The City’s proposed purchase of property in the embattled Morgan Hill Southeast Quadrant for new baseball and softball fields might be a home run for some involved in the transaction, but it’s a strikeout for the community of Morgan Hill as a whole, according to critics of the proposal who say there are plenty of sites already in the city limits that are more suitable for recreational use.
The Morgan Hill City Council Wednesday was poised to sign a “letter of intent” to purchase about 21 acres of a 26-acre parcel just southwest of the intersection of Condit Road and Tennant Avenue, in order to build up to six sports fields for baseball and softball use, according to a City staff report.
The property, which is owned by Los Gatos-based NMSBPCSLDHB LP, is bordered on the west and northwest side by the U.S. 101 northbound off-ramp, and on the south by Fisher Avenue. And it’s part of the City’s Southeast Quadrant, a 1,200-acre patchwork of farms, soccer fields and homes on larger lots on the east side of U.S. 101.
If the Council signs the letter, the City agrees to pay about $5 million for 21 acres, and lease the remaining five to six acres back to the current owner for $1 per year, according to a draft of the letter written by NMSBPCSLDHB LP representative and longtime Morgan Hill developer Gordon Jacoby. The current owner would also have the “right to repurchase” the remaining property for $1.
“It is the intent of (NMSBPCSLDHB)… to sell portions of the property and eventually develop the remainder of the property in a manner that is consistent with the General Plan and zoning now recommended and being studied as part of the Southeast Quadrant,” Jacoby’s letter states.
The City would fund the $5 million purchase from the park impact fund, which is financed by developer impact fees, according to the staff report.
About 10 years ago, the City began a process to annex about 760 acres of the SEQ into the city limits in order to control growth, preserve open space for a “greenbelt” around the City and promote more sports and recreational uses in the area.
The proposed ball fields are part of that study, according to the letter of intent the Council was considering Wednesday.
The City’s plan to bring the SEQ into the city limits is a source of hope for the seller’s plans to develop about five to six acres adjacent to the proposed ball field site, and a cause for concern among critics of the City’s plans.
The Council’s decision on the intent to purchase the property occurred after the deadline for Friday’s Times, but critics were prepared to let their concerns known early this week. Morgan Hill resident Mark Grzan, a former councilman and a longtime opponent of the City’s SEQ plans, said it’s “premature” for the City to declare an intent to purchase the property for ball fields.
The 21-acre property is on “prime agricultural land,” and there is already plenty of vacant land in the City limits on which to develop ball fields, Grzan said. Plus, he added, the City’s purchase proposal does not indicate a budget or timeline for construction of ball fields and supporting facilities, and the City is already struggling to maintain existing services, roads and infrastructure.
“There are a lot of developers out there pushing to develop this land,” Grzan said. “The city doesn’t need it. We have 3,000 acres of vacant land inside the city limits to develop. We don’t have the justification to annex. We need to build within (the city limits) first.”
The City has not yet estimated a cost or identified a source of funding for development of the ball fields, according to City Manager Steve Rymer, who called the purchase proposal as a “land banking” phase. The schedule for building the new fields, if the City purchases the property, will be determined by the SEQ process, and depends on further environmental studies of whatever detailed plan the City develops for ball fields. Sports uses already in the SEQ include the 38-acre Outdoor Sports Center – a soccer field complex – and the City’s Aquatics Center, both of which are on Condit Road. The Diocese of San Jose has proposed building South County Catholic High School in the SEQ, near Murphy and Barrett avenues.
Grzan added that it would be “very difficult” for Jacoby or NMSBPCSLDHB LP to develop the property or even the five to six-acre remainder site under current County land use regulations, and it is thus in the current owner’s interest to facilitate the SEQ annexation into the city limits.
“This is about landowners and developers manipulating the City to say this is a good idea,” Grzan said.
City staff are in fact expecting the draft environmental study of the 760-acre SEQ proposal to be completed and available for public review in August, according to Morgan Hill Senior Planner Rebecca Tolentino.
Part of the overall program is an agricultural mitigation policy, which would require future developers in the SEQ to pay fees to preserve, farmland or open space elsewhere in the City, in an amount equal to what they build over in the SEQ. The City, as a potential property owner and developer of the ball fields, would not be exempt from that policy, Tolentino said.
The letter of intent would not commit the City to purchasing the property, but establishes a 90-day “due diligence period” in which the City will “conduct…any and all inspections, measurements, investigations and tests” it needs to determine if the property is suitable for ball fields and related facilities.
The purchase and development of baseball and softball fields for public use has long been a part of the City’s long-term recreation plans. The City currently owns six ball fields in public parks – four in the Community Park, one in Galvan Park and one in Paradise Park. The City received nine proposals in response to a request for property last year, and for now has narrowed down the list to the site owned by NMSBPCSLDHB LP.
Another landowner who submitted a proposal, Jim Sergi, said he thinks the NMSBPCSLDHB site is not the Council’s best option. He said his property, on the northeast corner of Condit Road and Tennant Avenue – adjacent to the Aquatics Center – is a better choice.
