Gilroy roller-skating business struggles to expand

One South County city and a family-owned skate rink are at odds over the business’ attempts to expand its operation.

Mikey Gaeta and Yanessa Cruz, husband-and-wife owners of Skater Things Clubhouse in Gilroy, said their efforts to move into a larger facility a block south of their current location at 7050 Monterey Road are fading due to the lack of communication with the city. But city officials insist they’ve been fully transparent throughout the process, even after learning the owners were operating their business without any of the required approvals.

“I’ve never actually had a sit down meeting with anybody in the city about (our new location at) 6920 Monterey (Road),” Gaeta told San José Spotlight. “We went down to the city four times to get some answers.”

City spokesperson Rachelle Bedell said Skater Things applied for a business license application and included a statement about how the facility would operate. It would be a temporary site for prescheduled roller-skating instruction by appointment only, with no walk-in business, and for storage and packaging related to online retail sales. The city approved the permit, but Bedell said the owners have not complied.

“Since that approval, the business has been operating as a roller-skating rink, which differs from the use described in its application,” Bedell told San José Spotlight. “Operating a rink involves additional state mandated permitting and inspection requirements, including review of the building’s use and the number of people it can safely accommodate.”

Bedell said city employees worked with the owners to identify the proper requirements needed to operate both the temporary facility at 7050 Monterey Road and the proposed 6920 Monterey Road location. Bedell said since the city connected with Gaeta and Cruz, they appear to have been following the permit requirements at the temporary site.

The owners insist they’re operating the temporary location as a training facility and retail store according to the license requirements. They said the correspondence with the city for the roughly 20,000-square-foot permanent facility is lacking.

Gaeta and Cruz launched Skater Things Clubhouse in July at the temporary location while spending more than six months working with the city to sign off on their proposed permanent site. Cruz said city employees recently came to their temporary location and told them to hire an architect to frame out the permanent spot.

“Throughout this process, we have struggled to get clear direction on what is required, what steps we need to take and what resources or assistance are available to us,” Cruz told San José Spotlight. “Rather than feeling supported as a business trying to invest in the community, we have repeatedly felt unwelcome and discouraged.”

Bedell said city officials met with them recently to discuss their vision and said the next step is for the business to submit proposals for city review at their permanent site. However, the city has already left them with a sour taste.

“We have put a tremendous amount of time, money and effort into trying to establish our business in Gilroy,” Cruz said. “And it has often felt like we have had to fight just to get basic guidance and answers.”

Gaeta grew up in Gilroy and said  he would go to roller rinks regularly to stay out of trouble and have a sense of community. He wanted to bring that full circle as a business owner. Members of the roller-skating community, like Joyce Blaschke of Santa Cruz, makes the trek regularly to be part of what Skater Things is building.

“It’s affordable fun that keeps people active, reunites longtime skaters and introduces new people to the joy of skating,” Blaschke told San José Spotlight. “Places that bring generations together for good times like this are worth supporting.”

The owners said the intention has always been to establish a permanent location for Skater Things. But with the continued frustration in Gilroy, they have looked into neighboring Morgan Hill as alternative spot for their business, which appears to be more welcoming.

“If Morgan Hill contacted us today and offered us a viable location, we would seriously consider making that move immediately,” Cruz said. “We want to be somewhere that genuinely welcomes our business and recognizes the value of what we are trying to bring to the community.”

Contact Giovanni Albanese Jr. at [email protected].