Initiative’s goal is to attract young professionals; current
slow-growth limits would not be affecte
Morgan Hill – Morgan Hill City Council members and business owners want voters to amend the city’s growth-control law to bring more apartment buildings downtown that have ground-level shops.
If Measure F passes on Nov. 7, the city could allow up to 100 additional residential units – without affecting current slow-growth limits – within the downtown core, an area defined as south of Main Avenue, north of Dunne Avenue, east of Del Monte Avenue and west of the railroad tracks. The measure would need a simple majority of votes to pass. Additionally, it initiative would allow existing projects be constructed faster.
“Cities have figured out the key to building successful downtowns is having people live there,” said Gary Walton, a member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association.
Walton and the rest of the association backs Measure F, having helped draft the initiative earlier this year with city council members Greg Sellers and Larry Carr. Sellers, a member of the downtown association, said the idea for the initiative was discussed at a council retreat in January.
“The real start of it was everyone interested in downtown growth wanted to look at how to get more projects approved downtown,” Sellers said.
Measure F would amend the city’s slow growth system, originally adopted by voters in 1977. The provisions currently allow for about 250 housing units per year to be built, using a population ceiling of 48,000 in 2020.
The city’s current population is 36,000.
If Measure F passes, it could accelerate the construction of housing downtown, but it would not increase the total number of housing units that can be built under the current growth control law. In other words, it could “take” 100 units that may have gone to other areas of the city and place them downtown.
While widely supported, not everyone agrees with Measure F.
Morgan Hill resident Fred Amoroso, one of the forefathers of the city’s slow growth law, argues Measure F could lead to downtown buildings with “greatly softened” planning requirements. The argument alludes to how a formal competition would not be required for the city council to award the 100 extra units.
Amoroso also argues the city would need to build parking lots for new downtown residents.
“Since downtown projects have been increasingly relieved of providing improvements such as lighting or other infrastructure near their projects (as other developments do), the city will need to provide more support,” he writes in an argument against Measure F in the voter guide.
Proponents, including all five city council members, say Measure F is a “smart growth” approach to attracting young professionals and new life the city’s core.
Charles Weston, a developer who would speed up construction of a mixed-use project on Depot Street and Main Avenue if Measure F passes, said new housing downtown would attract young professionals and raise the city’s cultural profile.
“It would be nice for our children to be able to stay here” if they wanted, Weston said.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or
tb*******@mo*************.com
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