MORGAN HILL
– Potential expansion plans for the South County Airport in San
Martin will get another review this week before a group of Gilroy,
Morgan Hill and county leaders.
MORGAN HILL – Potential expansion plans for the South County Airport in San Martin will get another review this week before a group of Gilroy, Morgan Hill and county leaders.
The South County Joint Planning Advisory Committee is slated to receive an informational report Thursday on the county’s efforts to update its Airports Master Plan, which sets growth limits and land-use policies for South County and its other two general-aviation airports, Palo Alto and San Jose’s Reid-Hillview.
The committee – made up of Morgan Hill and Gilroy City Councilpeople and commissioners and chaired by District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage – reviews South County projects of a regional nature, mostly on an informational or advisory basis.
County supervisors are due to make a decision on growth capacity at the airports Nov. 19. Under recommendations by county airports staff, the San Martin airport would receive the brunt of new capacity growth to be accommodated in the county system.
Other updates on the agenda include:
• A report on the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau’s Agriculture Feasibility Study, which outlines strategies that forecast and protect the role and future of agriculture in South County.
• A report on the county’s study of whether to ease rules that restrict siting of large schools, churches and other gathering places in unincorporated rural areas.
• A report on Morgan Hill’s greenbelt study.
• Updates on the aftermath of the Croy fire and planning efforts for Bear Ranch, the county’s new parkland east of San Martin.
The committee is also the focal point for an update of the South County Joint Policy Plan, an advisory document drafted in the mid-1980s to ensure a common overall vision for South County and promote consistent land-use policies between its communities.
The plan suggests a series of broad policy statements on topics ranging from protection of water quality and open space to support of a job-housing balance.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Morgan Hill City Council Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.
