Rather than require electronics mogul John Fry to purchase lands
to make up for habitat areas destroyed when he built a golf course
without permits, the city could coordinate efforts with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to persuade him to pay some $2 million in
fees to protect natural lands elsewhere.
Morgan Hill – Rather than require electronics mogul John Fry to purchase lands to make up for habitat areas destroyed when he built a golf course without permits, the city could coordinate efforts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to persuade him to pay some $2 million in fees to protect natural lands elsewhere.
Fry and his American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) partners are on the hook for destroying 26 acres of habitat for threatened California red-legged frogs and 51 acres of habitat for endangered bay checkerspot butterflies, a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. Additionally, many federally listed plants were potentially damaged by the unauthorized construction of the golf course 10 years ago on Foothill Boulevard, at the former site of Hill Country and the Flying Lady restaurant.
As a result, AIM – which was founded in 1994 by Fry and fellow Silicon Valley businessman Steve Sorenson – has been pinned by both the city and the federal government to make amends for the lost habitat, but the city’s mitigations call for “land acquisition” whereas the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed course in January and is now proposing fees be paid to two conservation leagues to resolve the issue.
Now that the two groups are asking for two different solutions to mitigate the damage, Morgan Hill Community Development Director Kathy Molloy-Previsich is suggesting city planners, institute representatives and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials meet before April to “get on the same page” to repair the environmental damage.
“It may well be that a fee is the best mitigation,” Molloy-Previsich told the Morgan Hill City Council on Wednesday night, adding the council could amend its environmental requirements for the Institute golf course to reflect a new approach.
After discussing the issue, the city council voted 4-0 – with Councilwoman Marby Lee absent – to formally request the meeting between the three parties.
In a related action, the council voted 4-0 to require the Institute golf course to hand in its design permit application by April, which would mark the end of all activities to assess environmental and public health and safety damages.
The city hopes to finalize and implement all aspects of the high-profile mitigation project by this fall.
Problems at the golf course started 10 years ago when Fry expanded a nine-hole pitch and put into a full-blown golf course without city permits. The city intervened after neighbors complained, issuing a list of environmental tasks in 2004 that needed to be fulfilled before final design permits could be approved. Use of the golf course remains restricted to 36 rounds a day between April 16 and Sept. 30.
The headline-grabbing project has attracted scrutiny from the Santa Clara County Audubon Society, which is blaming city officials for not pushing for quicker compliance at the golf course while shepherding in a new conference center for AIM.
“Every month that the off-site habitat is not acquired and maintained for the rare and endangered species involved … natural resources are lost,” wrote Audubon Society delegate Craig Breon in a Feb. 21 letter to Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate. “It is time the city values the resources involved as much or more than you value the good will of John Fry.”
The city approved designs for the AIM center last summer after the project received resounding support from residents and teachers. The center will host conferences for international math scholars, offer scholarships to talented young mathematicians and provide a library of important books and documents.
While understanding some of the city’s frustration with the long and complicated effort to bring the golf course component into compliance, Breon said some issues are not overly complicated and could be resolved now, such as a requirement to post signs on the golf course telling people not to intrude on remaining natural habitat.
Of the 38 environmental mitigation tasks assigned in 2004, 25 have been completed. Several others remain in progress, but are nearly completed, such as a groundwater quality monitoring report and a groundwater supply investigation expected to wrap up this spring.
Molloy-Previsich said it’s been difficult for the institute to hire experts and “gear up for the work,” but she feels “good-faith” progress has been made.
Kevin Robins, director of construction and maintenance for Fry’s Electronics, told the council Wednesday the company is working well with the city.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to do what the city is asking us to do,” Robins said. “We’ve agreed we should meet with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service” to discuss options for paying fees in lieu of purchasing land outright.
Councilman Greg Sellers said he’s satisfied all parties were working hard to complete an “incredibly complicated and multi-layered” project.
“We’re never going to see another project this complicated,” Sellers said during the meeting. “I think sometimes we get bogged down in the details and forget where it’s going. I don’t see malice on the part of anyone or an attempt to deceive anyone.”
