Nearly 100 people from the Walnut Grove area packed the Advent
Lutheran Church for a meeting Tuesday to rally against any more car
dealerships in their neighborhood.
Nearly 100 people from the Walnut Grove area packed the Advent Lutheran Church for a meeting Tuesday to rally against any more car dealerships in their neighborhood.
The meeting, led by James Lex Lane resident Larry Klamecki, was designed to rally neighbors together in a fight against the city.
“My hunch is they made some promises,” Klamecki said of dealership plans. “Not only do they want to (put the auto mall here) they feel it’s their only chance.”
The neighbors will be seeking signatures on a petition to ask the city to look at different sites for the proposed dealership.
Alternative sites include behind Safeway on Dunne Avenue and along U.S. 101 at the Tennant Avenue and Cochrane Road exits. The Tennant and Cochrane proposals were favored by most neighbors.
In May, neighbors met with city officials to voice their concerns. Following that meeting, the council put a temporary stop on the plans.
Joyce Maskell, manager of the city’s Business Assistance and Housing Services, said the city will ask the planning commission on Aug. 10 to appoint two people for a subcommittee to work on the project.
Maskell said the neighbors will receive notices in the mail informing them of the decision.
“We hope to work together on a plan to work for an auto district in the area,” Maskell said Thursday.
The group is trying to stop more dealerships from sprouting up in the area from Courtesy Chevrolet to Walgreens on Dunne Avenue and expanding Serene Drive to connect Diana and Dunne avenues. That area and the residential subdivision to the north are called Walnut Grove.
While auto dealerships will bring in tax revenue to the city and the expansion of Serene Drive would improve response times for emergency personnel, neighbors said don’t put the project nearby.
Klamecki said he was not opposed to having auto dealerships in Morgan Hill, but thought there are better locations than on Walnut Grove.
The proposed site for the dealerships closely borders houses leading residents to raise concerns of traffic, noise and bright lights.
When Ford submitted plans for its site on Condit Road, neighbors who were opposed to the plan rallied and forced light and noise restrictions be adopted
“This is the beginning of an effort,” Klamecki said. “This is July, but in November, there will be an election.”
Rosemary Circle resident Lee Schmidt pointed out the citizens of the area can turn the election against the mayor.
“In 2002, the mayor received 5,676 votes out of 8118 who voted,” Schmidt said. “In our area, we have 2,000 potential voters. 2,000 votes swings the election from last time.”
The meeting was calm, though voices did get loud on occasion. All who attended paid close attention and asked questions throughout the meeting.
Concerns raised by those in attendance mainly revolved around what the city will do and if their concerns will be met.
Michael Kavanaugh, who lives in the Walnut Grove area, wondered why Morgan Hill should even have auto malls.
“Why can’t we just leave it out?” Kavanaugh asked. “I moved to Morgan Hill five years ago, and it was very much a bedroom community. I don’t want auto malls at all.”
Mike Jensen moved to the Diana Park area two months ago from Capital Expressway in San Jose with the idea he would get away from auto malls and was not eager to see them come to his new neighborhood.
“The neighborhood was affected by lights, the PA announcements and continuous noise,” Jensen said. “The dealerships had a lot to do with why I left.”
Since Courtesy Chevrolet wants to expand into an area north and along the freeway and council wants to offer other auto dealers a chance to locate in the area, council asked Mark Sumf of ROEL Auto Advisory Group and Rick Cartel of Autopilot Development Services to see what changes in zoning and/or roads would appeal to auto dealers.
The formal plan is called the Walnut Grove Planned Unit Development (PUD)
The city has contracted to pay up to $85,595 for the two consultants, $10,300 to MIG meeting facilitators and the remainder to ROEL for planning advice. To date, the city has spent about $58,600.
Sumf and Cartel came up with four plans for dealerships in the area.
The first two found favor with property owners and the council.
Option one would create one new site for a dealership, allows Courtesy to expand and shortens the existing Laurel Road (the road that turns right from Walnut Grove Avenue and continues to the Courtesy Chevrolet parking lot).
This option follows the original Walnut Grove PUD.
Option two would create two dealership sites north of Courtesy and west of Walnut Grove Drive, both outside the existing PUD. The plan would extend Laurel Avenue west and adds a new retail site fronting on East Dunne Avenue.
Option three includes two dealership sites but shifts Lauren drive to the north and creates two new retail sites south of Laurel.
Option four also extends the PUD, but creates a loop road connecting with Dunne and creates wider sites with significant street frontage plus a retail site and two new auto dealership sites.
The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting was to inform and mobilize the community. When the meeting concluded, Klamecki encouraged people to pick up petitions to go around their neighborhood and get people to sign.
Klamecki hopes to bring the petitions to the city and encourage them to change.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said he wants to work with the neighbors to reach a solution, but out of three sites, Dunne Avenue is on top of the list.
“They’ve got valid concerns,” Kennedy said. “We have to meet and come to some sort of resolution that would meet with everyone’s wishes.”
The city has planned brining an auto dealership to town since February of 2002.
