The City of Morgan Hill will be looking elsewhere for a site for
a new city well after School Board trustees nixed the city
’s proposal to test a capped well on the Live Oak High
campus.
The City of Morgan Hill will be looking elsewhere for a site for a new city well after School Board trustees nixed the city’s proposal to test a capped well on the Live Oak High campus.
“We’re going to move on,” City Manager Ed Tewes said Thursday. “We’ll likely look at private property in the vicinity.”
Tewes said the city brought the issue to the district “two or three months ago,” looking for a right of entry so the capped well, located in the northwest corner of the Live Oak campus, could be tested, with the intent to drill a new well in that location.
The city needs a new well, Tewes said, by June in order to keep up with the summertime demands for water. The city has had to close a well on Tennant Avenue because of perchlorate contamination.
During the discussion at Monday night’s regular School Board meeting, trustees said they would rather see the well in a different location.
“I would support the well in another location at Live Oak, but not there,” said Trustee Shellé Thomas.
“We looked at that location as a possible back entry (to the Live Oak High stadium) … This (locating the well there) could greatly reduce our possibilities for the future,” said Trustee Del Foster.
Thomas suggested the city consider locating the well on the site of the ag farm.
Public Works Director Jim Ashcraft, who represented the city at Monday’s meeting, told trustees that the ag farm would not be acceptable because wells have to be “several hundred feet” away from animal holding pens.
Thomas told Ashcraft that the farm would likely move to the new Sobrato High at some point, and there would be no animal holding pens there.
“We need the well by June, not a year or two from now,” Tewes said Thursday. “Maybe for another well, some time in the future.”
Board President George Panos recommended that the discussion continue at the next City/School District Liaison committee meeting; however the next meeting is in April and the city needs to be drilling by March, Ashcraft said.
Superintendent Carolyn McKennan suggested that city staff and district staff could continue the discussion.
Tewes, however, said the city cannot wait, the timeline must be followed, so they will look for alternative locations.
“We understand all of the concerns they raised,” he said Thursday. “But we need the well to be operational by June. We have a history of working in cooperation with the district; we were pleased to be able to provide the Burnett site so Burnett Avenue can be widened to accommodate Sobrato High. But in this case, we were not able to work together.”
