MorganHillTimes.com | Room for growth

Room for growth

Nov 2, 2009
By Natalie Everett

An artificial snow sports park, cricket fields, a sports retailer and a Catholic high school could all be built on land between the existing Aquatics Center and Institute Golf Course, according to a city environmental review plan.

This would create a large sports and recreation region in Morgan Hill, accommodating not just swimmers and soccer players, but also cricket players, horse riders, and sports shoppers, among other potential sports and recreation uses east of the U.S. 101 and Tennant Avenue interchange. Then, further east beyond the planned recreation facilities, will be open space.

Some property owners in southeast Morgan Hill, including longtime local farming family the Chialas as well as the Puliaficos and the Jacobys, have teamed with the city to spin their property from its current agricultural use to the more lucrative Sports-Recreation-Leisure use. The Chialas want to build an internationally renowned cricket field. The Puliaficos are welcoming Leading Edge Slope Development owner Martin Benik's Snowflex project, a 10-acre outdoor snow park for snowboarders and skiers using fake snow.

Property owners there entered into a cost-sharing agreement to pay for the environmental review during an early October Morgan Hill City Council meeting.

Talk of what to do with the southeast quadrant, roughly the area east of U.S. 101 and south of San Pedro Avenue, began when the city drew an urban limit line, or the point the city would not urbanize beyond. In 2005, the committee formed to advise the city on where the line would be drawn reached a stalemate on what to do with this area of Morgan Hill as property owners there had different ideas on what the future of their land should look like.

The 1,000 acres is roughly the size of 29 Outdoor Sports Centers.

Councilmembers, who adopted the environmental review plan in October, noted the importance of settling on an urban limit line in southeast Morgan Hill, using northwest Morgan Hill as a cautionary tale.

Councilman Greg Sellers said south Coyote Valley, north of Morgan Hill, is an example of what would happen if the council "put our heads in the sand."

"This whole valley is just a hodgepodge, it just really drives me nuts because it's not really well done or thought out and doesn't achieve our goals," he said "The unique opportunity here in this project is we can ensure in perpetuity that we can preserve agriculture and do it in a way that is sustainable."

Councilman Larry Carr spoke of the need to "take some ownership in the southeast quadrant or we're going to lose anything we want."

There are two land use plans being reviewed, with varying urban limit lines and land use designations. Generally, the first plan features about 400 acres of agricultural preservation, while the second plan proposes 200 acres of open space.

Many farmers, like the Chialas, feel that agriculture is no longer a viable use for the land, since suburbanites consider it an annoyance and rising fuel and water costs make it harder for smaller farms to make a profit. These farmers say a preserved farmland designation would limit their ability to get bank loans on their property, since agricultural land is worth less than land zoned for other purposes.

Areas east and south of the city's Aquatics Center will be designated Sports-Recreation Leisure under the first plan. The proposed private Catholic high school would be located east of Murphy Avenue between Barrett and Tennant avenues.

Under the second proposal, the area east of the Aquatics Center and east of the Catholic high school would be zoned for Sports Recreation and Leisure. The school, tentatively named South County Catholic High School, would have about 65 classrooms, feature state-of-the-art science laboratories, a chapel, an outdoor amphitheater and indoor gym, according to the master plan submitted to the city. The school could accommodate 600 students at first, with a full capacity of 1,200. The Diocese of San Jose, which applied for the project, will pitch in $78,000 toward the $482,000 environmental study.

South of the Aquatics Center, the property owner plans to build a 43,000-square-foot sports retail and restaurant complex on his four acres. South of that, property owner Gordon Jacoby wants his land to be rezoned as Sports-Recreation-Leisure. He'll pay $20,000 toward the review. Then, some 40 acres along Tennant, on the south side, roughly between Murphy Avenue and Hill Road would be rezoned as Sports-Recreation-Leisure, too. The easternmost 10 acres of this property, owned by the Puliaficos, would be devoted to the Snowflex project. The Puliaficos will pay $20,000 towards the environmental review, and Snowflex will pay another $72,000.

Then, on the land off the southeast corner of Tennant and Hill Road, the Chialas plan to use their property to build a 19-acre international cricket facility as well as a 20-acre equestrian facility. The Chialas will pay $76,000 toward the review.

Other landowners without current plans will contribute the remaining $43,000.

The rest of the southeast quadrant would remain either rural county, designated as either open space or agricultural preserve, with no changes in the foreseeable future, according to Community Development Director Kathy Molloy Previsich.

The city is contracting with Michael Brandman Associates to conduct the Environmental Impact Report. The city will pay about $173,000 from the General Plan Update fund to pay for it. The environmental review will take about a year to complete.

In conjunction with the environmental review, two agricultural experts are studying the future of agricultural and its feasibility in Morgan Hill. They'll propose a set of agricultural policies to the city. Previsich said there will be a community workshop on their findings in January.

Natalie Everett

Natalie Everett
Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.