A proposed mixed-use development that could add up to 550,000 square feet of industrial space on Butterfield Boulevard was given the informal green light from the City Council Nov. 16.
The project, which also incorporates more than 380 residential apartment units, has been the subject of ongoing contention leading up to the latest council meeting.
The council heard developer Mwest’s “preliminary plans” at the Nov. 16 meeting. The body insisted that the imminent formal development agreement include long-term assurances that the property owner won’t allow anymore residential rezoning or allotment requests to “creep up” on the industrially zoned parcel.
Mwest owns about 52 acres on the west side of Butterfield Boulevard between Jarvis and Digital drives. Their ambitious plans for the property call for up to 10 new industrial buildings of varying sizes on the land that fronts Butterfield and Digital Drive, plus 386 “high quality rental” units on the corner of Monterey Road and Jarvis Drive to accommodate future employees.
Representatives from Mwest promised the council that the developer remains committed to building the industrial part of their mixed-use project before the residential, as the council has insisted in previous discussions. The council was worried about recent updates on the project, which was first conceptualized in 2014, indicate the developer views the industrial project as being “dependent on the residential.”
“The industrial is not contingent on the residential,” Mwest Project Director Kerry Williams told the council Nov. 16. “We’re moving full throttle on the industrial. These are the steps we need to make (in order) to make it business ready.”
Councilmembers were also unanimously worried about Mwest or a future developer trying to push more residential on the industrial side of the project by applying for another rezoning or General Plan amendment in the future. Councilman Larry Carr summarized the council’s worries by directing city staff to include provisions in the upcoming development agreement that ensure “this (project) cannot allow for more residential at the loss of industrial.”
Mwest’s residential project will be built on 19.5 acres of the site, which the council rezoned from industrial to residential in September 2015. The industrial buildings and central park would occupy 32.9 acres.
The rezoning of the industrial portion (from residential) was met with stiff opposition from the Morgan Hill business community—including the Chamber of Commerce and existing nearby industrial owners—when it was under discussion in 2015. Mwest’s parcel sits within the 387.5-acre Morgan Hill Ranch Business Park.
Integrated plans
If the city approves all the permits, the project known as Butterfield Technology Center would include a 4-acre “central park,” a 7.9-acre “levee park” on a city-owned detention basin and a “greenway” between the residential and industrial sites.
The industrial buildings are proposed at varying sizes to accommodate anything from a small startup to a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing/industrial building.
The developer’s goal is to integrate the residential, industrial and recreational/open space aspects without creating a disruptive environment for the new residents, who would ideally be employed at the industrial park, according to Anthony Cataldo, the project’s architect.
Landscape architect Alma Du Solier said the central park will be open to the public and on weekends, with sports courts, playgrounds, pathways and a “multi-use green area”—all of which will “work for both residents and the industrial.”
“The benefits of the industrial next to the park is during the weekends it can transform uses. The residents next door can activate that space,” Du Solier added.
City staff noted the park will require a conditional use permit or a General Plan amendment from the city—depending on the proposed public access.
The plan proposes extending Sutter Boulevard south into the property. This roadway extension, along with the adjacent planned 50-to-80-foot wide “greenway,” would connect “seamlessly” with the central park, Du Solier added.
Council: Enough residential
The council’s OK of the industrial aspect was a courtesy to the developer, who wanted officials to see their plans before submitting them for a formal development agreement. This is the first step toward gaining site approvals and building permits.
The central park idea proved to be a sticky subject among councilmembers, chiefly because Mwest plans to take the four acres out of the industrial zoning rather than the residential.
“While I think a buffer that’s smaller than that, maybe an acre (would be OK), I wouldn’t mind it coming out of the residential side, not the industrial side,” Councilman Gordon Siebert said via teleconference from Tennessee at the Nov. 16 meeting. “We are too easily led to reduce the amount of industrial land that’s going to provide jobs in the future.”
Mwest has submitted an application for 386 residential allotments from the city’s Residential Development Control System current competition for units that won’t begin construction until 2019.
Councilman Rich Constantine said Mwest’s plans are “progressing nicely.” He said city staff and the developer should focus their energy on making sure Mwest has permission to start supplying needed infrastructure for both the residential and industrial aspects.
“This is going to give us something we really need in Morgan Hill, which is apartments,” Constantine said. “The business leaders in this community have said that’s something we really need.”
