The environmental study of the southeast quadrant has begun,
with one significant change in plans since the future development
of the 1,200 acres worth of parcels was given a pass by the city
council.
The environmental study of the southeast quadrant has begun, with one significant change in plans since the future development of the 1,200 acres worth of parcels was given a pass by the city council.
Leading Edge Slope Developments withdrew its plans for Snowflex, an artificial snowboarding mountain that would have been open in the southeast quadrant year-round, in August.
Taking its place for consideration in the environmental study will be a proposal for a “sports-recreation-leisure” zoning, which would allow a variety of commercial, retail, public and semi-public uses related to sports and recreation, according to city staff.
The Snowflex developer had proposed a facility that would have occupied about 10 acres of a 39-acre parcel currently owned by the Puliafico family. However, Leading Edge Slope Developments was unable to pay its share of the cost of the environmental review, according to Morgan Hill senior planner Rebecca Tolentino.
The city will conduct a public scoping meeting for the environmental review process 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Community and Cultural Center, 17000 Monterey Road. The purpose of the meeting will be to solicit suggestions from the public and property owners about what potential impacts the study should analyze.
The southeast quadrant is on the east side of U.S. 101, roughly bound by the freeway, Maple and San Pedro avenues and Hill Road.
None of the property is currently in the city limits. However, the city will seek to eventually extend the urban limit line and the city limits in order to control future development in the area and preserve a greenbelt around the city.
There are about 200 parcels in the area, which are owned by more than 100 parties.
The city’s project description for the properties, approved in April, designates about 270 acres in the southeast quadrant for agricultural uses, and about 359 acres for sports-recreation-leisure uses.
Five projects already proposed by property owners still on tap for the southeast quadrant are a Catholic high school to be owned by the Diocese of San Jose, a 43,000-square foot sports-retail and restaurant project, a 305-acre planned mixed-use development proposed by George Chiala, and two sports-recreation-leisure developments which include privately financed sports fields.
Already existing in the southeast quadrant is the city’s Outdoor Sports Complex of soccer and football fields.
After the environmental study is completed about 12 months from now, the city will have a series of bureacratic hurdles to cross before the land uses can take effect. One of those is approval to expand the city limits from the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission, whose executive director wrote the city a letter in April opposing the plans.
Also opposing key aspects of the city’s plans is the Committee for Green Foothills. One “problematic” concern is the timing of a Nov. 12 deadline for written input on the environmental study, according to CFG environmental advocate Julie Hutcheson.
“Normally, written comments are due after a scoping meeting, not before,” said Hutcheson, referring to the Nov. 16 meeting.
And more generally, the CFG questions whether or not the current project description is a “sound land use decision” on the city’s part.
“The city should be looking to first develop the abundance of vacant land within their current urban growth boundary instead of sprawling out into the city’s greenbelt,” Hutcheson said.
A spokeswoman from the local development advocacy group Thrive!Morgan Hill also noted the timing of the public scoping meeting is “unfortunate,” because it is scheduled for the same night and time as a public meeting on downtown redevelopment. The spokeswoman, Marike Ruys, also noted that the current plans for the southeast quadrant are “only ideas and not concrete development proposals,” which could change any time after the environmental study is completed.
“Should the city be allowed to annex these lands which currently serve as our southeast greenbelt on the valley floor, they could rezone them for absolutely any use,” Ruys said.
The total cost of the environmental study will be about $482,000, of which the city paid about $173,000. The private developers who have proposed projects in the quadrant have paid for the remaining cost.
The study will be conducted by consultant Michael Brandman Associates.
