Here a trail, there a trail – but not in Jackson Oaks. Many
residents of the hillside rural neighborhood west of downtown
Morgan Hill have opposed trails in their secluded and peaceful
backyards since they were proposed as part of a study introduced
earlier this year.
MORGAN HILL
Here a trail, there a trail – but not in Jackson Oaks.
Many residents of the hillside rural neighborhood west of downtown Morgan Hill have opposed trails in their secluded and peaceful backyards since they were proposed as part of a study introduced earlier this year.
Their insistence has paid off: at its Nov. 7 meeting, the city council voted 4-1 to reject the latest, scaled down trail configuration. The vote came on the heels of the parks and recreation commission’s Oct. 26 decision to forward staff recommendations of three possible peripheral trails in the Jackson Meadows and Jackson Oaks.
In June, the council’s Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee recommended to remove the proposed Jackson Oaks trails from the Draft Trails and Natural Resources Study, prepared for the Morgan Hill Public Works Department by an outside consultant. The Parks and Recreation commission in August came to an impasse, and on Sept. 26 the city council removed the trails by a 4-0 vote but directed staff to research the potential for a peripheral trail that would run near the Jackson Oaks Park/school area.
The reason for the council’s Nov. 7 action, according to Morgan Hill Councilman Larry Carr, was “rather than holding up this whole master plan, we decided to move along,” he said.
Marilyn Liebers, chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, said the body “felt the input from the residents (was) they absolutely didn’t want” the trails.
Jackson Oaks resident Philip Bogosian, who led a petition drive against the trails, said the council did the right thing and took a shot at Mark Grzan, the sole council member who has been advocating for the trails and proposed the peripheral trail alternatives.
“Fortunately for the tax payers of Morgan Hill, common sense and fiscal responsibility prevailed, and Councilman Grzan’s attempts to build an unnecessary and expensive segment of trail was voted down,” Bogosian wrote in an e-mail to the Times. “Of a more significant concern is the fact that councilman Grzan has failed to listen to over 1,000 Morgan Hill residents who have asked that this trail segment not be built, including the resident whose property this trail would trespass.”
Messages left for Grzan weren’t immediately returned.
Not all Jackson Oaks residents were happy with the council’s decision. Although she acknowledged she was in the “minority,” Jackson Oaks resident Nancy Lee Smereski said she was upset at the decision. She wants trails because there are no sidewalks in the neighborhood and the trails would be where she would walk her three dogs, she said.
Smereski, a former Jackson Oaks Homeowners Association board member, also accused association members of intimidation. They stopped cars driving in and out of Jackson Oaks drive, she said, the main thoroughfare into the neighborhood, to sign an anti-trails petition.
“When I told them I was happy to hear about the trails, they asked if I was sarcastic,” she said. “I might be in the minority, but if you make people afraid, they’ll always be afraid of change. I went to a meeting where I was booed for saying it was public land.’
Smereski said she believes politics prevailed over some council members true position on the issue.
“I think there are council members that want to have the trails but in the face of opposition” they didn’t speak up, she said. “I really want the trails, my friends really want the trails.”
TIMELINE
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February 2007 – Consultant Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey complete the draft Trails and Natural Resources Study for the public works department.
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May 2007 – Public works staff reviews the draft with the Jackson Oaks Homeowners Association.
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June 2007 – The city council’s Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee reviews the draft and approve staff recommendation removing the trails in the Jackson Oaks open space and clubhouse area.
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August 2007 – Parks and Recreation Commission reviews the draft and comes to impasse over the Jackson Oaks trails. Three members of the 7-member panel abstain from voting due to conflict of interest, and the remaining four are split.
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September 2007 – The city council votes to remove the trails but directs staff to research a peripheral trail through Jackson Oaks to connect to the Ridge Trail.
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October 2007 – Parks and Recreation Commission reviews the peripheral trail proposal and agrees with staff recommendations to include three alternative peripheral trails in the Jackson Meadows and Jackson Oaks open space.
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November 2007 – In a 4-1 vote, the city council rejects the peripheral trails. Councilman Mark Grzan votes against rejection.
