The developer of a nine-home subdivision planned on a property where the state’s bullet train could be built will proceed until the High Speed Rail Authority makes a final determination on the preferred alignment through Morgan Hill.
The Morgan Hill City Council Nov. 15 approved the final map for Walnut Grove Estates, located at Diana Avenue and Walnut Grove Drive, adjacent to the west side of U.S. 101.
The project developers are Newland Homes, LLC, and SiliconSage Builders, LLC, according to a city staff report.
The property is located directly in the path of one of two possible HSR alignments proposed by the train’s state authority. This potential HSR path, known as the “Highway 101 West alignment,” would take the train roughly along the U.S. 101 right of way around the city’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. This option would “impact all of the properties adjacent to the west side of the highway,” according to City of Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin.
The other HSR alignment alternative is an at-grade option along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, which would take the HSR train through the city’s downtown. This alignment would also require the relocation of a section of Monterey Road north of Cochrane Road, and impact “all of the properties east of the UPRR tracks,” Tobin said.
But the California High Speed Rail Authority won’t choose its preferred alignment until at least June 2018, and until then, the developer of Walnut Grove Estates plans to proceed with the nine-home project.
“Until they adopt one of those alignments, it’s speculative, and the landowners are just going to go forward until the alignment becomes (finalized),” said Bill McClintock of MH Engineering, the project’s civil engineer. “Then the High Speed Rail Authority is going to have to deal with having some houses they might have to buy.”
Regardless of which alignment the CHSRA chooses, the authority is required to pay fair market value for any private properties needed for the bullet train.
The developer is required to disclose the potential HSR alignment on the property to any potential buyer of any of the Walnut Grove Estates homes or property, McClintock added.
The developer likely won’t start building the Walnut Grove Estates homes until spring 2018, in order to wait out the current winter, McClintock added.
The five-member city council approved Walnut Grove Estates’ final map unanimously as part of the Nov. 15 meeting’s consent calendar.
The city and consultants it hired have determined that either HSR alignment alternative will have significant impacts on local properties.
An HSR alignment on the east UPRR right-of-way would require the purchase of 35 commercial and other non-residential properties, and 196 residential units, according to the city’s analysis. The Highway 101 West alignment alternative would barrel through 11 non-residential properties and 51 single-family homes.
“While the city cannot prevent development from occurring, the city is making the CHSRA aware of existing and planned development along the two alignment options and, at the same time, the city is informing potential developers of the HSR project and possible impacts,” Tobin added.
The city has also asked the CHSRA to evaluate a third alignment alternative—along the U.S. 101 right-of-way—“in order to limit impacts on private property,” Tobin said in an email.
Statewide, the HSR is expected to be operational by 2025. When complete, the bullet train will be able to carry passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours.
The 84-mile HSR segment that will pass through or around Morgan Hill—depending on which alignment the authority approves—is known as the “San Jose to Merced” section. It includes HSR stations in San Jose and Gilroy. A station is not planned for Morgan Hill.
