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As education officials and growth experts predict an increasing need for more schools in South County, one developer that has tried to build a new private high school in Morgan Hill for several years was recently shot down, again, by a local land use authority.
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The Santa Clara County Local Formation Commission (LAFCO) voted 6-1 June 1 to reject a reconsideration of the Diocese of San Jose’s request to annex 38 acres into the city limits of Morgan Hill in order to build St. John XXIII College Preparatory High School.
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Commissioner Mike Wasserman, who serves as South County’s representative on the Board of Supervisors, made the motion to reconsider the project, which LAFCO previously rejected at the March 11 meeting when it was presented as part of the city’s Southeast Quadrant plan.
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Wasserman said he was “disappointed” that his LAFCO colleagues overruled him.
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“I thought the applicant should have had the opportunity to present their case,” Wasserman said. “I’m a huge advocate for education, and to bring another high school to the county. The actual vote was for reconsideration, so we never even go to vote on the merits of the high school being there.”
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The Diocese asked LAFCO to reconsider the March 11 vote in which a motion to approve the portion of the city’s 215-acre SEQ proposal that contained the high school project failed on a 4-3 vote.
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If the June 1 vote had shifted in their favor, the Diocese would have been given a chance to present its case to extend the city’s Urban Service Area around the 38 acres it owns near the intersection of Tennant and Murphy avenues. This is where they plan to build the new high school, which would be built in phases to eventually accommodate up to 1,600 students. The June 1 application also requested inclusion of three parcels adjacent to the Diocese’ site, totaling 22 acres, into the USA. These are owned by other private parties who do not yet have specific plans for the sites. They were included with the Diocese’ application in order to form a contiguous boundary for annexation.
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At the March 11 meeting, LAFCO rejected the Diocese’ “high school only alternative” carved out from the SEQ after the commissioners were informed by staff that approving it would require an acceptance of the Environmental Impact Report for the entire SEQ and Sports-Recreation-Leisure project. The commission had just rejected that proposal—in which the city hoped to develop a variety of sports-related facilities and commercial projects, while offsetting the loss of agricultural lands on the property with a mitigation program—on a 5-2 vote.
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Commissioners Johnny Khamis, Cat Tucker and Wasserman were in the minority to approve the high school-only alternative March 11. But two of those commissioners have been replaced on LAFCO starting with the June 1 meeting, where San Jose City Councilmember Ash Kalra took Khamis’ place, and Sunnyvale Councilmember Tara Martin-Milius took Tucker’s place.
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After the March 11 meeting, Diocese officials and their attorneys argued that LAFCO in fact did not have to approve the entire EIR for the SEQ. That document includes a “project level” analysis of the Catholic high school project, which the commission could accept in isolation from the rest of the study, according to a letter from Diocese attorney Bart Hechman to LAFCO.
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But LAFCO attorney Mala Subramanian disagreed. She wrote in a May 16 memo to LAFCO staff that the project level portion of the EIR that considered only the impact of the Catholic high school did not analyze the impact of annexing the adjacent 22 acres submitted for consideration at the June 1 meeting.
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Diocese spokesman Andy Pashby was not authorized to speak to the media after the June 1 vote, but church officials have said they remain committed to building a private high school in South County.
Does need surpass land availability?
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The need for at least one new high school in Morgan Hill is not likely to disappear any time soon, but the supply of land is dwindling, according to local school district and planning officials.
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Pashby wrote to LAFCO that every day, up to 500 students leave South County to attend existing non-public schools outside the region.
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“A new Catholic high school will bring educational choice to the South County and increase high school capacity for the area,” Pashby wrote in the May 18 letter to LAFCO. “Keeping these students in the community will reduce the impact of their commute on our roads and on our environment.”
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Pashby’s argument on behalf of the Diocese included a March 7 letter from Morgan Hill Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Kirsten Perez to City of Morgan Hill planning staff, decrying the city’s General Plan draft update that “fails to recognize the city has been unable to identify sufficient land within the City of Morgan Hill to meet the district’s needs” for future schools.
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The city is currently planning for population growth up to a cap between 59,000 and 65,000 by 2035, but the General Plan and growth control documents have not been finalized.
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Perez’ letter notes that MHUSD expects its student body to grow up to 13,611 students by 2035, from the current population of 9,754. This will require the construction of at least four new elementary schools and two secondary schools, Perez added. She further notes that the California Department of Education requires a minimum of 10 acres for elementary schools, 25 acres for a middle school and 40 acres for a high school.
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“In discussions with the City of Morgan Hill staff, it was determined that there are few available parcels within the city that currently meet the district’s requirements,” Perez’ letter continues.
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The availability of large vacant parcels within the city limits—for schools or recreational facilities—is not a new concern. The city argued March 11 there is not enough vacant commercial land for sports field in the city limits, while the commissioners insisted they consider using industrial sites for such projects, even if they are not centrally located near each other.
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Several South County parents of future and current private high school students submitted letters to LAFCO in support of the Diocese’ June 1 annexation request.
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LAFCO, an agency created by the state in the 1960s in order to limit the effects of urban sprawl, previously rejected the SEQ project because commissioners felt the city should develop vacant land within the city limits first, and the proposal would result in the loss of farmland.
