The Morgan Hill City Council recently certified an environmental study and approved permits for a 269-home development at the southwest corner of Mission View and Half roads. The city’s planning commission had recommended the project’s approval at a previous meeting.
Known as Crosswinds, the project is proposed by Dividend Homes on a 33-acre parcel. The project will be built in three phases, with the first phase consisting of 94 homes, according to the developer.
The site is across Half Road from the rear side of Live Oak High School’s campus, and is surrounded by currently vacant properties. The proposed Crosswinds property is “mostly undeveloped” with grassland and inactive agricultural fields, says a city staff report.
The city council at the June 21 meeting unanimously approved the certification of an Environmental Impact Report, but not without voicing concerns about the potential “significant and unavoidable” impacts of the project related to traffic and agricultural resources.
The council also approved Crosswinds’ vesting tentative map and design permit.
The Morgan Hill Planning Commission voted to recommend the same approvals at its May 23 meeting.
Council member Marilyn Librers said, despite the concerns, Dividend Homes’ history of dependable and high-quality construction in Morgan Hill is encouraging.
“Our city is going to grow whether we like it or not. Why not go with a dependable developer who puts out a good product and will listen to our concerns…and build what we need, instead of leaving a patch of weeds there for someone who could come in and build something a lot less quality,” Librers said June 21.
Crosswinds is another in a recent long line of development proposals known as “SB330 projects” in Morgan Hill, referring to an emergency housing law approved by the state legislature in 2019. That law overrides Morgan Hill’s decades-old housing control program and makes it easier for developers to gain residential building permits from local authorities.
“My frustration is with regards to the process,” Council member Rene Spring said. “We have a process but we can’t really say no. If we say no, (we’ll see) a lawsuit.”
By certifying an EIR that cites significant and unavoidable impacts, the council also had to approve a “statement of overriding considerations” that declares the public benefits of the project outweigh the potential impacts. In response to a question from the public, City Attorney Don Larkin said that in Crosswinds’ case, the overriding public benefit is that approving the project would keep the city in compliance with SB330, thus staving off costly penalties for Morgan Hill’s taxpayers.
The significant impact on agriculture cited in the EIR has to do with the fact that the 33-acre Crosswinds parcel includes 16 acres of prime farmland on top of which Dividend plans to build. To mitigate the impact, Dividend has agreed to pay for the permanent preservation of an equal acreage of farmland elsewhere in the state.
City staff noted that the farmland within the Crosswinds project area has not been actively farmed for many years.
The EIR also found that the 269 new homes on the site would result in transportation impacts related to the likely vast increase in “vehicle miles traveled” in the area surrounding the development, according to city staff.
To partially mitigate the transportation impact, the developer will be required to provide annual public transportation passes for the new Crosswinds residents. The developer will also make a financial contribution to MoGo, the city’s on-demand rideshare service.
A variety of styles of homes is proposed at Crosswinds—specifically 56 single family houses, 64 duets and 149 condominiums, according to city staff. Fifteen percent of the units are designated as affordable housing.
“The project would include recreational areas including a clubhouse, pool, children’s play area, and barbeque/picnic areas,” says a city staff report. “The project would also include pedestrian paths, and landscaping, including trees and lawn areas.”
Dividend Homes applied for the project in June 2022, and since then has completed an environmental impact report and an impact mitigation program.
All the local cities I read about are unhappy with the requirements to build new housing. I can certainly remember when Morgan Hill was a slow growth city. What we all need to do is kick out all those state senators and representatives who approve SB330 type requirements and remove this law from Ca. Where is all the water to come from, where are all the new schools, jobs, sewage treatment plants, etc. Lawmakers listen to developers who keep them elected, not to the public. Shame.
It is very sad what the Morgan Hill City Council has allowed to happen to our beautiful Town, I guess we can no longer call it a Town, can we? It has become a City with all that comes with being a City vs. a Town. My late dear friend Dennis Kennedy told me once, as we sat at the bar sharing a drink on a Tuesday evening at Rosy’s that this was going to happen, and it sure did. He told me that once the moratoriums were lifted Morgan Hill would be destroyed, and he was correct. Sure, this out-of-control growth is bringing a huge amount of revenue to Morgan Hill, certainly what the City Council has become focused on vs. the preservation of our once beautiful Town, but our infrastructure is not established to handle the new volume of commuter traffic (have you attempted to get home on Southbound Monterey Road, Santa Teresa/Hale, or Highway 101 after 3:00 p.m. lately, ridiculous, frustrating!!!!). It appears that our Police Department must be understaffed because they are not issuing citations for the speeders traveling 50-60 MPH through downtown every day. Add to this the graffiti that has now started to show up, the recent shootings, even in downtown Morgan Hill, are you serious? Panhandlers are beginning to creep in (last week I rolled down my window and told a female panhandler at Monterey and Dunn that we don’t do that in Morgan Hill, please go back to the city in which you live and do this). 5 years back I could go downtown on a Friday night, walk right into one of our beautiful restaurants and get a table without a wait, now, if you don’t have a reservation (if the restaurant even accepts reservations) you’re waiting at least 1-1 1/2 hours. And now they want to allow even more growth? Haven’t we caused enough destruction, when is it going to stop?
This is probably only MY opinion, I might be in the minority, for whom am I that does not have any authority to tell an elderly Family that has held on to their property for years just waiting for the value of their property to increase that they cannot now sell their property, I guess that isn’t fair either, is it?