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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

January 31, 2003

Ranch Plan Revived

Third Try: Developer wants Homes, Golf Courses on 900 Acres

A developer who tried and failed twice to build golf courses and multimillion-dollar homes on one of the largest undeveloped parcels in southern Santa Clara County is trying again, sparking an outcry from environmentalists who want the land saved for open space.

A representative of Pleasant Hill developer Wayne Pierce met with Gilroy's city council in December to discuss his plans to squeeze the project onto 900 acres, saving the rest of 5,400-acre Sargent Ranch as open space forever. The ranch is larger than the part of Stanford University in Santa Clara County.

Pierce wants to tuck the houses and golf courses -- one public, one private -- behind a ridge so that views of the ranch from Highway 101 would be unchanged. Sargent Ranch is one of the first patches of pristine countryside that drivers see south of Gilroy.

To do this, Pierce wants supervisors to rezone his property from ranch lands to hillsides. Skip Spiering, who represented Pierce at the Gilroy meeting, said under the property's existing zoning, Pierce could build 10 houses now, then subdivide the parcels over time so that one day, scores of houses could dot the land.

"The thought of scattering houses all over the ranch, when a clustered approach could hide all residential development, is ludicrous," Spiering said in a letter to the Gilroy City Council.

Craig Breon, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society's executive director, calls Spiering's argument "a false dichotomy." He doubts Pierce would settle for subdividing the ranch because he would not make much money doing it and supervisors would not allow it. Breon said the ranch should be saved as a county park.

"We'd just be stupid not to," he said. "Habitat-wise, it's gorgeous. Tar Creek leads to Uvas Creek, which is home to steelhead trout and tiger salamanders, and the ranch may be a nesting habitat and home to mega fauna like mountain lions and bobcats."

On Wednesday, the Audubon Society, Committee for Green Foothills, Greenbelt Alliance and Sierra Club sent the county a letter opposing Pierce's plans.

Pierce made nearly the exact proposal to the county two years ago but withdrew it when it became clear that all five supervisors would reject it. Pierce and Spiering believe they will succeed this time because they are trying to garner grassroots support before, not after, submitting their plans to the county.

"I told them, 'Your first plan didn't fly because you wanted to build something out there and you didn't do your homework. You didn't go to the city of Gilroy. You didn't go to the county's planning staff,'" said Supervisor Don Gage, whose district includes Sargent Ranch.

Despite Pierce's low-key approach, word of the Gilroy meeting spread, alarming not only environmentalists but also the county's chief land use planner, Ann Draper. She opposes Pierce's new plan for the same reason she opposed the old one: If supervisors allow Pierce to develop Sargent Ranch, owners of adjoining ranches will want to do the same.

Draper fears that developing Sargent would open the door to non-stop sprawl from San Francisco through Gilroy, then over the Santa Cruz Mountains, which run along the west side of Sargent Ranch. She presented that scenario to her counterparts in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties the last time Pierce floated his proposal.

"We had an interesting conversation about bay-to-beach development," she said. "It was really quite a repulsive thought."

The first time Pierce tried to develop the ranch, in 1992, he proposed 3,800 homes, two golf courses, a hotel and 1 million square feet of industrial space. In a 4-1 vote, supervisors refused his application.
The second time, in 2001, Pierce submitted a scaled-back plan for a 36-hole public golf course and 137 houses. That time, supervisors accepted the application but Pierce ended up withdrawing it.

"You've got to give that guy at least a little credit for cheek at this point," Breon said of Pierce. "I kind of admire his spirit."

Breon believes Pierce persists with Sargent Ranch despite staunch opposition because "he may be willing to wait until the political climate is right."

"Obviously, this decision hinges on the county board," Breon said, "and its quite possible within the next couple of years, we'll have a slightly different board than now."

This story also ran in the Contra Costa Times. Contact Pat Lopes Harris at pharris@sjmercury.com or (408) 278-3471.

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