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The Morgan Hill Planning Commission June 28 recommended a November ballot measure to extend the city’s growth control ordinance for 15 more years, with a population cap of 59,000 in 2035 and no more than 230 new homes annually.
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But that vote followed a lengthy discussion in which commissioners collectively bemoaned a sudden request by the city council a week prior to consider “drastic” changes to the draft only a few weeks before the deadline to submit ballot measures to election officials.
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For the last two years, the planning commission, council members and volunteer citizen advisors have been working on a draft update of the city’s Residential Development Control System. These discussions, meetings, studies, consultants’ fees and public review resulted in a draft RDCS update that proposed a 250-home annual maximum—which works out to about 2 percent annual population growth, according to city staff.
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However, the council on June 22 said they wanted the planning commission to consider a 1-percent annual growth rate with maximum allocations of 155 homes per year. The council also wanted the commission to consider shortening the expiration date of the new RDCS and lowering the population ceiling, to about 51,250 in 2026.
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Perplexed commissioners June 28 did not mince their words about what a stark contrast this proposal is to the one already on the table, and how it defies all assumptions the current draft is based on.
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Commissioner Liam Downey called the council’s change in guidance a “fundamental shift in thinking,” and he encouraged voters to watch the video of the June 22 council meeting, which is available on the city’s website.
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“To come down at the last minute and make a significant change like this, I could not determine the rationale, apart from politics,” Downey said.
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He added that Morgan Hill voters should be aware of the “ramifications,” including a 40 percent reduction in revenues generated by the RDCS. With a 250-home annual maximum, the RDCS generates about $16.7 million in revenues that finance capital improvements for city infrastructure, parks, agriculture preservation and open space acquisitions.
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If the voters approve a 150-home maximum, that revenue will drop to about $10 million annually, according to city staff.
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“I have a significant concern in a reduction of 40 percent in the budget areas funded by development. That’s got to be paid some way—most likely taxes,” Downey added.
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Voters first approved the RDCS in 1977, and have adopted three updates since then. The current version expires in 2020, setting a population cap of 48,000 for that year. The RDCS requires developers to compete for the limited number of housing allotments. Proponents have praised the system for producing high-quality housing and neighborhood amenities in Morgan Hill.
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“I personally am pretty shocked by a complete reversal down to 1 percent” annual population growth, Commissioner Michael Orosco said. “We are either pushing our children out of Morgan Hill, or we are pushing our seniors out of Morgan Hill.”
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He said without a strong “diversity of housing” generated by a higher cap, senior citizens can’t afford to downsize and today’s children will never be able to pay a mortgage in Morgan Hill.
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The commission and city staff, as well as a consultant hired by the city two years ago to draft the RDCS and General Plan updates, would need so much time to study the impact of the latest suggestion that they should delay putting it to the voters for another year, if the council is determined to stay with a 1-percent growth rate, Commissioner John McKay added.
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The majority of commissioners even felt the latest suggested expiration date of 2026 was misguided. They said it should be concurrent with the General Plan update, which is proposed to last through 2035.
‘Playing politics’?
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Only Commissioner Rene Spring—who started campaigning earlier this year for one of two council seats up for election in November—supported the 1-percent rate of growth. He reminded the rest of the commission that he suggested this back in February, but his colleagues dismissed the idea.
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“I don’t think we should start the fear mongering now,” Spring said in response to worries about the decline in development related revenue. “We don’t yet know what the impact is. The revenue will be low, but the cost will be low. Maybe we need less infrastructure. We should not draw conclusions because of partial data.”
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Spring has been campaigning for the council on a platform of slowing down the growth in Morgan Hill.
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One goal of the RDCS update is to prevent spikes in housing development like Morgan Hill has seen in the last three years. This flurry of building activity resulted from a backlog of unbuilt allocations during the 2009 recession.
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Another goal—shared by developers, residents, council members and commissioners—is to simplify the RDCS process.
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Councilman Larry Carr introduced the 1-percent growth idea at the June 22 meeting. Some of his colleagues agreed it was worth sending to the planning commission for their input.
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“We should explore all kinds of numbers,” Carr said after the Times gave him a summary of the commission’s discussion. “We’ve been hearing from some in the population that want a very low growth rate, so we should explore it. We’ve got to be realistic, and figure out how the city continues to improve on itself and maintain things.”
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Carr and Councilwoman Marilyn Librers are both up for re-election in November, on the same ballot that the RDCS update would appear if the council approves a measure. Neither has formally announced their intent to run, but Carr said June 29, “You can plan on me being on the ballot in November.”
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He responded to suggestions that the council is using the RDCS for politics.
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“If the definition of a political decision is you’re reacting to the voters, OK, so be it,” Carr said. “Reacting to voters is an important part of what we do. If that’s playing politics, that’s my job.”
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He added that his mind is not made up, and he will continue to consider the input from the commission, residents and his fellow councilmembers. “If a single commissioner is supporting that (1-percent growth), I sure hope he has good reasons for it,” Carr said.
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The planning commission June 28 voted 5-2 to recommend the council place an RDCS update on the ballot that keeps the city’s population at or below 59,000 in 2035, with 230 maximum annual housing allotments. Spring and Orosco cast the dissenting votes. Orosco said he preferred a 250-home maximum because that number seems to offer the most fairness to both the residents and the development community.
The council will discuss the planning commission’s recommendation at the July 20 meeting, and is scheduled to approve an RDCS ballot measure July 27. The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ deadline to submit measures for the November ballot is Aug. 5.
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Watch video of the June 22 city council meeting and the June 28 planning commission session (as well as older, archived meeting recordings) on the city’s website, morganhill.ca.gov. The council is scheduled to discuss the latest planning commission recommendation, and whatever else is on their mind related to growth control, at the July 20 and July 27 meetings. On July 27 they are expected to approve a ballot measure, in which they will ask the voters to renew the RDCS in the November election.
