Consultant Will Study High-Speed Rail Options In Gilroy

A Berkeley-based consultant will study two options for a high-speed rail station in Gilroy after the City Council approved the hiring at a cost of $200,000 on Monday.

The majority of that money–$150,000–comes from a special grant that only Gilroy received from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

The firm, Design, Community & Environment, cites a focus on environmental responsibility as one of its defining characteristics and won the bid over 15 other applicants, said Don Dey, city transportation engineer.

While the final decision about station location still falls on the shoulders of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency has made several efforts to gather local input about rail alignment and whether to build a station downtown or east of Gilroy’s official city limits.

“If the city of Gilroy doesn’t make that determination, then High-Speed Rail will make that determination for us,” said Dey.

The vote carried unanimously, but not before Councilman Peter Arellano expressed deep concern that Gilroy’s portion of the bill would be wasted when the rail authority still had the final say.

“At the end of the day, this council will only make a recommendation—we don’t have any say on imposing our will,” said Councilman Perry Woodward, “The extent to which that suggestion carries hard facts is what gives it more weight.”

The consultant will study two distinct scenarios: The downtown option would fit into an area already configured around a train station, while the east option would have room to build a new transit-oriented development, said Dey.