Even with slow-growth control mechanisms intact, Morgan Hill has
added nearly 2,900 housing units since 1999, meeting regional
housing needs as measured by the Bay Area Association of
Governments.
Morgan Hill – Even with slow-growth control mechanisms intact, Morgan Hill has added nearly 2,900 housing units since 1999, meeting regional housing needs as measured by the Bay Area Association of Governments.
Still, Ralph Lyle, a member of the Morgan Hill Planning Commission, said he’s already a bit concerned the next growth target handed down from ABAG might be unreachable under Measure C, the city’s growth ordinance that only allows about 250 residential units to be approved each year. Lyle said state housing officials could pressure the city to change the measure that voters approved in 2004.
Between 1999 and June 30, 2006, ABAG – acting on instructions from state demographers – divvied up housing requirements among local jurisdictions, resulting in a requirement for Morgan Hill to supply 2,848 new housing units during that seven-year period to help accommodate the region’s projected housing needs.
When that time period closed on June 30, the city had exceeded the state-regulated mandate by 44 units, according to the Morgan Hill Planning Department.
But a big reason Morgan Hill passed the hurdle, Lyle said, was because of an unusual backlog of more than 900 units that weren’t completed until after 1999, as noted in the city’s updated housing element approved by the planning commission at their meeting Tuesday.
State law requires every city to have a housing element to show how current and future housing needs for various income levels will be met. The California Department of Housing and Community Development administers the law, periodically telling regional government associations such as ABAG how much housing they should plan for based on the state’s population projections.
ABAG won’t assign another “fair share” requirement until 2008.
“The next housing element will be a big deal,” Lyle said. “We’ll have a new quota, and the state might dictate the kinds of housing we need to build.”
But Lyle’s comrades, including Morgan Hill Planning Commission Chairman Robert Benich, are more optimistic the growth ordinance will survive until it expires in 2020. Benich said he is confident the city is doing a good enough job providing housing for all income groups.
“Of course, the state would always like us to do more, however I believe we’ll be able to justify our actions and show that we are not impeding the development of lower income housing opportunities,” Benich said, adding the city’s below market rate housing program coupled with Measure C provides a partnership for the city to have “smart controlled growth.”
In 2001, after much debate between local cities over how much they should grow, ABAG gave Morgan Hill the responsibility of building 2,848 new housing units.
City officials then submitted a new housing element to state officials in early 2002, but it wasn’t certified because it looked as though the city would not meet the “fair share” requirement from ABAG under its former growth control ordinance, said retired Morgan Hill Planning Director David Bischoff.
“They got back to us and said, ‘You did a pretty good job, but because of your growth control system, you can’t meet that number,’ ” said Bischoff, who presented the updated housing element at Tuesday’s planning commission meeting.
But when voters passed Measure C in 2004, Bischoff said it allowed the city to approve more housing units per year than under its previous growth control system.
As a result, city staff started working once more to update the housing element, which is now nearing completion just a few years before the next round of updates kicks in.
