One of the key tools in shaping Morgan Hill
– Measure P, the city’s voter-approved residential
growth-control law – is due for some reworking itself.
One of the key tools in shaping Morgan Hill – Measure P, the city’s voter-approved residential growth-control law – is due for some reworking itself.
The law mandates that Morgan Hill’s population not exceed 38,800 by the year 2010. It sets in place a series of goals for housing development projects and awards points to developers’ proposals based on how well and how many of those goals their projects meet. The projects with the highest scores are awarded a share of the year’s available housing permits, a number which is determined by a complex formula.
It’s only 2003, yet with 34,900 residents, the city is perilously close to its population cap for seven years from now. One reason, some say, is the formula used to determine the available number of housing permits each year is flawed. In addition, the Association of Bay Area Governments has set an affordable housing quota for the city that will be difficult to meet under the current population cap. Finally, in the 13 years since Measure P was approved as the successor to Measure E, the types of projects the city wants to encourage with its point system needs tinkering.
We applaud the city – and the more than 20 volunteers who have devoted countless hours working on the Measure P update – for its foresight in addressing the growth control issue.
The overall goal of the new growth control rules look reasonable to us – a population limit of 46,600 by 2020 – and we’re happy with everything we’ve seen so far on the fine-tuning. It makes sense that the formula to determine the annual number of housing permits available in the competition should reflect changing household sizes, and it’s wise to encourage infill development over sprawl to favor transit-oriented housing rather than automobile-encouraging housing.
City Council will review the suggestions of the Measure P update committee Wednesday night. This is an important project with great impact on the future of our community. It’s likely that City Council, rather than approving the Measure P changes outright, will send them to Morgan Hill voters for approval next year.
It’s incumbent upon every Morgan Hill citizen to understand the issues surrounding the changes to Morgan Hill’s growth-control laws – that’s the only way to cast an intelligent ballot.
To respond to this editorial or comment on this issue, please send or bring letters to Editor, The Morgan Hill Times, 30 E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037, fax to 779-3886 or email to ed******@mo*************.com
