In about a year the Morgan Hill City Council will decide whether
or not Monterey Road through downtown should be rebuilt as a
two-lane street.
In about a year the Morgan Hill City Council will decide whether or not Monterey Road through downtown should be rebuilt as a two-lane street.
With no indication of their current preference for a narrower design or the current four-lane configuration, the council voted Wednesday to begin soliciting streetscape design options for downtown Morgan Hill’s main thoroughfare.
The road will be rebuilt, with either two or four lanes, as part of the city’s adopted long-term plan to add more transportation, living and employment options for the city’s visitors and residents.
The redesign is the next step in the Downtown Specific Plan, a document that improves the city’s eligibility for grants from outside agencies.
According to city staff, up to $250,000 in grant funds from state and regional agencies could be available to partially fund the Monterey Road redesign. The city will also prepare for the possibility that the entirety of the project will be funded by local Redevelopment Agency funds, according to Community Development Director Kathy Molloy Previsich.
City officials do not yet know how much the total cost to reconstruct Monterey Road will be.
The city will first seek bids from consulting firms to submit an unspecified number of design alternatives. The alternatives will include both two-lane and four-lane designs.
The council will likely not accept a design before March 2011, and until then the city plans to engage the public for input.
The Morgan Hill Downtown Association discussed the upcoming Monterey Road redesign at its board meeting Thursday, but the organization does not have a formal position on how many lanes it prefers through town.
The city and public have a number of factors to consider as the design proceeds, including traffic flow, and the possible relocation of VTA bus stops, according to Downtown Association Executive Director Jorge Briones.
A Morgan Hill resident who lives about a half-mile from downtown prefers the two-lane option.
“One lane (in each direction) would make downtown look very nice,” said Hue Ly as she was walking east on the newly constructed Third Street Promenade.
A key purpose of the city’s DSP is to make Morgan Hill a “sustainable city” in which a variety of options for transportation, residence, recreation, shopping and employment are readily available, Molloy Previsich said. The redesign of other downtown side streets is also part of the DSP, and will be considered at the same time as the Monterey Road design.
Parts of the large-scale plan have already been completed. Third Street was rebuilt with a more pedestrian-friendly, park-like atmosphere. Construction of that project was finished earlier this month.
Council members noted that whatever design Monterey Road takes, they should avoid a “patchwork” of mismatched city blocks that will likely be rebuilt in phases over several years.
“We shouldn’t let the process be dictated by any private development (plans), and make sure we don’t have parallel processes that might be at odds,” said councilman Greg Sellers.
Morgan Hill resident Frank Manocchio spoke at Wednesday’s meeting. He said the new Third Street design is “aesthetically pleasing,” but it doesn’t match its surroundings on Depot Street and Monterey Road.
“In the evening I’m struck by the glaring disparity of the lights between Depot (Street) and the Promenade,” Manocchio said.
Sellers added that Third Street is “striking” in how different it now looks from Monterey Road.
Following the meeting, Sellers said he has gone “back and forth” on his preference for two or four lanes on Monterey Road.
“I want to keep an open mind and take a look at all the alternatives,” Sellers said. “For those of us who live and work in downtown, we understand it remains a critical corridor. If we can keep it as a viable corridor but also enhance the opportunities for downtown, we’re excited about being able to do that.”
