Gonzales City Council rejects affordable housing appeal
The Gonzales City Council voted on Tuesday to deny an appeal made by the Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association, Inc., or CHISPA, relating to an affordable housing project across the city’s public high school.
The small plot of city-owned land located on the 400 block of Gabilan Court was the center of passionate opinions in the Salinas Valley town.
“Right now we need housing. Accessible housing for the budgets that we have,” said one woman during a special meeting called on by the council on Tuesday.
“There is other places you can put it. I mean like I said on… road, there’s a corner there,” said Roman Barba, a Gonzales resident who is against the development.
A 41-unit housing complex called the Del Rincon Apartments would have been located on the opposite side of Gonzales High School.
The city’s planning commission already denied a conditional use permit for the development earlier this month, but CHISPA, the affordable housing advocacy group behind the project, appealed the ruling to the city council.
Those against the development fear the added housing will make it more dangerous for people walking and lead to more traffic congestion.
“Our traffic is jam packed all the way down to Fifth Street, all the way down to… road and all over,” said Barba. “Sometimes it’s backed up 40 cars, it takes 20 minutes to 30 minutes to get to one side of town through Fifth Street.”
There is also a community center slated to be built on the property. The project would sink if the apartments go up.
“We need to explore how we can make it a reality, to have a community center that is adjacent to the entire school district,” said Eva Rios, a Gonzales resident.
A brave few stood up in support of the new housing during the meeting, saying cheaper homes are desperately needed.
“Where are we going to put them. Are we OK with them living in garages somewhere? These are still people in our communities,” said one supporter.
A resident asked the mayor to recuse herself from voting, claiming she is biased in favor of the project. She denied that request.
