City officials and the Redevelopment Oversight Board have a full slate of decisions – many related to the future of downtown Morgan Hill – to make at meetings coming up Wednesday.
The Morgan Hill RDA Oversight Board, a seven-member body consisting of representatives of all the agencies that have an interest in former RDA assets, will meet at 2 p.m. to discuss and approve, among other things, the Long Range Property Management Plan.
Also on the board’s agenda are a series of consultant contracts for conceptual planning and impact analysis for a number of the projects proposed in the LRPMP.
The LRPMP, a document required through the state’s RDA dissolution process, lays out the City’s plans for 18 properties that the RDA purchased over the years before it was shuttered in 2012.
The City Council, acting as the RDA Successor Agency board of directors, approved the plan at a Nov. 6 meeting. After the Oversight Board’s consideration of the plan, it will require ultimate approval by the state Department of Finance before the City can act on any of the proposals contained within the LRPMP.
Most of the properties in the LRPMP are in downtown Morgan Hill, and include the Granada Theater, Downtown Mall, former Simple Beverages property and Royal Clothiers building. These properties – with frontage on Monterey Road and downtown side streets – are slated to be sold to private developers for new projects in the LRPMP.
The plan also includes the construction of a multi-story parking garage on Depot Street between Second and Third streets, where the BookSmart shopping center is. However, at the Nov. 6 meeting the Council indicated their preferred site for the parking structure, intended to serve commuters and downtown visitors, is on the lot known as the “Sunsweet” site one block south of the BookSmart center.
The LRPMP, as proposed to the Oversight Board, is based largely on previous City planning documents including the Downtown Specific Plan, the intent of which is “to promote and facilitate private development intended to transform (downtown) into a community hub for retail, dining and entertainment uses,” according to a City staff report.
The properties currently sit in a “community redevelopment trust fund,” awaiting the DOF’s approval for further use, according to City staff.
Also on the Oversight Board’s Wednesday agenda are a series of consultant contracts to set in motion some of the projects cited in the LRPMP, and other downtown projects proposed to be funded with some of the $25 million left over in Morgan Hill RDA bond proceeds. Use of the former RDA proceeds is also subject to state oversight and approval.
These contracts proposed for approval by the Oversight Board Wednesday include:
-A maximum of about $143,000 for tenant relocation services from Overland Pacific & Cutler, Inc., to help find new homes for up to 19 tenants on downtown properties cited in the LRPMP. These tenants include eight commercial establishments in the BookSmart shopping center, residents of a duplex home, and retail and office tenants located in the Downtown Mall, Morgan Hill Cigar Co. and Royal Clothier building.
The proposed contract with Overland includes a cost estimate and benefit analysis and relocation assistance, according to a City staff report.
-Up to about $71,000 for City Design Collective for all urban design and planning services related to the City’s proposals in the LRPMP and bond-funded projects. The contract proposal includes concept designs for downtown streetscapes and other capital project proposals.
“The downtown development activities include several publicly controlled opportunity sites, as well as public ways and spaces, and private development sites that must be carefully woven into the downtown urban fabric,” the City staff report states. “Creative design and planning services will be key to the success of those efforts.”
-A maximum of $55,000 for real estate and financial advisory services for bond-related projects and the LRPMP – including assistance with eventual the sale and development of downtown properties – from Keyser Marsten Associates, Inc.
The proposed consultant’s responsibilities include ensuring the proposed projects will “(1) enhance downtown, (2) provide public benefits sought by the community, (3) provide financial analysis of real estate transactions for the Successor Agency owned properties, (4) and identify the financial structure to the Successor Agency transactions,” a City staff report says.
-A contract for up to about $73,000 for a traffic analysis of the proposed three-story downtown parking structure, with potential retail development on the ground floor, from Fehr & Peers.
-Up to $16,000 for Giacalone Design Services to produce designs for a project to place utility lines and related facilities underground along Monterey Road, from Dunne to Cosmo avenue. Ultimately, the project will be funded from PG&E grants and former RDA bond proceeds, according to City staff. Construction is scheduled to start in Spring 2014.
All of the contracts have been approved by the Successor Agency, and are proposed to be funded with former RDA income, according to City staff. The contracts still require Oversight Board and DOF approval.
The Oversight Board meeting starts 2 p.m. Wednesday at Morgan Hill City Council Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.
The City Council and Successor Agency will meet 7 p.m. Wednesday at the same location.
