The city of Morgan Hill is looking for a few good acres. As per
the general plan and the city’s adopted budget, the city plans to
spend $4 million of developers’ impact fees collected on buying
land to convert to parks at a later date.
The city of Morgan Hill is looking for a few good acres.
As per the general plan and the city’s adopted budget, the city plans to spend $4 million of developers’ impact fees collected on buying land to convert to parks at a later date.
As determined at a January City Council meeting, the city will focus on buying lots 20 acres or larger, for use as sports fields, this year. The city has hired a consultant for about $5,000 to determine how many acres $4 million could buy, and where they might find 20 acres.
One likely candidate is the southeast quadrant, the area of Morgan Hill south of Tennant Avenue and north of U.S. 101. The city is currently undergoing an environmental study on what to determine which portions of it will be used for agriculture and which will be designated as sports, recreation and leisure uses.
“We need about 35 to 40 acres to meet our general plan goal,” Recreation Manager Julie Spier said.
According to the general plan, the city’s goal is to achieve a standard of five acres of parkland per 1,000 people. Right now, the city has about 4.2 acres per 1,000.
The second priority for buying land for parks is 10 or more acre spaces. The third priority is buying three to 10 acre spaces, including the potential Peet school property and the fourth is to develop the second phase of the Outdoor Sports Center, including a minimum of four ballfields of tournament play if a sustainable operating partner and business plan is defined.
This year’s goal is to just buy the land, Spier said.
“The idea is that the community, especially our sport youth group members, have been very vocal about the need for more play spaces,” she said of the main priority of building a sports park.
While the city may not be able to develop any land purchased this year for a while, Mayor Steve Tate said, “When the possibility arises and you have the land, it’s a lot nicer.”
Park land priorities:
First: for sports parks, 20+ acres
Second: for community parks, 10+ acres
Third: for neighborhood parks, 3-10 acres
Fourth: developing second phase of OSC, inc. 4 ballfields
