The Moveable Feast traveling fleet of food trucks will continue to stop on East Third Street in downtown Morgan Hill every Wednesday through July, despite the objections of a family who has owned property on the street for decades.
The Dasovic family owns three homes on East Third Street, which has been redeveloped and redesigned more than once since 2009 as one of City Hall’s preferred sites for community events downtown. Only a public sidewalk separates the edge of the homes’ front yards from the boundary of events such as Moveable Feast.
Diane Dasovic sent a letter to the city council June 21 listing their grievances with these events, which bring trespassers and litter to their properties, and restrict their ability to come and go as they please when the street is open only to vendors and crowds on foot.
The letter was submitted as public comment on a proposed “Downtown special events and street closures” that would have allowed event organizers to shut down East Third Street up to 72 days per year, for several hours at a time.
“That would have a devastating effect for the residents, especially my elderly mother,” Diane Dasovic’s letter reads. “It would force her out of her house of over 40 years.”
Her letter asked the council to deny permits for Moveable Feast beyond the date of June 21, and to resist adopting the proposed event and street closures policy, which city staff recommended for approval at that evening’s meeting. The council decided to allow Moveable Feast to complete its full eight-week run as originally scheduled, but took no action on an events and street closures policy.
City staff will come back to the council in the fall with a revised policy proposal, according to Morgan Hill Community Services Coordinator Nichole Martin.
Dasovic blames the City of Morgan Hill for allowing event organizers to “(deny) residents access to their driveways and homes” during the events. She also blames the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, organizer of the Moveable Feast—the most recent event on East Third Street that has occurred every Wednesday since early June and will continue until July 26.
But not everyone is complaining. A neighbor of the Dasovics’ on East Third Street said he and his parents, who own the family home, don’t have any gripes with Moveable Feast or other downtown events. The resident, Steve Pagaza, said noise and crowds are “expected” in an urban neighborhood.
“It’s not unreasonable,” Pagaza said. “It’s not like you’re living in the country.”
Balance is key
City officials have said while the residents of East Third Street are aware that the street is designed to be closed down for periodic public gatherings, these events should strike a balance between that purpose and the rights of the property owners.
“We have one resident who has been there the whole time, who has known about what we’re doing,” Mayor Steve Tate said. “We need to do everything to be respectful of these residents (but) I don’t think that should have an impact on the number of events we have.”
MHDA representatives argue they have done everything they can to accommodate the Dasovics during Moveable Feast, including reserving parking spaces for them in a public lot just outside the event area, and ensuring they will have an escort from the fire department if they need to need to get in or out of their homes while the street is closed.
Dasovic’s letter stated her family views the proposed special events policy as “retaliation to our request that (the) city allow my elderly mother vehicle access to her driveway and home, as her health requires, and her doctor had requested, during the Moveable Feast series.”
And Dasovic accuses event organizers of shirking their requirement to comply with federal disability access guidelines.
“The public has repeatedly trespassed on our private property, while the event organizer has turned a blind eye and refused the measures we requested to prevent this,” the letter adds.
Is a policy needed?
City staff recommended adopting the policy because of an increase for requests for downtown events that require street closures. The city has long promoted such events, which attract large crowds and thus more people to spend money at downtown businesses. The policy would have applied to popular large-scale festivals such as Mushroom Mardi Gras and Taste of Morgan Hill, as well as the Moveable Feast and the National Night Out public safety event, which typically occurs in downtown Morgan Hill in August.
At the June 21 meeting, some council members couldn’t agree with city staff about the number of expected patrons per event that would trigger the policy. Staff recommended any event that brings 500 people or more to Third Street should be subject to the policy. For closure of Monterey Road, expected attendance of 5,000 or more would have triggered the policy.
These events, which have become even more in demand since the city spent $25 million sprucing up the downtown in the last couple years, have paid off, according to proponents.
“The people trying to do something good are being bombarded with negativity,” MHDA board member Julia Wolfsmith, who owns a salon on Third Street, told the council. “Fifty people (for example) on any street downtown is important for any business downtown. We depend on the festivals and events to get our name out there, and our exposure.”
MHDA board member Kathy Sullivan told the council June 21 that the Dasovics were offered a ride to the meeting that evening, while Moveable Feast was occupying Third Street, but “they chose not to take it.” She urged the council to adopt the policy “for the greater good of the city.”
Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr said the city has “spent a lot of time, a lot of money (and) effort” on the reconstruction of East Third Street, which “has always been the epicenter of Morgan Hill.”
“That being said, we need to make every reasonable accommodation we can” for the residents, he added. Carr later added that the Dasovics’ concerns are “solvable,” but the residents should be more willing to work with the city and event organizers.
The city rebuilt East Third Street in 2009 with about $2 million in Redevelopment funds and a $1.7 million state grant. In 2015, the city demolished and rebuilt the street again after the original driving surface, composed of paver stones, suffered from ongoing damages. The city and contractor Joseph J. Albanese settled a lawsuit on the damages, awarding the city about $357,000 to complete the latest rebuild.
