencies and community stakeholders;
WHEREAS, ultimately the California State Legislature (not the CHSRA) is responsible for
the successful completion ofthe high-speed rail project, which is a state project; and
WHEREAS, the State Legislature has been given legislative responsibility for fiscal
oversight of the project, and state law specifically provides that the CHSRA is not able to spend
money, or otherwise to carry out planning and implementation work, unless the State Legislature has
first approved the appropriation of the money necessary to accomplish that work, as the State
Legislature determines in each year's state budget; and
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
4
WHEREAS, reports from the State Auditor and the Legislative Analyst's Office have made
it clear that the CHSRA is failing to accomplish the project as specified in Proposition lA, and has
mismanaged and is continuing to mismanage the proposed high-speed rail project; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Gilroy
requests that the CHSRA fully comply with the financial and management oversight requirements of
Proposition lA, and that decisions about the proposed high-speed rail project not occur unless
supported by reliable and accurate ridership and financial analyses demonstrating the actual
operational and financial adequacy of the system, and that the CHSRA identify the "hidden costs" of
the high speed rail project on local governments including, but not limited to, the costs of local
review of studies, reports and environmental review generated by the CHSRA for the project as well
as the cost to local government for the construction of high speed train stations, parking facilities and
supporting infrastructure that the CHSRA has indicated will be a contribution by local agencies; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Gilroy finds that it
does not have confidence in the planning, design and execution of the California High Speed Rail
Project and herby adopts this resolution of "No Confidence" in the California High Speed Rail
Authority and project; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Gilroy strongly urges
the California High Speed Rail Authority to take instant measures to incorporate demonstrated
transparency through public access to and meaningful public participation in the planning, design and
execution of the high speed rail project.
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
5
THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION was passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the
City Council held on 18th day of October 2010, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: BRACCO, DILLON, GARTMAN,
TUCKER
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: ARELLANO, WOODWARD and
PINHEIRO
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE
APPROVED:
ATTEST:
RESOLUTION NO. 2010-56
I, SHA WNA FREELS, City Clerk of the City of Gilroy, do hereby certify that the
attached Resolution No. 2010-56 is an original resolution, or true and correct copy of a city
resolution, duly adopted by the Council of the City of Gilroy at a regular meeting of said Council
held on the 18th day of October, 2010, at which meeting a quorum was present.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Official Seal of
the City of Gilroy this 19th day of October, 2010.
(Seal)