The Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission’s decision last week to annex a bundle of properties in south Morgan Hill into the City limits fell far short of the City Council’s request.
The LAFCO board of directors last week, on a tightly split 4-3 vote, approved the annexation of 8.9 acres of undeveloped property near the southwest corner of Monterey and Watsonville roads.
The annexation and Urban Service Area boundary extension did not fulfill the City’s entire request to add 67 acres (including the approved 8.9 acres) to the City’s jurisdiction.
“Overall we’re disappointed with the fact the City’s (proposal) was not approved, because we think it is the most prudent use of the land down here, and how we responsibly plan and control growth,” Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer said.
The City Council in December 2011 voted to apply to LAFCO for annexation of the properties into the city limits, on behalf of the property owners and the City itself.
The City wanted to annex the 17 properties totaling about 67 acres into the City limits in order to tighten up the City boundaries and allow a more orderly progression of future residential and commercial growth than the County would allow. Much of the property sits on an unincorporated County “peninsula” that is already served by City services.
The properties in the City’s request that were rejected for annexation by the LAFCO board are that of the Morgan Hill Bible Church, a strip mall at the corner of Monterey Road and John Wilson Way, and the Oakwood School.
Rymer added the City will continue to support these property owners if and when they apply for annexation in the future.
A spokesman for the Morgan Hill Bible Church, which sits on a 9-acre parcel on the west side of Monterey Road, noted the City has provided utility and other services to the property for several years, and annexation makes sense.
“While we understand the laudable goals of LAFCO to encourage orderly boundaries, discourage urban sprawl and preserve agriculture, we believe this vote did not ultimately accomplish the goal of orderly boundaries,” Morgan Hill Bible Church Director of Administration Marc Rauser said in an e-mail.
City staff also told LAFCO that the church has generously served the community and residents of Morgan Hill for decades. Rauser added the church will continue to do so despite their inability – imposed by last week’s LAFCO decision – to “upgrade or make any major improvements” to the property.
LAFCO staff recommended denying the full proposal of 67 acres because the City has more than five years’ worth of vacant residential land within the USA, according to the LAFCO staff report. LAFCO estimates the City has about an 18-to-30-year supply of vacant residential land.
“Approximately 20 to 25 percent of all land within the City of Morgan Hill is currently vacant,” the LAFCO report says.
Furthermore, annexing all the parcels might result in “unnecessary conversion of prime agricultural lands and would create further land use conflicts with surrounding agricultural lands,” the LAFCO report says.
Voting against that proposal were commissioners Mike Wasserman, Pete Constant and Cat Tucker.
However, in a reply to an April 3 report from LAFCO recommending rejection of the annexation, City staff said by its own definition of “vacant residential land” there is about a five-year supply of such properties in the City limits and USA.
The City’s inventory discounts vacant properties whose owners are unwilling to sell or develop, properties that have been entitled under the City’s growth control system but have not been permitted for construction, and other properties that are not subject to development.
Wasserman, who represents District 1 which includes South County on the Board of Supervisors, said he wanted to approve the entirety of the City’s request, despite the LAFCO recommendation to the contrary.
“I thought it was perfectly reasonable what the applicants were asking for, and between the (USA expansion) and the other properties already annexed, it made sense,” Wasserman said.
Morgan Hill resident and former Councilman Mark Grzan submitted a letter to LAFCO opposing the annexation of all 67 acres, claiming it violates not only County policies but also the City’s own General Plan.
“(The City’s request) violated specific direction and principles in our current General Plan…that there would be no commercial development along our southern gateway, south of Watsonville Road, agricultural lands are to be preserved and that we would adhere to smart growth principles with focused (development) at our core,” Grzan’s letter states.
The City is in the process of updating its General Plan, but the LAFCO board rejected a motion recommended by staff to ask the City to withhold future applications to the commission until after that update process is over.
-Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman
-Susan Vicklund Wilson, public at large
-Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez
-San Jose City Councilmember Pete Constant
-Santa Clara County Open Space Authority Director Sequoia Hall
-Mountain View City Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga
-Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Linda Lezotte
Alternates:
-San Jose City Councilmember Johnny Kamis
-Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Director Yoriko Kishimoto
-Terry Trumbull, public at large
-Gilroy City Councilmember Cat Tucker
-Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager
