It came as no surprise to anyone, but Measure C, the city
’s updated version of the residential growth-control ordinance
Measure P, swept the boards in Tuesday’s election. The measure
garnered 75.38 percent of yes votes (4,155), with 100 percent of
the city’s 18 precincts checking in.
It came as no surprise to anyone, but Measure C, the city’s updated version of the residential growth-control ordinance Measure P, swept the boards in Tuesday’s election. The measure garnered 75.38 percent of yes votes (4,155), with 100 percent of the city’s 18 precincts checking in.
“That was wonderful news,” said Mayor Dennis Kennedy Thursday. “It shows how strongly Morgan Hill residents support residential growth-control. It had the highest voter approval percentages of any on the ballot.”
Not a single voice had been raised against the measure, no argument against it filed with the Registrar of Voters, no letters to editors, no flyers or election signs flapping in the breeze. However, on Tuesday 1,357 no votes, or 24.62 percent of the total were cast.
Measure C fans were not entirely comfortable before the voting began. Ralph Lyle, planning commissioner, original instigator of growth-control and a member of the measure’s update committee, said Monday that he was a bit worried.
“I’ve talked to people who don’t really understand what the measure does and, if they don’t understand it, I’m afraid they will vote against it,” Lyle said.
Councilman Steve Tate, a member of the Measure P Update Committee, said Monday he thought the measure would breeze through the election with ease, predicting a 93 percent yes vote.
“Well, I was wrong,” Tate said on Wednesday. But he was still happy that it passed by such a wide margin. He said people might have voted against the measure either because they didn’t understand it or because there really were people out there who are anti-growth control and just didn’t want to say so publicly.
Tate was amused by a reported from a television station who called wanting to report about the controversy over Measure C.
“He could hardly believe there wasn’t any,” Tate said. “He finally came down and interviewed us about there being no controversy.”
Measure C updates the citizen-instigated initiative to put a lid on out-of-control growth that Morgan Hill saw in the late 1970s, causing huge stress on the schools, sewer and water capacity and city services.
It mandates that the city will not grow larger than 48,000 by 2020 – about 250 residential housing units a year. The city population as of Jan. 1 was 34,900.
Measure C organizes how building permits are allotted to help the city meet its state-mandated affordable housing quota and it Improves efficiency for city staff, the Planning Commission and developers, all who deal directly with the measure’s regulations.
Measure P was to have expired in 2010. Measure C expires in 2020.
The updated growth-control ordinance goes into effect as soon as the Registrar of Voters certifies the election results, said Planning Director David Bischoff.
Measure C removes the east/west split, which caused unequal distribution in assigning allotments and encourages building near the city’s center.
A committee of about 20 residents representing the diverse community – including environmentalists, attorneys and regular citizens – city staffers, and a few developers worked for more than a year to turn Measure P into Measure C.
Bischoff said that he believes the broad committee makeup had something to do with there being no voiced opposition.
“No one got everything they asked for but everyone, I think, came away feeling we did the best job we could,” Bischoff said.
