An environmental report says a new development on Cochrane Road
east of U.S. Highway 101 will negatively impact air quality,
agriculture and add traffic to the already busy highway.
An environmental report says a new development on Cochrane Road east of U.S. Highway 101 will negatively impact air quality, agriculture and add traffic to the already busy highway.
The report especially raises concern about urban decay and echoes some business owners’ fears that a multiplex cinema and Target’s relocation from Cochrane Plaza to a new shopping development planned just across the street on Cochrane Road, may negatively impact other local shopping centers in Morgan Hill.
These concerns were raised in an environmental report conducted by Pacific Municipal Consultants (PMC). The draft of the Environment Impact Report (EIR) for the Cochrane Road Planned Unit Development was presented to the South County Joint Planning Advisory Committee last Thursday night by senior planner Rebecca Tolentino and planning manager Jim Rowe.
The new development, a 657,250 sq. ft. shopping center located on 66.5 acres northeast of Cochrane Road, is the brainchild of Browman Development Company, Inc., J.P. Di Napoli Companies, Inc., and the Gugliemo Family.
The project will include Target and another large anchor store, retail shops, sit-down and fast food restaurants and a multiplex cinema with up to 14 screens and 3,000 seats.
Cochrane Road will be widened to six lanes as part of the new development and Mission View Drive will be created to give shoppers access to the new shopping center.
Members of the county advisory board were concerned about the negative impact the new development will have on Cochrane Plaza and Tennant Station.
The Target Store will move from its current location at 170 Cochrane Plaza southwest of US Highway101, to the new development across the street. The new Target store will be about 123,800 sq. ft., but will not have a full-size grocery store. It will be the first large anchor store of the development, said Tolentino.
The other concern, the 63,200 sq. ft. multiplex cinema, will be located along the proposed Mission View Drive. When questioned by the joint planning advisory committee members, Tolentino said there is a plan for the Tennant Station cinema to add three more screens, but she admitted, a multiplex cinema could seriously impact the Tennant theater. The developers still do not have a tennant for the proposed cinema.
“I was there with my grandchild this afternoon and no one was there. Good luck!” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, chairperson of the committee.
Mike La Barbera, owner of Tennant Station, sees another theater – no matter what size – coming into Morgan Hill as unlikely, but if it happens, he believes it may signal disaster for his business.
“They don’t have a multiplex theater there now, they just have a plan, but the likely scenario is they won’t be able to get a multiplex theater there. I know Century Theaters is not going to consider it. Morgan Hill is just not big enough,” said La Barbera. “Anybody who has any brain won’t do it.”
However, La Barbera said, if one theater, even just a single theater, is successful in locating to the proposed shopping center, or anywhere in Morgan Hill, “It will put us both out of business. It will be devastating, period. Morgan Hill’s draw – both the retail and theater draw, is just 45,000 people. We’re flanked by Gilroy and San Jose and there’s no way two theaters can survive here.”
And if the city even considers another theater in Morgan Hill, La Barbera said, “I will feel personally let down.”
“I’ve gone to multiple meetings about what we can do to attract multiple businesses here,” La Barbera said. “The Tennant theater is just a year or so old and it was the city that encouraged me to open a theater here. To answer their call and then to be put out of business by their actions would speak poorly on all Morgan Hill city officials.”
La Barbera would like the city to have a planned use development that states Morgan Hill can only have one theater.
“Other cities have done it, and this protects the local business. Ultimately, the city’s got to decide what’s good for it,” said La Barbera.
La Barbera said soon, there will be 11 screens at the Tennant Station and this is his way of discouraging another movie theater coming into town. “Hopefully, they’ll see this and find it compelling not to come here.”
Other components of the shopping center will include another large anchor store, about 140,000 sq. ft., next to the Target store, which would be ideal as a home improvement center, said Tolentino. Ten major retail stores will face U.S. Highway 101 and vary in size from 16,000 – 30,000 sq. ft. About 13 retail shops comprising 4,000 – 12,000 sq. ft. will be located at the interior of the site, along with about 36,500 sq. ft. occupied by retail restaurants and fast food places and perhaps a drive-thru bank.
Tolentino said the plan would also include a 10,400 sq. ft. garden center. She said it is also possible to have a supermarket as an alternative to two major retail stores. A fuel station with a food convenience store and a car wash could also substitute for 6,000 sq. ft. of retail space.
Tolentino said it is estimated work on the Target store, which is part of Phase I of the project, will be completed Nov. 2006. The rest of Phase I will be completed in 2007, and the remaining portion of the project will continue to be built out through 2010.
Target is the only business the developers have found to occupy the spaces right now, Tolentino said.
The Morgan Hill Downtown Association is concerned that retail that moves to the new shopping center would compete with shops downtown, according to Laura Brunton, the Morgan Hill at-large representative of the county planning advisory committee.
“The economic report of the development identifies a different market with a different niche of stores for the shopping center,” Tolentino explained. “Retail for the shopping center would be stores that are chains that would not normally choose a downtown location.”
Tolentino agreed with committee members that there will be significant impact to U.S. Highway 101, but she indicated, “There are few mitigations to lessen the impact.”
Robert Cerruti, a San Martin planning advisory committee representative, said he is concerned about the water detention.
“(Construction) is going to cover a lot of earth. You need to offset the natural recharge as you have increased growth and cover up Mother Earth there will be nowhere for the water to go.”
Tolentino and Rowe both said there will be two detention ponds on the development, “so we won’t be losing all of the water, just part of it.”
The joint planning advisory committee did not take action on the report, and like the public, Rowe said they may comment through Aug. 29.
Some local businesses are concerned about Target’s relocation plans.
A spokesperson for Bath & Body Works at Cochrane Plaza said Target’s leaving is a cause for worry. “It’s a cause for concern because now, we’ll just have Mervyn’s as the only large store that will attract people here.”
However, Julie Luu, owner of Miller’s Outpost, is more optimistic. She is not too worried about losing customers. She said families come to her store, which sells men’s and juniors clothes, because they want to.
“Honestly, families come here and park right in front of our store. They come for our clothes. I don’t see that there’ll be a problem.”
The report is also available at the city Web site at www.morgan-hill.ca.gov for public comment through Aug. 29.
Rose Meily covers City Hall for the Morgan Hill Times. Reach her at 779-4106 ext. 203 or by e-mail at rm****@*************es.com
