Action Alert: Reaffirm Downtown as Preferred HSR Station Location

Update: the City Council meeting was postponed from May 15 to June 5. This post has been edited to reflect the new meeting date.

Despite voters in Gilroy decisively passing Measure H, the Urban Growth Boundary initiative, Gilroy farmland is once again at risk.

Send a comment letter to the Gilroy City Council using the form below by June 5 asking them to uphold their 2012 decision to locate the High Speed Rail station in downtown Gilroy.

What’s Happening

In January 2017, Gilroy City Councilmembers chose to reassess the downtown as the preferred location for a High Speed Rail (HSR) station. The Council’s original decision in 2012 had strong community support because it avoided the alternative location in the Agricultural Preserve to the east of the shopping outlets.

On June 5 the Council will decide whether to uphold their original decision or to change their minds and support the east of outlets – Agricultural Preserve option. If the Council chooses the latter, over 600 acres of mostly prime farmland could be lost to the station development and rail line.

Why It Matters

Both the current (see packet p. 65) and 2012 City commissioned analyses of the train station locations demonstrated that locating the station in the Agricultural Preserve would cause the most long-term negative impacts to natural resources and downtown businesses.

Voters passed Measure H in part because it prevented sprawl, protected local open space and farmland, and put the focus on city-centered growth.  Gilroy also clearly expressed a preference for the downtown station location through the 2012 High Speed Rail visioning process because it emphasized the importance of long-term downtown economic development and revitalization.

Let Council know that the smart choice is to reaffirm their original preference for a High Speed Rail station in downtown Gilroy – send your comments by June 5th!

Sincerely,

Julie Hutcheson
Legislative Advocate

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Note

You are leaving the Green Foothills website to go to our Protect Coyote Valley website.

Continue on to PCV Petition