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Now that there are numbers placed in the updated Residential Development Control System (RDCS) for the proposed population ceiling and allotment cap, it’s time for the city to publicly justify those numbers to the residents. More than once, the members of the City Council and Planning Commission have referenced the need to be able to explain the population and allotment numbers to the residents they represent. That has yet to happen. It needs to, and it needs to happen before the City Council approves the language for the November ballot.
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Questions I’ve asked have been met with responses such as “nothing has been decided on” and “the numbers are still being discussed”, or with spreadsheets of calculations. The important answers are not in the math; they are in the justification as to why the numbers exist and what impact they will have on the residents now and long term.
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Residents who are currently expressing an opinion on Morgan Hill’s growth, regardless of their perspective, are doing so at a disadvantage. They have nothing as a basis for comparison against the numbers the city is proposing. Unless the city publicly explains the rationale behind these numbers before they are approved for the ballot, the city is excluding the community from participating. Residents deserve knowledge in order to make an informed decision, and they need inclusion in order to feel like they are part of the process in determining the future of Morgan Hill beyond casting a vote in November.
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The residents of Morgan Hill should expect a level of communication that encourages community participation more than just marking a checkbox in a survey or making a comment at a public meeting. We should be allowed the opportunity to review the city’s reasoning and get answers to questions specific to what we don’t understand and what concerns us. There has been more dialogue with developers and more discussion about how the numbers affect developers than there has been about effects on residents.
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While the level of resident participation in workshops and meetings has been very little, if non-existent, that should not be considered as disinterest or tacit approval. If anything, it should be an indication to the city that it needs to be more proactive in seeking what it claims to be important: knowing what the residents want.
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I am asking for the city to justify the population ceiling and allotment numbers currently in the RDCS draft with respect to the effect on the city’s budget position and impacts to the infrastructure, including the current infrastructure funding gap. I am asking the city to explain why the numbers can’t be lower—for example 225 maximum annual allotments versus 250. I am also asking the city to issue a public statement for the residents summarizing the city’s justification for the numbers prior to the City Council’s approval of the ballot language.
Chris Monack is a Morgan Hill resident and blogger whose views on local government can be found at mhresidentsopinion.wordpress.com. City Hall is in the process of preparing the ballot language for the RDCS renewal measure, of which the council must approve a final draft by the end of July.
There has been more dialogue with developers and more discussion about how the numbers affect developers than there has been about effects on residents.
