Some members of the City’s General Plan update committee are worried about a perceived inadequate effort to encourage open dialogue about Morgan Hill’s future, but City officials say they have tried profusely to engage the public as a whole, and not just narrow focus groups such as developers.
Even those who think the outreach effort has been aggressive say they still wish more community members would get involved in the process, which began at the beginning of 2013 and will continue for at least the next two years.
“I think there’s plenty of opportunity for public involvement, but I’d like to see more people get involved,” Mayor Steve Tate said. “We’re doing everything we can think of to get people involved, and there’s more (opportunities) coming up.”
The effort to engage the public in the process includes a multi-pronged social media push by City staff and a planning consultant, though one aspect of that push – a survey about the future of Morgan Hill on the City’s Open Town Hall forum – has only garnered 55 responses by local residents since it was posted online in May.
General Plan Advisory Committee member Julie Hutcheson, and environmental advocate for Committee for Green Foothills, said she thinks the City’s outreach and dialogue efforts could be more “comprehensive.” Residents at a recent workshop, for example, were discouraged from offering any new ideas that are not included in the existing General Plan, she said.
In other communities’ previous General Plan update processes, Hutcheson said the public was “able to have an open and free dialogue that is not restricted by the old vision of the General Plan. The outcome of this process that we’re going forward with is a little concerning to me because it can’t be visionary and infused with new ideas,” she noted.
Former Councilman Mark Grzan, an alternate member of the GPAC that is helping the City guide the General Plan update process known as “Morgan Hill 2035,” thinks the Council is pushing for a predetermined outcome by limiting the options available in a future General Plan update.
“The public has not had an opportunity to participate in the General Plan Update,” reads one of Grzan’s letters dated July 25. to City Council. “Developers have been given far greater opportunity to participate, and in fact dominate the effort.”
In another letter, Grzan cites what he sees as the process’ failure to consider the long-term projected conditions of 2035. These include shrinking food and water supplies, climate change, technological advances and the need for more agriculture.
The GPAC contains 17 members and eight alternates – all Morgan Hill residents – selected by the Council to represent different sectors of the community. Committee members and alternates include former public officials, environmental advocates, farmers, residential and commercial developers, small business owners, the youth and those representing the residents at large.
The GPAC is tasked with helping the Council and Planning Commission to analyze the City’s existing economic, population, housing, environmental, land use and transportation conditions – and public input – to craft a recommended General Plan update for the Council and Commission. The update will eventually be adopted in 2016, after the GPAC, Council and Planning Commission conduct a long series of meetings, stakeholder interviews and community workshops on the voluminous effort.
Several other GPAC members say the City’s efforts to ensure the public knows about upcoming meetings and the importance of the process have been plentiful. The hard part is drawing a crowd to the evening meetings, which often occur in the middle of the week when parents and professionals have just returned home from work and likely already have evening plans with their families.
GPAC member Pete Kutras, a former County Executive, said Grzan’s comments are “very premature,” and the public has plenty of time to provide input before 2016.
“And ultimately, if there is going to be any changes to the growth control ordinance, it’s going to have to go in front of the voters,” Kutras noted. “I have found people (on the GPAC) to be heartfelt, to be concerned, and trying to do their best. We are a citizen advisory group. We are going to make recommendations. I don’t feel we’re dominated by developers” as some of Grzan’s statements suggested.
The current General Plan update, for the first time in Morgan Hill, is utilizing electronic means and social media to solicit public input on the long-term vision and policy proposals that will help shape the future of the community up to 2035.
City staff, working with planning consultant The Planning Center/DCE who the Council hired late last year, established a page dedicated to the General Plan update on the Open Town Hall social media site. The entire update process, which also includes updates of the zoning code and stormwater plan, will cost the City about $1.5 million.
Currently on the Morgan Hill General Plan Open Town Hall page is a single topic asking residents to fill out a five-question survey about their hopes and expectations for the community’s future, with multiple choice options for each question.
Anyone can sign up for a free account on Open Town Hall. Other media include Facebook and Twitter pages devoted to the “Morgan Hill 2035” effort, as well as continuing e-mail blasts and notifications on the City’s website. City staff and the consultant will gather all of the input provided by the public through these means and consider it, along with the input of the GPAC, according to City Manager Steve Rymer.
• Go to www.morganhill2035.org.
• “Like” or “Follow” the “Morgan Hill 2035” pages on Facebook and Twitter.
• Go to the City’s website at www.morganhill.ca.gov
Upcoming meetings:
• Oct. 24, “Draft Growth Alternatives,” 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Community and Cultural Center.
• Nov. 21, “Housing Element Policies and Site Inventory,” 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Community and Cultural Center.
