UPDATE FROM THE SEPT. 2 CITY COUNCIL MEETING: In regards to the Oak Meadow project, the city council only took action on the first of three action items, according to city staff. That item, adoption of resolution to approve the Urban Service Area Adjustment, was denied by a 3-2 vote with Larry Carr, Gordon Siebert and Mayor Steve Tate in the majority and Rich Constantine and Marilyn Libers on the other side.
The City Council, however, unanimously approved three action items having to do with the Royal Oaks Mushroom project, which includes two vacant parcels totaling 11.06 acres located on the south side of Watsonville Road immediately adjacent to the west side of the mushroom facility at 15440 Watsonville Road. By a 5-0 vote, they approved the Urban Service Area Amendment for Watsonville-Hordness; waived the first and second reading of ordinance approving the project development agreement; and introduced the ordinance.
Also passing unanimously was the Monterey City of Morgan Hill project, which includes adding 11 parcels in the area of the Oakwood Country School and Morgan Hill Bible Church and southeast of the intersection of Monterey and Watsonville Roads into the city limits.
Two long simmering proposals to extend city boundaries, both of which have generated increasing opposition from their surrounding neighbors, will reach the Morgan Hill City Council Sept. 2.
The Oak Meadow project on West Edmundson Avenue, in the works since 2006, would add up to 48 homes in a hillside area in southwest Morgan Hill that is currently in unincorporated Santa Clara County jurisdiction. Developer Bethany Liou is asking the council to annex about 50 acres of the site, and extend the Urban Service Area boundary for another 20.
The unrelated “Monterey-City of Morgan Hill” request is asking the city to extend the USA line for 11 parcels totaling about 48 acres on Monterey Road south of Watsonville Road. These properties include a portion of the Royal Oaks mushroom farm and the Morgan Hill Bible Church.
Requesting an inclusion in the USA is a potential precursor to an annexation request.
If the council approves these requests at the Sept. 2 meeting, which will include public hearings on both proposals, they will require further approval from the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission.
Cell tower and boundary extension on tap?
At the same time the city is processing the USA request for the sites south of Watsonville Road, the county planning office is reviewing a request by the MH Bible Church, 15055 Monterey Road, to install a 75-foot cell tower toward the western side of the property.
“As a church, we want to help the community. Cell service in this area is on the weaker side, and we wanted to make sure that, aesthetically, it would fit in,” Pastor David Whitaker said. He displayed photo simulations that depict the tower, disguised as a tree, sticking up above a giant oak tree toward the back of the property.
The church was approached about six months ago by Verizon which identified the site as “one of the prime spots for a cell tower,” Whitaker said.
Then about three weeks ago, the church was informed that the city wanted to resubmit their USA extension request after a similar effort was rejected by LAFCO in 2013, Whitaker explained. The cell tower site sits on property that would be included in the city’s USA if the council gives its approval, but Whitaker said the timing of the two proposals is purely coincidental.
Nearby resident Dan Enbom noted that the county and city have different cell tower policies. The county allows telecommunications towers up to 75 feet, while the city—which does not have a cell tower ordinance—limits the height of cell towers to 50 feet through land use and zoning policies.
Enbom added that some of his neighbors have many questions about the cell tower near their property, related to the impact on scenery and potentially harmful radio waves attracted to the facility.
“We don’t want this church annexing or even going into the USA because they are not even listening to the neighbors,” Enbom said.
County Planner Carl Hilbrandts’ office is currently conducting an environmental review of the cell tower application. All cell tower proposals taller than 55 feet are subject to a public hearing before the county planning commission. Hilbrandts doesn’t expect that to occur before November.
The city currently has no say in the cell tower matter, but City Hall has long wanted to annex the church and adjacent properties into the city limits. Doing so would tighten up city boundaries and make future growth more orderly, city staff said.
In 2013, LAFCO approved the annexation of only a portion of the city’s full 67-acre request of properties south of Watsonville Road, namely about nine acres where Royal Oaks mushroom farm is located.
Royal Oaks owner Don Hordness has indicated he wants to move his agricultural operation elsewhere, and develop a senior assisted living project at the site south of Watsonville Road.
Other properties in the upcoming USA request before the council Sept. 2 include the Oakwood School and a commercial strip mall.
Oak Meadow
Neighbors of the Oak Meadow annexation proposal recently told city planning commissioners that city staff and other officials have repeatedly ignored the voice of the taxpayers and bent over backward for the developer since the residential project was proposed nearly nine years ago.
About 10 neighbors of the 80-acre property, which is currently agricultural and contains steep hillsides, voiced their opposition to the annexation request at the July 14 planning commission meeting. They expressed frustration with the continually changing specifications of the project, and one speaker called the staff recommendation to approve the annexation “unethical.”
The property is located just west of the Community Park and the Sunset Avenue/Olympic Drive neighborhoods.
The commission tabled that decision until the July 28 meeting, when they ultimately voted 3-3 on the annexation request and MOU, forwarding no recommendation to the elected council. Commissioner Susan Koepp-Baker’s seat remains unoccupied since she retired earlier this year.
The non-binding MOU states the developer will agree to limit the number of residential detached homes to a maximum of 48; will not build on hillsides steeper than a 10 percent grade; will cluster homes; will not allow private gateways on existing roads; and provide easements for public trails and open space, among other provisions.
In recent weeks, residents—led by Kevin Pfeil—have organized a petition to convince the council to reject the annexation request. More than 980 people had signed the petition on change.org as of Aug. 26.
The petition claims the proposed residential project violates the city’s General Plan, which in 2010 noted the city already has a more than 30-year supply of vacant residential land. Numerous public agencies and environmental groups have opposed the annexation, according to the petition website.
The project opponents also started a website, savemorganhill.org, offering information about pending land use changes in Morgan Hill and a link to the petition.
“In 2004, Morgan Hill residents passed Measure C, limiting the city’s ability to extend into county land to preserve our viewshed and agricultural resources,” reads a message on the website’s home page. “Since then, the city council has rewritten the law specifically to allow the annexation of the Oak Meadows Plaza project and is now planning to move forward, despite overwhelming opposition from the community.”
The project has been to the planning commission at least five times since 2006, with the developer and city continually negotiating on changes and public benefit additions in an effort to bring the proposal in line with the General Plan.
The Sept. 2 City Council meeting will take place 7 p.m. at council chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.
