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The fate of two long-planned proposals to extend city boundaries around 280 acres of rural and agricultural land south of town could be sealed at a Feb. 3 county commission meeting.
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At next month’s meeting in San Jose, the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is scheduled to consider expanding the city’s Urban Service Area (USA) to accommodate both collections of parcels on the outer reaches of the city limits, at the Morgan Hill City Council’s request. The meeting agenda has not been set, but LAFCO Executive Director Neelima Palacherla said the commission and staff will be ready to present and hear the city’s requests.
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The larger and far more complicated of these two plans is known as the “Sports-Recreation-Leisure District” (SRL) proposal, which is located in the city’s Southeast Quadrant. LAFCO will consider whether to include 215 acres of this region—located on the east side of the U.S. 101 interchange with Tennant Avenue—in the USA.
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The second proposal would add about 65 acres in the area of Monterey and Watsonville roads into the USA boundary, according to LAFCO and city staff.
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Southeast Quadrant
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The SEQ plan has been in the works for more than 10 years. City Council members and staff over the years have argued that including the SEQ in city boundaries will allow the city to control growth in that area. The plan has a strong emphasison sports, recreation and open space uses; a new zoning category (SRL) would take effect if LAFCO approves the boundary extension.
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The proposal also ensures that agricultural land—which makes up most of the property in the SEQ—will be preserved at a one-to-one acreage ratio when developers dig up the existing row crops and orchards to make way for a new private Catholic high school, sports fields and related facilities, according to Mayor Steve Tate and other council members. In 2015, the council approved an ordinance that will require developers to pay a mitigation fee—which will help fund agricultural preservation at other farm sites in Morgan Hill—when they build on top of farmland in the city’s USA.
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“It’s not only the best way, but it’s the only way to preserve agriculture,” Tate said recently of the SEQ plan.
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But the current council is not unified on the effectiveness of the SEQ plan before LAFCO. The council voted 3-1 to submit the plan’s final draft to LAFCO, with Councilmember Rich Constantine opposed. His concerns echo those of other local public agencies, though he agrees with the concept of preserving farmland and creating more recreation facilities.
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“We don’t have an agricultural preservation plan that will work,” Constantine said this week. “We’re working toward that, but to this day we don’t have it. I voted for the ball fields, and I think we should have the high school. But I also think it’s important that we have agricultural land.”
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The agricultural mitigation plan approved by the council last year is not fully funded, according to SEQ opponents. The city has proposed supplementing the fee paid by SEQ developers with open space funds and grant opportunities.
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LAFCO staff have persistently criticized the SEQ expansion plan—in numerous drafts over the years—as eliminating too much agriculture and open space, and encouraging sprawl. The county planning office and Open Space Authority have joined the chorus with regional environmental nonprofits opposing the city’s plans over the years.
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Only two specific projects are currently proposed in the SEQ. The South County Catholic High School will be built by the San Jose Diocese on 38 acres in the area of Tennant and Murphy avenues (now active farmland). The school will eventually include sports fields and about 210,400 square feet of indoor facilities, and accommodate 1,600 students, according to a city staff report.
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The only other detailed project is a baseball/softball field complex to be built, also on active farmland, by the city. This project is proposed on a 22-acre property on the southeast corner of the U.S. 101 interchange with Tennant Avenue. The city purchased that property for $5.3 million July 2015.
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Other SRL uses in the SEQ plan properties are “speculative,” but may include “sports oriented retail and restaurant uses, a sports medical office building, a 100,000 square foot indoor sports complex, two 120-room hotels, a gas station and approximately 138 acres of assorted sports fields,” Morgan Hill Community Development Director Andrew Crabtree wrote to LAFCO staff in December.
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The steady stream of criticism of earlier versions of the SEQ plan prompted the city to scale back the plan that was hatched years ago. That proposal would have requested to annex more than 650 acres of the 1,200-acre SEQ into the city limits, and included a housing development proposed by the Chiala family. This plan was revised through the public review process which included meetings of the planning commission, stakeholder groups and the city council.
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All the land in the city’s SEQ plan is currently in unincorporated county jurisdiction, which allows higher density residential and commercial development than what the city has proposed, according to city staff.
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“I’m optimistic because we do need to expand the Southeast Quadrant for the high school, and finishing off our sports (facilities), and it will preserve agriculture while allowing some controlled growth for our city,” Councilmember Marilyn Librers said. “I don’t advocate urban sprawl at all.”
South of Watsonville Road
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The “Monterey-Watsonville” project, which will also be heard at the Feb. 3 LAFCO meeting, would add 17 properties totaling about 65 acres into the city’s USA, according to Palacherla. Seven of the parcels are in the city limits but outside the existing USA. The properties are located in the area of Monterey and Watsonville roads.
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Specifically, properties in this area include Royal Oaks Mushroom farm and the Oakwood School, as well as a commercial strip mall. Oakwood, a private K-12 school, has a permit to expand to 776 students from 347 students, according to Crabtree. Royal Oaks owner Don Hordness plans to move his agricultural operation elsewhere and develop a senior citizens’ assisted living project (123 units) at the site south of Watsonville Road.
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In 2013, LAFCO approved the annexation of other properties in the same area, including a portion of the site occupied by the Morgan Hill Bible Church. The church plans to expand by 8,400 square feet if LAFCO approves the USA extension Feb. 3, according to Crabtree.
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Other properties in the expansion request include four more residences, as well as a smaller parcel owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
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Inclusion of the properties in the USA would “regularize the city’s boundaries…thereby eliminating confusion over jurisdictional lines,” Crabtree said. Some of the properties already receive city services.
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LAFCO’s seven-member board of directors is tasked with approving or denying local cities’ and other public agencies’ requests for expansion, in an effort to limit sprawl, preserve agriculture and open space, among other goals.
Sitting on the LAFCO board this year are Supervisor Mike Wasserman, Gilroy Councilmember Cat Tucker, Open Space Authority Director Sequoia Hall, SCVWD Director Linda LeZotte, Supervisor Cindy Chavez, San Jose Councilmember Johnny Kamis and public member Susan Vicklund Wilson.
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• South County Catholic High School, in the area of Tennant and Murphy avenues.
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• Baseball/softball field complex proposed by the city, on 22 acres near the U.S. 101 interchange with Tennant Avenue.
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• New Sports-Recreation-Leisure zoning would be divided into two districts: SRL-A and SRL-B. SRL-A would allow “low intensity” recreational uses such as batting cages, equestrian facilities, sports field sand indoor/outdoor sports centers. SRL-B allows “low and medium intensity recreational and associated commercial uses,” including conditional uses such as service stations, restaurants, hotels and stadiums.
Source: City of Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County LAFCO
