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2018
pRIDE PrOGRESS A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE GILROY DISPATCH
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gilroydispatch.com
2030: What will Gilroy look like?
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CITY CENTER As Gilroy grows towards the hills, it struggles to keep its downtown core healthy.
GILROY FACES A CHALLENGE TO KEEP IDENTITY IN FACE OF BIG CHANGES Michael Moore Reporter
notes the city’s preference for future growth is to first compactly fill in vacant or underused land within the city limits, then build concentrically outward from Gilroy’s historic core. But even those outer rings are looking more crowded every day as hundreds of homes have been built in recent years, with construction currently underway on scores more. Elected officials as well as community organizations like the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation tout the need to bring more jobs to town so that people can live and work here. As of 2017, about 15,000 Gilroyans commuted outside the city for work each day, compared to just 12,000 who commute into Gilroy for daily employment, ➝ Progress 2030, 2
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Even without looking into a crystal ball that probably doesn’t work anyway, it’s easy to predict that Gilroy’s population will be notably larger in 2030. The real question is, how will city officials and community organizations accommodate this growth while maintaining the same level of public services that longtime Gilroyans are used to? Trends indicated by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Gilroy has participated in the same population boom that has graced the South Bay Area as a
whole. In 2017, the city’s population was 57,664— an 18-percent increase in the number of residents here since 2010, according to the U.S. Census website. With that growth continuing before our eyes, city leaders and the hoi polloi will no doubt continue to maintain they want the Garlic Capital to stay true to its agricultural, rural roots. In 2016, voters adopted an Urban Growth Boundary in Gilroy for the first time, creating a boundary around the city beyond which no urban development can occur. This boundary “will ensure that the city’s boundaries will be defined by natural open space and working agricultural lands that separate it from adjacent communities,” reads Gilroy’s 2020 General Plan. The General Plan also
ROLAND VELASCO Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco cautions that the city must retain its ‘small-town feel.’
By 2030, Gilroy will continue to have a ‘small-town’ feel. Residents will be able to enjoy the sense of community and belonging that our town provides. —ROLAND VELASCO