Downtown MH Could Take On Measure C

Some business owners want to free downtown from growth control
restrictions with new ballot measure
Morgan Hill – Fed up with the city’s contradictory downtown development policies, property owners are poised to craft a ballot measure that could ask voters to exempt the downtown from Morgan Hill’s growth restriction.

Members of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association have been concerned for months that Measure C, a growth control measure law approved by voters in 2004, is choking off residential development in the city’s core. But a decision last month by the city council – to approve just one of developer Manou Mobedshahi’s two connected mixed-use downtown projects so that more homes can be built in outlying areas – convinced them that they can’t wait for city leaders to provide a remedy.

“The city isn’t prepared to take it on,” said Dan Craig, the association’s executive director. “The city has made an effort to address downtown, … but the denial of that project, from the downtown association’s perspective, is evidence of the failure of Measure C to address downtown housing.”

Measure C caps new residential units in the city at 250 a year as a way to stay within Morgan Hill’s target population of 48,000 by 2020. The city currently has about 36,400 residents. The state will issue an updated population count in May.

Under the Measure C program, developers submit applications to the city that are scored on a variety of factors ranging from their environmental benefits to their potential stresses on the city’s infrastructure. 

The city has already used up most of its housing allocations through 2010. To preserve the five remaining allotments for that year, and meet the demands of developers outside of downtown, a divided city council voted earlier this month to approve Mobedshahi’s renovation of the downtown mall, but denied a larger project of 23 townhouses, ground floor retail space, office space and an elevated, open courtyard that would be built in the parking lot behind the mall.

In February, the council voted to give that project extra points so it would meet the scoring criteria and be eligible for approval. Council members reasoned that the project could play an important role in downtown’s revitalization.

But because the city is out of housing allotments, council did not approve the townhouse project.

“I’m disappointed because this is incompatible with the vision of the council,” Mobedshahi said. “I always thought people wanted a vibrant downtown. Most of the projects that got approved are not really the core of downtown.”

As it stands it will be at least five years before Mobedshahi can start work on the project. But if voters agree to alter Measure C, the downtown may spring to life before the end of the decade. 

“Ideally, it would not change the population cap for outlying areas, but it would allow for housing allocation downtown,” Craig said.

Mayor Dennis Kennedy and Councilman Greg Sellers voted against blocking the Mobedshahi project. Sellers said he thinks the council will support a new ballot measure as long at is it doesn’t scrap the major elements of Measure C. He said he thinks the measure has a better chance of success if it comes from the community and not the council.

“I think this is a city issue with a small ‘c'” Sellers said. “My perhaps Pollyanna-ish view is that we ought to come together for something that makes sense for the entire community. The point of this is to make some positive changes and if it’s coming from the council instead of downtown, it’s less likely to have that effect.”

One of the obstacles to the city pursuing a ballot measure is that it would require an expensive and lengthy environmental review. But that review can be skipped if the measure goes to the ballot as a citizen initiative supported with signatures of Morgan Hill voters. The city will have to pay for the measure regardless of who sponsors it.

“Our feeling at this early stage is we’re hoping to draft something the city council can support,” Craig says. “Certainly we see the residential element of the downtown plan and its goals as paramount to the betterment of downtown and Morgan Hill in general.”