MORGAN HILL
– The Institute Golf Course proponents have asked the city to
reject an appeal of a Temporary Use Permit by the Santa Clara
Valley Audubon Society and the Green Foothills Committee. The
appeal claimed continued play and maintenance would have an adverse
effect on nearby wildlife, groundwater and r
iparian ecology.
MORGAN HILL – The Institute Golf Course proponents have asked the city to reject an appeal of a Temporary Use Permit by the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Green Foothills Committee. The appeal claimed continued play and maintenance would have an adverse effect on nearby wildlife, groundwater and riparian ecology.
The TUP included 27 conditions under which the golf course would be allowed to operate while permits were acquired and environmental concerns were addressed. The conditions were collected from a variety of concerned water and environmental agencies and the city itself.
A five-page letter, signed by Steve Sorenson, laid out The Institute’s rebuttal to what it calls “assumptions” and not statements of fact.
Sorenson is a partner in Corralitos Creek, LLC, the group that has built a world-class, 18-hole golf course on Foothill Avenue. The golf course is intended to be a recreational adjunct when the American Institute of Mathematics, now in Palo Alto, moves onto the site. John Fry of Fry’s Electronics is another partner in Corralitos and a co-founder of the AIM.
Sorenson’s letter quotes from the appeal.
“The city’s failure to further condition future activities on the site will result in certain adverse environmental effects,” the appeal claimed.
“There is no basis for such an assumption,” Sorenson said. “The Draft Environmental Impact Report did not find any adverse environmental affects. What the DEIR did state is that since the DEIR did not perform some studies and did not gather some date, that unresolved questions remained.”
The DEIR recommended studies which The Institute has commissioned, the letter said.
According to Sorenson’s letter, studies have shown that the “existing operating methods” of the course have not resulted in a decline of the aquifer, an increase in nitrates in nearby wells – they have actually shown a decrease in those nitrate levels – nor have they contaminated surface water with pesticides.
