When it comes to opposition to proposed car dealerships at U.S.
101 and Dunne Avenue, we
’re in touch with Yogi Berra: “It’s like déja vu all over
again.”
When it comes to opposition to proposed car dealerships at U.S. 101 and Dunne Avenue, we’re in touch with Yogi Berra: “It’s like déja vu all over again.”
A proposal to develop an auto mall that would be home to three to four new auto dealerships on as much as 24 of 30 acres of vacant land, much of which is presently zoned highway commercial, has neighbors to the north of the project up in arms.
The proposed auto mall site is located north of Walnut Grove Avenue between Courtesy Chevrolet and Walgreen’s near the U.S. 101 and Dunne Avenue interchange.
Four development proposals were presented to neighbors earlier this month; neighbors hated all of them.
Neighbor opposition has so stunned city officials that they’ve called a temporary halt to the planning process. Why would neighbor opposition surprise or frighten city officials? It’s exactly what happened when a Ford dealership was proposed for Condit Avenue last year.
As we told the neighbors of the Tim Paulus Ford dealership, if you buy a home near a freeway interchange, especially one that’s already home to numerous retail projects, you have to expect commercial development on that land.
The homeowners correctly point out that some of the land under consideration is zoned for multiple-family use, not commercial. However, the best use of that land for the entire city is commercial. The council should move ahead with rezoning the property and updating the General Plan with the new use.
Retailers want to be near each other and they require easy freeway access, making retail development the highest and best use of the land in question. The 101/Dunne interchange is easily the most commercial of the three Morgan Hill freeway exits and placing auto dealerships there makes lots of sense, from both land-use and fiscal perspectives.
Not only is this stretch of road home to one car dealership and another on the way, it also has loads of retail businesses from grocery and drug stores to restaurants and coffee shops, from gas stations to hotels, from a big-box home improvement store to an RV dealer. As we said when the Ford dealership was proposed, the addition of car dealerships will not change the character of the area one iota.
However, the addition of car dealerships will change the city’s fiscal outlook. Each car dealership brings an estimated $250,000 per year in sales tax revenue to the city’s coffers. That money – up to $1 million a year – will fund recreation programs, police and fire services, recreation programs, park maintenance and other municipal services citizens rely on the city to provide.
Given declining sales tax revenues of late and the heavy state budget cuts the city has endured – with more to come – finding ways to improve the city’s fiscal situation is the responsible thing for city officials to do.
As we said when the Condit Road Ford dealership was proposed, of course the project’s developers should be required to minimize negative impacts to neighbors. City officials should work to make sure the lighting, noise and traffic from the dealerships are mitigated as much as possible.
It would also be nice if city leaders could convince dealers selling makers not already represented in Gilroy to locate in Morgan Hill. How about recruiting dealers selling Audi, Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, Acura, Volvo or Mercedes models?
Morgan Hill’s leaders have a duty to make decisions that are best for the entire city. Bringing automobile dealerships to the city’s most commercial location will have a positive impact on Morgan Hill residents. We urge City Council to do what is best for the city as a whole: Choose the best option of those presented and approve an auto dealership development plan for the Walnut Grove land.
