While City officials’ idea to build a $10.1-million parking garage on the downtown property known as the “Sunsweet” site might temporarily appease eight business owners who feared a hasty relocation out of town, it remains to be seen if the concept will pass muster with other agencies who have a stake in the project and its outcomes.
The City Council’s announcement last week of the preference for Rocke Garcia’s Sunsweet property for a parking garage is a reversal of City staff’s recommendation to place the structure, intended to serve long-term parking needs in Morgan Hill, on the BookSmart shopping center property across Third Street.
The effort to change the site might be an uphill battle, especially since the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority – a key player in the City’s east downtown revitalization plan – has not yet taken a position on the venue.
Last week the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Successor Agency board of directors, approved the draft version of a Long Range Property Management Plan. That plan lists the property on Depot Street, between Second and Third streets, which currently houses eight business establishments, as the preferred property for a parking structure to accommodate downtown visitors and residents, as well as commuters who rely on the VTA and Caltrain for public transportation.
But the City’s “first priority” site for a parking structure is a portion of Garcia’s 2.5-acre Sunsweet property, according to Councilman Larry Carr and other Council members who approved the LRPMP last Wednesday.
That means after upcoming negotiations with Garcia and the VTA that will be necessary for a viable parking garage deal, the City would have to return to higher authorities to seek an amendment to the LRPMP, which requires approval of the Morgan Hill Oversight Board and the California Department of Finance.
“What makes it confusing is we did adopt the LRPMP as is, and in that plan it does call for a parking structure on the BookSmart property,” Carr said. “The reason why we did that is to preserve our options for that property,” in case hopes for the Sunsweet property don’t pan out.
Carr and other council members indicated they prefer the Sunsweet site in order to protect the eight tenants of the BookSmart property who will one day have to relocate. The tenants have made it clear to the Council that they prefer to remain downtown when they get relocated.
BookSmart co-owner Brad Jones attended last week’s meeting and spoke to the Council during public comments, regarding his concerns as well as those of his neighbors.
“I’m very glad to hear them say they’re concerned about what happens to the businesses and they’re going to do whatever they can to retain them downtown, even though that’s not part of the (LRPMP),” Jones said. “But they gave their word that they’re going to do everything they could.”
The VTA enters the fray as the majority owner (59 percent) of the commuter parking lot on Butterfield Boulevard, on the east side of the railroad tracks. The RDA had a 41-percent ownership share in the lot, and the LRPMP cites that lot as a future residential development.
The VTA has already voiced its support for a parking garage at the BookSmart property to replace the parking that would be lost to a residential project across the tracks, according to City staff. But the VTA’s position on the Sunsweet property is currently unknown.
The Sunsweet property is best situated to serve downtown visitors and residents, while still accommodating Caltrain and VTA bus riders, according to Garcia, who told the Council last week he is willing to work with the City and Oversight Board on a parking structure project.
Garcia said the current conceptual plans for Sunsweet include preserving a large “heritage oak” on the property, and a separate residential development on the eastern side of Garcia’s property – which is closer to the VTA lot and Caltrain station.
“More importantly, to the City, the westerly side of the Sunsweet property (between Third and Fourth streets) is closest to the Monterey Road corridor and all its commercial” areas, Garcia said. “It happens to be well-located to the downtown and the train depot – it’s closer than half the existing VTA lot.”
The RDA purchased an option on the BookSmart site for $1.7 million in 2010, and the City – pursuant to any future agreement with other local agencies that have a stake in the post-RDA action – plans to complete the purchase for $2 million in RDA bond proceeds left over from 2008, according to the LRPMP.
The proposed parking structure is only a small part of the LRPMP and the City’s overall downtown improvement efforts. The LRPMP is a state-mandated document that details the City’s preferred uses for 18 properties formerly owned by the RDA, which was closed by the state in 2012. The LRPMP proposes selling most of the downtown properties with frontage on Monterey Road and downtown side streets – including the Granada Theater, Downtown Mall, former Simple Beverages site and the Royal Clothier building – to developers to construct a variety of mixed-use residential and commercial projects.
Complicating a future parking project and almost every aspect of the LRPMP is the many parties that have a financial interest in the outcomes, and the layers of oversight and approval built into the RDA dissolution process.
In accordance with the 2012 state law that shut down the RDA, the City, County, Morgan Hill Unified Schools, Gavilan College and the Santa Clara Valley Water District must share in – or at least gain some benefit from – the RDA’s former assets and income.
Carr and Mayor Steve Tate met with South County’s representative on the VTA board Tuesday to brief him on the Sunsweet proposal.
In the coming days as VTA board member and Gilroy City Councilman Perry Woodward relays the City’s concerns and preferences to VTA staff, Woodward said he will have a better picture of where the VTA stands on the Sunsweet site. The Sunsweet parking garage concept currently does not allow access on Depot Street – which runs parallel to the railroad tracks.
“It’s a complicated problem but as someone who has served on the VTA board, going on my fifth year, it seems to me there’s got to be creative solutions that accommodate everyone’s interest,” Woodward said.
