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The Live Oak girls basketball team has concluded its first round of Santa Teresa Division play with the same dominance as it started.

Megan Yabumoto had 14 points and Kianna Maldia had 11 as the Sobrato girls basketball team overcame a lack-luster shooting night to defeat Gunderson, 39-30 Wednesday.

Recovered stolen vehicle

A group of Morgan Hill hotel owners, fearful of losing their limited clientele, is suing the City of Morgan Hill over a rezoning amendment that will allow the construction of a new lodging facility on land that was previously tagged for industrial use only.The lawsuit filed by the Morgan Hill Hotel Coalition in Santa Clara County Superior Court claims the city violated the California Election Code when the five-member City Council in July 2015 rejected a petition to repeal the rezoning.That petition was signed by more than 4,000 voters and was certified by City Clerk Irma Torrez, according to the complaint.The lawsuit is asking the court to demand the city suspend the rezoning ordinance, known as Ordinance No. 2131.Hotel representatives have said the council’s decision to change the land use deprives the local economy of needed industrial land.“The City Council’s desire to ignore the voters’ desire to suspend the ordinance was a discouraging blow to public participation and democracy,” said Asit Panwala, attorney for and member of the Hotel Coalition, which represents six Morgan Hill hotels. “We will fight back. The voter should be allowed to decide this issue as stated in our state’s Constitution.”The 3.39-acre property in question is located near the intersection of Lightpost Way and Madrone Parkway, according to the court document.The rezoning proposal was discussed at a council meeting in April. The property owner told the council he planned to build a Hilton Garden Inn hotel at the site.At that meeting, the council heard from local hotel owners and managers who said the local hotel market cannot sustain another “mid-level” size hotel. By increasing the supply of such rooms by 58 percent in two years, the local hotel industry would be financially devastated, Panwala contested. Furthermore, the coalition explained that half the guests who stay in Morgan Hill hotels come from San Jose, where about 3,500 more hotel rooms will be built in the next two years.The council voted 3-2 in April to approve the rezoning.“With increase in hotel room supply in San Jose, the overflow room demand would not trickle down to the Morgan Hill economy,” Panwala said. “The Hotel Coalition advocates bringing mid- to large-size employers to the region so Morgan Hill residents do not need to travel north to the Peninsula for their jobs.”The Coalition then circulated petitions to repeal the rezoning ordinance, which Torrez certified May 15, 2015. The petitions were signed by 4,130 voters. By state law, a referendum petition signed by at least 10 percent of registered voters meets the eligibility to be placed on a local election ballot.On July 15, the council voted 4-0 to reject the petition, with Councilmember Marilyn Librers absent. About nine months earlier, in November 2014, the council approved a General Plan amendment that also changed the preferred land use of the property from industrial to commercial. Councilmembers and the city attorney said in July that if the council or the voters were allowed to repeal the rezoning, they would be inconsistent with the General Plan, which would also be illegal.Mayor Steve Tate said he is aware of the hotels’ lawsuit against the city, but he cannot comment on the pending litigation.City staff reports published before the July meeting also noted that vacant industrial land in Morgan Hill has been slower to develop in recent years than commercial property.On Sept. 19, 2015, developer River Park Hospitality submitted a conditional use permit application to build a 149-room hotel on the Lightpost Way property, according to Panwala.Two more new hotels are coming to Morgan Hill, which the MHHC did not oppose. These are the La Quinta Inn under construction on Condit Road, and a smaller (up to 60 rooms) boutique hotel downtown that has been proposed at what is now the Downtown Mall site.

A public opinion poll recently commissioned by the City of Morgan Hill found that most residents who responded are “highly satisfied” with the quality of life here, according to a press release from city staff.Much slimmer majorities said they would support potential ballot measures for a local sales tax and growth control ordinance update in the November election, but the research firm that conducted the survey said such initiatives are “viable.”More than 90 percent of respondents rated the city’s quality of life as “excellent” or “good,” according to the survey results. The survey also showed that residents see maintaining public safety, streets and roads, fiscal stability and keeping a safe, clean, reliable local water supply as important city priorities."We are happy residents have given us a good quality of life rating," said Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer. "These results show our community wants us to continue our efforts to keep our neighborhoods healthy and safe. Doing so maintains our quality of life and helps to protect local property values.”The survey was conducted by Godbe Research from Nov. 20 through Dec. 9, 2015. The City Council voted to commission the survey July 8, for a cost of about $33,000.The council’s objectives in ordering the survey include to assess overall perceptions of life in Morgan Hill; gauge support for potential future ballot measures; determine residents’ satisfaction with the delivery of city services; assess awareness of the city’s financial situation; and determine the most pressing problems facing Morgan Hill.The scientific survey selected a random sample of 501 residents, and consisted of both telephone and internet interviews, explained Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin.The sample is representative of the “universe” of 16,528 Morgan Hill residents likely to vote in November 2016, according to Godbe’s report.No representatives of City Hall were involved in the interviews or compilation of data, which was left entirely to Godbe Research, Tobin added.Among other findings, the survey found respondents prioritized maintenance and repairs to the city's water system, city staff said. About 86 percent of respondents agreed that work on this citywide infrastructure is necessary.On the question of whether voters would support a local sales tax to fund basic city services—police, fire, street maintenance and traffic relief, parks and public buildings and other “general city services”—almost 58 percent said “definitely yes” or “probably yes.”Specifically, this question posed a hypothetical three-quarter cent ongoing sales tax that would raise $5.35 million per year “that cannot be taken by the state.”For the last two years, city council members have discussed the need for such a local sales tax, which the city currently does not have. A possible ballot measure has been discussed in the context of City Hall’s ongoing shortage of funds from current sources to improve streets and related infrastructure, and keep them maintained.The survey also showed respondents value Morgan Hill as a great place to raise a family, with 92.2 percent saying Morgan Hill was an "excellent" or "good" community for doing so, the city’s press release said.But some more pointed questions in the survey did not yield such overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses. When asked what direction Morgan Hill is going, about 51 percent responded “right direction,” while about 34 percent said “wrong direction.”When asked how well Morgan Hill is providing services, about 10 percent said “excellent,” 48 percent said “good” and about 36 percent responded “only fair” or “poor.”About 62 percent of survey respondents said they would support an ordinance to update the city’s Residential Development Control System, extending it to 2035 with a population ceiling of 64,600 for that year. The current RDCS or growth control ordinance sets a population cap in Morgan Hill of 48,000 for the year 2020.Such an update is another ballot measure the city council is considering sending to the voters in November.Respondents were also more evenly split on the question of how dense future residential development should be in Morgan Hill. About 32 percent said new housing should be “higher density to preserve open space,” while about 27 percent said future homes should be “as low a density as possible even if it does not preserve open space.”The margin of error for the survey results is plus or minus 4.31 percent, according to Godbe’s report.Survey takers from Godbe Research relied on files for all of Morgan Hill’s registered voters to find contact information for respondents, according to Bryan Godbe, President of Godbe Research.“We would call of those,” but also make sure different socioeconomic demographic groups are equally represented, Godbe explained. If a voter didn’t answer the phone, the firm would call them again until they reach a live person.“We usually have about a 100-to-1 or 150-to-1 ability to actually talk to someone,” Godbe said of the scientific survey process in general.He added that a challenge in conducting any such survey is that many of the phone numbers in the voter files are land lines that have been “abandoned” as residents rely more on cellular and digital communications, he added. Survey takers for the Morgan Hill project called about 3,500 cell phone numbers, which were also listed on some of the voter files.To view more results of the survey, visit the city’s website at morganhill.ca.gov.

The City of Morgan Hill announced Jan. 27 that Christina Turner was hired on as the new Assistant City Manager for Administrative Services.

The suspect accused of kidnapping and murdering 15-year-old Morgan Hill resident Sierra LaMar was denied a motion to dismiss the charges against him in a court hearing last week.Antolin Garcia Torres, a Morgan Hill resident who remains in custody at Santa Clara County Jail, appeared Jan. 22 for a hearing on his attorney’s motion to dismiss the case against him. Superior Court Judge Helen Williams denied the motion after the brief hearing at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, according to court officials.Garcia Torres was arrested in May 2012 by sheriff’s deputies, weeks after Sierra disappeared. He is charged with murder and kidnapping in relation to Sierra’s disappearance.He is also charged with three unrelated attempted carjackings and assaults in the parking lot of two Safeway grocery stores in Morgan Hill in 2009.Garcia Torres’ trial on all the charges remains set for April 25. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in February 2014. If convicted, he faces a possible penalty of death.Police say Sierra disappeared March 16, 2012 from her north Morgan Hill home while she was walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School when she disappeared.Despite search efforts by law enforcement and a dedicated team of volunteers, who logged more than 54,000 hours of searching, Sierra’s body still has not been found.On Monday, the San Jose Mercury News published excerpts from a bizarre jailhouse interview with a suspect in an unrelated case, who claimed the victim he is accused of killing was Sierra’s murderer. The suspect, Steven Hlebo, is accused of killing his co-worker Kyle Merrick in San Jose.In the jailhouse interview, Hlebo claimed that Merrick was the one who kidnapped and murdered Sierra, and even helped frame Garcia Torres for the crime, according to the Mercury News.

The draft copy of the Environmental Impact Report for the Morgan Hill General Plan Update and associated projects is now available for public review and comment, according to city staff.The public has until March 14 to submit written comments in response to the draft environmental study, which analyzes the effects of the city’s proposed long-term growth documents on traffic, wildlife, air quality, farmland and other natural resources. The EIR is required as part of the California Environmental Quality Act.The purpose the EIR, according to CEQA, is to “inform public agency decision makers and the public generally of the significant environmental effects of a project, identify possible ways to minimize the significant effects, and describe reasonable alternatives to the project.”The public will also have a chance to provide written and/or oral comments at the Feb. 23 meeting of the Morgan Hill Planning Commission, which will take place at city council chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.The subject of the draft EIR is not only the General Plan Update—which city staff, consultants and volunteers have been working on for the last two years—but also an update to the city’s Residential Development Control System (RDCS).“The proposed General Plan includes land use, urban design, circulation, public services, natural resources, and safety goals, policies, and actions to guide investment and development in the Project Area over the next 20 years,” reads a summary of the proposal in the draft EIR. “The proposed RDCS would regulate population growth through the provision of residential building allotments on a yearly or bi-annual basis.”The council is planning to ask voters to approve an update to the RDCS in November. The ordinance, first known as Measure C, was initially approved by voters several years. The current ordinance is set to expire in 2020.The General Plan and RDCS updates are collectively known as the Morgan Hill 2035 project.Copies of the draft EIR, draft General Plan Update and draft RDCS are available online at morganhill2035.org. Paper copies can be viewed at City Hall Development Services Center, 17575 Peak Ave., and the Morgan Hill Library, 660 W. Main Ave.

A public opinion poll recently commissioned by the City of Morgan Hill found that most residents who responded are “highly satisfied” with the quality of life here, according to a press release from city staff.More than 90 percent of respondents rated the city’s quality of life as “excellent” or “good,” according to the survey results. The survey also showed that residents see maintaining public safety, streets and roads, fiscal stability and keeping a safe, clean, reliable local water supply as important city priorities."We are happy residents have given us a good quality of life rating," said Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer. "These results show our community wants us to continue our efforts to keep our neighborhoods healthy and safe. Doing so maintains our quality of life and helps to protect local property values.”The survey was conducted by Godbe Research from Nov. 20 through Dec. 9, 2015. The City Council voted to commission the survey July 8, for a cost of about $33,000.The council’s objectives in ordering the survey include to assess overall perceptions of life in Morgan Hill; gauge support for potential future ballot measures; determine residents’ satisfaction with the delivery of city services; assess awareness of the city’s financial situation; and determine the most pressing problems facing Morgan Hill.The scientific survey selected a random sample of 501 residents, and consisted of both telephone and internet interviews, explained Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin.The sample is representative of the “universe” of 16,528 Morgan Hill residents likely to vote in November 2016, according to Godbe’s report.No representatives of City Hall were involved in the interviews or compilation of data, which was left entirely to Godbe Research, Tobin added.Among other findings, the survey found respondents prioritized maintenance and repairs to the city's water system, city staff said. About 86 percent of respondents agreed that work on this citywide infrastructure is necessary.On the question of whether voters would support a local sales tax to fund basic city services—police, fire, street maintenance and traffic relief, parks and public buildings and other “general city services”—almost 58 percent said “definitely yes” or “probably yes.”Specifically, this question posed a hypothetical three-quarter cent ongoing sales tax that would raise $5.35 million per year “that cannot be taken by the state.”For the last two years, city council members have discussed the need for such a local sales tax, which the city currently does not have. A possible ballot measure has been discussed in the context of City Hall’s ongoing shortage of funds from current sources to improve streets and related infrastructure, and keep them maintained.The survey also showed respondents value Morgan Hill as a great place to raise a family, with 92.2 percent saying Morgan Hill was an "excellent" or "good" community for doing so, the city’s press release said.But some more pointed questions in the survey did not yield such overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses. When asked what direction Morgan Hill is going, about 51 percent responded “right direction,” while about 34 percent said “wrong direction.”When asked how well Morgan Hill is providing services, about 10 percent said “excellent,” 48 percent said “good” and about 36 percent responded “only fair” or “poor.”About 62 percent of survey respondents said they would support an ordinance to update the city’s Residential Development Control System, extending it to 2035 with a population ceiling of 64,600 for that year. The current RDCS or growth control ordinance sets a population cap in Morgan Hill of 48,000 for the year 2020.Such an update is another ballot measure the city council is considering sending to the voters in November.Respondents were more evenly split on the question of how dense future residential development should be in Morgan Hill. About 32 percent said new housing should be “higher density to preserve open space,” while about 27 percent said future homes should be “as low a density as possible even if it does not preserve open space.”The margin of error for the survey results is plus or minus 4.31 percent, according to Godbe’s report.To view more results of the survey, visit the city’s website at morganhill.ca.gov.