Efforts to bring more merchants and young renters to the city’s
core are moving forward this year with an ambitious update to the
downtown plan.
Morgan Hill – Efforts to bring more merchants and young renters to the city’s core are moving forward this year with an ambitious update to the downtown plan.
The update will focus on land-use and parking strategies and is expected to take a little more than a year to complete, according to city planners.
Steps will include workshops with property owners, developers, residents and city officials to evaluate potential projects. Notices for these meetings will be published on the city’s Web site. As a visual aid, a three-dimensional model of a new downtown will be ready for display in May.
The city council, acting as the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency, hired RBF Consulting this month to lead the $102,000 land-use update. The council also hired DKS Associates to complete a $26,000 parking management plan.
Once completed, the new downtown plan elements will strengthen the existing 75-page document, which was adopted by the city council in 2003. The overall focus remains on boosting high-density housing, commercial retail options and parking spots south of Main Avenue, north of Dunne Avenue, east of Del Monte Avenue and west of the railroad tracks.
“It’s smart growth,” said Morgan Hill planner Jim Rowe, alluding to the regional bus line and Caltrain station serving downtown residents. “You’re building near public transportation rather than on the urban fringes.”
Some key elements related to the downtown plan are already in place. The city completed its reconstruction of Depot Street last month and has acquired a federal grant for a similar project on Third Street scheduled to start next year. The Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency has also committed to invest $20 million in streets, sewers, lighting and other infrastructure-related projects to compliment private investments.
Voters last fall approved a ballot initiative to allow more high-density housing projects downtown and to speed construction of existing projects. In March 2006, the city granted initial approval for nine apartment-style housing developments that include 363 dwelling units and some 57,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial retail space.
“I think we are moving along at a very good rate,” said Morgan Hill developer Rocke Garcia, who received 57 housing allotments for a mixed residential and commercial project along Depot, Third and Fourth streets. “We need to increase the density downtown … to bring more people downtown.”
As the projects move through the design stages, city planners are gaining a better idea of what downtown’s parking needs will be. At the same time, Garcia and other developers are asking for new zoning to allow for higher-density development. Part of the reason is economics.
“One of the things we are learning is that kind of vertical-use building is more expensive,” Rowe said. “To make them viable, higher density is required.”
Currently, most of downtown is zoned for eight to 18 dwelling units per acre. As the downtown plan update moves forward, there will be a discussion of changing the standard to allow 40 units per acre, on par with downtown districts in other medium-sized Bay Area cities.
“Other places are looking at 50 units per acre,” said Ralph Lyle, a member of the Morgan Hill Planning Commission. “We don’t think eight to 18 (per acre) will play out over the long haul.”
Another element to be addressed in the downtown plan update is building heights. Generally, downtown buildings are limited to three stories, but that could change to four or more after the plan is updated.
Once a plan’s in place for the kinds of buildings residents want downtown, DKS Associates will lead an effort to complete a parking management plan. A draft parking plan was created in 2005, but was left unfinished because planners could not determine how much parking was needed without knowing how much housing and retail would be possible downtown.
Commission Wants Downtown Plan Update Before Adding Housing
Morgan Hill – Would-be residential projects that could boost downtown’s population may have to wait until next year before getting off the ground.
The Morgan Hill Planning Commission on Tuesday voted 6-0 to request the delay so parking and land-use studies may proceed before the 100 housing units voters approved last November are distributed to builders.
The commission also voted 6-0 to recommend procedures for awarding the unit allotments through a competition to ensure the city would receive better quality developments.
The commission rejected a plan to award the units on a first-come, first-serve basis for projects that meet minimum standards.
“I think not having a competition (for the 100 residential unit allotments) would be bad, but don’t think we should even consider having a competition until we have these plans in place,” said commissioner Joe Mueller, alluding to an update to the city’s downtown plan that will commence in April.
The update will address the number of housing units allowed per acre on downtown parcels and provide strategies for building parking structures. The thrust of the plan is to allow higher-density development.
The city council has hired a pair of consultants to lead the $128,000 effort. The work is expected to be finished in a little more than a year.
Voters approved Measure F in November to allow an additional 100 housing units south of Main Avenue, north of Dunne Avenue, east of Del Monte Avenue and west of the railroad tracks.
The initiative reflects the intention of the city’s downtown plan, which was approved in 2003 to bring more retail, housing and culture to the areas along the Monterey Road corridor.
But commissioners expressed concern that allowing the 100 units to be allocated too soon would lead to projects such as duplexes not envisioned in the city’s downtown vision.
Under the procedures recommended for the competition, 18 of the 100 allocations shall be reserved for “micro” projects consisting of six units or less. The remaining 82 units are reserved for “large” projects consisting of seven to 25 units.
Other criteria for grading the would-be projects are currently being developed.
The Morgan Hill City Council is expected to decide this year when and how the extra downtown housing allotments should be distributed.
