A proposed new gated residential community in northeast Morgan
Hill will be the first of its kind in the city.
A proposed new gated residential community in northeast Morgan Hill will be the first of its kind in the city.
Developers for San Sebastian Homes, as the 244-home development will be known, say it will be a largely self-contained community with a variety of design features, bike paths, walkways, its own stormwater drainage system and environmentally friendly amenities.
“This isn’t going to be a project,” said San Sebastian Homes builder Michael Fletcher. “This is going to be a community.”
The subdivision will be located on 120 acres in the area of Cochrane, Half and Peet roads which has been owned by the Borello family for more than 40 years. The property, just south of Anderson Dam, is currently agricultural and occupied by orchards, row crops and processing facilities.
Developer and property owner Chris Borello said the project is named after his grandfather Sebastian, who once owned vineyards on the property.
Fletcher and Borello presented their “master plan” to the planning commission Tuesday. The city has previously awarded the project 60 housing allocations for the next two years.
Developers hope to be “shovel ready” by Dec. 2011, though Borello noted that “extensive” work has to be done in order to meet that date. The next step in the process will be to present a tentative map of the development, and from there begin to acquire permits and seek zoning amendments.
After construction begins, the development’s 244 lots will be built out in phases over the next seven to 10 years.
Developers say they will strive to use unique aesthetic and functional features to make San Sebastian Homes stand out from typical subdivisions built during the housing boom of the early 21st century.
The development will feature an “enclave” concept, in which clusters of homes will share common areas and driveways, as a way to minimize traffic within the gates and promote a safe and neighborly atmosphere, Fletcher said.
Fruit trees from Borello’s existing orchards will be transplanted along the streets throughout the gated community. The streets, which will be privately owned and maintained, will contain islands, “meandering parkways,” and will be constructed of varying sizes to control traffic – “rather than a sterile intersection,” said Fletcher, who built a similar yet much larger community – Las Palmas Ranch – in Monterey County, which contains more than 1,000 lots.
A staff report from the city’s planning department notes that the addition of privatized streets will not add any costs for the city.
The developers are considering providing private water and sewer as well, but have not yet committed to doing so, Borello said.
The master plan also preserves about 16.5 acres worth of open space in the form of common bike paths, walkways and recreation areas.
The builders also plan to incorporate a number of “environmentally sensitive” amenities to the project, Borello noted. A system of drainage conduits will keep stormwater contained on the properties, and every home will be equipped with solar power installations.
In a letter to the city’s planning department, the developers described San Sebastian Homes as a “large lot executive level subdivision.” As such, the project will not offer any below-market-rate allocations, and the developers will pay extra into the city’s housing mitigation fund to offset the need for affordable homes.
The average lot size will be about 15,000 square feet, and Fletcher currently expects to market homes for about $800,000 to $900,000.
Furthermore, dedicated future home buyers will be able to customize their lots and house designs before construction begins, and residents need not worry about all the houses being the same size and color, Fletcher said.
“That’s the opposite of what we’re doing,” he said.
Surrounding the development with a fence that can be entered only through a locked gate, and with an electronic key device, is a new concept to Morgan Hill, but the developers think it will suit the neighborhood and give future residents and their families a strong sense of safety.
“The gate-guarded community concept is huge for Morgan Hill, and it provides an opportunity for a more extensive, higher-end, larger dollar purchase profile to live in the community,” Fletcher said.
The development will be significantly smaller than the most prominent nearby gated community – Eagle Ridge in Gilroy, which contains more than 900 lots.
A handful of homeowners neighboring the property where San Sebastian Homes will be built were mostly encouraged about the development’s plans when contacted Thursday.
Not only does the plan to build 244 new homes possibly signify the beginning of a recovery in the local economy, it also sounds preferable to the dusty lot that now generates loud noise from farming activity and is surrounded by a simple chain-link fence, said Giovanni Brignolo, a resident of the Alicante development on Mission Avenida, which abuts the Borello property.
“If there’s more development it’s positive, aesthetically speaking,” Brignolo said. “But not if it’s really high density. And if it’s properly done, it will increase the value of the properties (in Alicante).”
And Jimmy Jue, also a resident of Alicante, said the economic benefits signified by a new housing development are worth the extra noise and traffic that it will bring to the neighborhood.
“It sounds all right to me,” Jue said. “I would like to see a little more development, to get more people here so there’s more retail.”
