GILROY
– If Bonfante Gardens lets Eagle Ridge residents use the theme
park to access their homes, the financially strapped horticulture
park could be saved from financial ruin.
GILROY – If Bonfante Gardens lets Eagle Ridge residents use the theme park to access their homes, the financially strapped horticulture park could be saved from financial ruin.
Year-round access from Hecker Pass is just about all it will take to get Eagle Ridge board president David Light to support a mega real estate deal between Eagle Ridge developer Shapell Industries and Bonfante Gardens.
And already the developer and the theme park have reached a verbal agreement to let Eagle Ridge residents use Bonfante Gardens’ entrance off Hecker Pass to access their west side homes. As the arrangement stands now, residents could use the access road on weekdays that do not fall on national holidays or special event days planned by the park.
On weekends, the busiest time for Bonfante Gardens, Eagle Ridge residents would have to use one of the two existing access roads – Club Drive or Ballybunion Drive.
“I have no problem, personally, with access five days a week,” but some residents may expect more, Light said.
Light and fellow Eagle Ridge board member John Lang are scheduled to negotiate details of the access point this weekend, according to Light. Light also said he would press for access seven days a week, at least during the park’s off season.
“I see no reason why the limited access can’t be extended … when Bonfante Gardens is closed,” Light said.
Light also wants assurances that if the park were sold – or if creditors foreclosed on the park – access rights would remain with the land.
“I want to see a permanent easement regardless of who owns the property,” Light said.
According to Bonfante Gardens board president Bob Kraemer, creditors have given “verbal assurances” that access would be permanent.
Whatever the case, Light said he would go back to his constituents and “make sure they were satisfied” with the agreement.
Light is one of seven delegates who will vote next month to approve or reject the land deal. With 142 votes to his name and only 153 needed to garner two-thirds approval, Light’s vote by far holds the most weight. No other delegate possesses more than 38 votes, so virtually all the other delegates will have to vote no to kill the deal.
