Mario Banuelos has a 25-year career as a public servant under his belt, but it was his recent volunteerism with the City of Morgan Hill’s General Plan Advisory Committee that pushed him to run for one of two city council seats on the Nov. 8 ballot.
“That really gave me insight into the workings of our local community,” said Banuelos, 57. “It inspired me to step up and take my level of service to the next step.”
The GPAC, now dissolved, was a 17-member committee of local residents appointed by the city council to filter community input and offer insight to planners for Morgan Hill’s latest General Plan update. The GPAC spent most of 2013-2015 working on this process, and the council unanimously approved the updated General Plan in July 2016.
Banuelos was the vice chair of the GPAC. He also served on the city’s Residential Development Control System working group, which helped advise planners on details of that ordinance’s update, which will also appear on the Nov. 8 ballot for renewal.
One thing Banuelos learned during the GPAC process is that residents are suffering “development shock, and rightfully so.” That’s a response to the ceaseless residential construction throughout Morgan Hill over the last two-plus years, as developers have rushed to complete a backlog of homes permitted during the recession.
“We heard from residents wanting to maintain that small-town character,” said Banuelos, who plans to vote in favor of the city’s RDCS update, which will appear on the ballot as Measure S. “For them, it’s single family homes.” The downtown should be reserved for higher-density residences to complement businesses and alternative modes of transportation, he added.
“I’m excited about the downtown, and the new businesses coming in,” Banuelos said.
Before retiring in 2014, Banuelos worked for the City of San Jose Public Works’ Geographic Information Systems office. This work consisted largely of attaching various individual data layers—such as jobs or housing—to maps of the city to assist with public planning.
In Morgan Hill, Banuelos is a longtime volunteer and a founding board member for the nonprofit Morgan Hill Community Foundation, and a member of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill. Through these and other civic efforts, a central focus of Banuelos’ has been the youth.
“To see their enthusiasm, their eagerness to solve problems, their idealism, it inspires me,” he said.
Banuelos is married to Morgan Hill Unified School District Human Resources Director Fawn Myers. The couple have four adult children.
This article is part of a series of profiles on the five candidates running for Morgan Hill City Council in the Nov. 8 election. Candidates are incumbents Larry Carr and Marilyn Librers, and challengers Mario Banuelos, Armando Benavides and Rene Spring. There are two seats open in the election, and voters will get to select two candidates on the ballot. The top two overall vote getters will win the seats. Click the links at the bottom of this page to view the other candidates’ profiles.
