EDITOR: This letter is in response to your editorial in the June
6 edition:
“Council needs to approve Ford dealership off 101.” Your
opinions expressed in the article are a bit broad, overreaching,
and left out some important details.
EDITOR:
This letter is in response to your editorial in the June 6 edition: “Council needs to approve Ford dealership off 101.”
Your opinions expressed in the article are a bit broad, overreaching, and left out some important details.
Your overall comparison of the 101/Dunne interchange left out some very important facts. The vast majority of the development you described is on the west side of the freeway. The grocery store, drug stores, two of the gas stations, the Starbucks, the Chevy dealership you mentioned are all on the west side of the freeway. The east side of the freeway contains much smaller scale businesses, is primarily a residential corridor and home to an elementary school and park.
Another argument you make is that the area is already zoned for commercial use. You’re right, but that doesn’t include an auto row. Commercial businesses will bring traffic, noise and lights as you mention. However, these businesses will not bring test drives where people are pushing the performance of vehicles in front of an elementary school and park.
You also mention that the council has a fiduciary duty to weigh the benefits and costs of any proposal. Again, you are right. However, you conveniently left out the primary duty of the council and that is public safety. When they look at a project like this they must decide if the location is appropriate and if other alternative sites make more sense. Most people would agree that placing one or more dealerships several blocks from an elementary school and park makes no sense.
Recent developments make it look like the council can only put one dealership on the Condit site, at least for the near future. Since the long term goal is to bring several dealerships to Morgan Hill, possibly four or five or more, why not pick another location more suitable. This way all the dealerships could be located together maximizing their business and our tax dollars. Let’s give Ford the necessary incentives to locate as an anchor store at an alternate and more appropriate site.
This is clearly one of those situations where we should look at the longterm goal. Yes, the dealership on Condit might provide a few quick tax dollars. However, a larger auto row properly placed in a safer location would provide long-term financial prosperity to the city.
I encourage all the residents of Morgan Hill to email their council members and attend the council meeting on Wednesday night. A couple hundred voters at the council meeting will make a difference.
Ron Watson, Morgan Hill
