In one of his final acts before retirement, City of Morgan Hill
Development Director David Bischoff approved a temporary use permit
for the Foothill Avenue golf course destined to be the home of John
Fry
’s American Institute of Mathematics.
In one of his final acts before retirement, City of Morgan Hill Development Director David Bischoff approved a temporary use permit for the Foothill Avenue golf course destined to be the home of John Fry’s American Institute of Mathematics. The TUP would allow the maintenance of the course but does not allow golfing until a number of conditions are met.
Bischoff crafted a wise compromise.
He came up with a carrot and stick approach that will hopefully bring a swift and equitable resolution to the environmental and bureaucratic mess The Institute created when it graded scores of acreage without permits or necessary environmental reviews. The TUP Bischoff approved means that the golf course can be maintained by watering, mowing and fertilizing – the carrot; but no one can play on those carefully tended greens until six conditions have been met – the stick.
Looking at those expensive but unplayable greens ought to motivate AIM’s administrators to get the course up to snuff, environmentally speaking, as quickly as possible.
Bischoff’s decision is not sitting well with some environmentalists, however, and they’re threatening legal action.
“The TUP and the city’s actions are thoroughly illegal,” The Audubon Society’s Craig Breon told reporter Carol Holzgrafe, “and we have more than one legal avenue.”
We hope Breon and his friends will think again.
The conditions Bischoff imposed on AIM include restoring the riparian habitat to the satisfaction of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must approve the screening over a pond intake. In addition, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the state department of Fish and Game are also monitoring the course and must approve its environmental corrections before any mathematicians can tee up at the former Flying Lady property on Foothill Avenue east of the city proper.
Bischoff made a wise decision to issue the condition-laden TUP, and we urge Breon and others to find another way to spend their legal budget; this situation should not cost the city, its taxpayers or the environmental groups’ donors steep lawyers fees and court costs.
Let’s put a hold on the legal briefs, save some trees and some green and give the city’s TUP a chance to fix the environmental damage at The Institute golf course.
