MORGAN HILL
– Local officials want more say in upcoming decisions about the
Coyote Valley development north of town.
”
We have no adequate representation (on the Coyote Valley Task
Force),
”
Morgan Hill School Board Trustee Shelle Thomas said.
”
It’s not enough that we do outreach, that we attend meetings. We
need to have representation.
”
By MARILYN DUBIL and CAROL HOLZGRAFE
Staff Writers
MORGAN HILL – Local officials want more say in upcoming decisions about the Coyote Valley development north of town.
“We have no adequate representation (on the Coyote Valley Task Force),” Morgan Hill School Board Trustee Shelle Thomas said. “It’s not enough that we do outreach, that we attend meetings. We need to have representation.”
The only member of that task force with any connection to Morgan Hill is Russ Danielson, who was appointed to the school board to fill a vacancy. He was not re-elected in 2002. Danielson, a San Jose resident, is co-owner of Jody’s Junction, an office supply store in downtown Morgan Hill.
Danielson said he is the only member of the task force who has never missed a meeting. He regularly reports back to Morgan Hill officials.
The Coyote Valley development plan calls for 80,000 residents, 25,000 residential units and 50,000 jobs. An estimated 8 to 10 elementary schools, two middle schools and at least one high school also would be needed.
The Morgan Hill School District has two schools at the northern end of the district in south San Jose: Los Paseos Elementary and Martin Murphy Middle.
The district is building Sobrato High, scheduled to open in August in south San Jose, on land scheduled to be annexed by Morgan Hill. The district spent months in mediation with the City of San Jose and the City of Morgan Hill to agree on settlement of a lawsuit filed by San Jose because part of the land donated for Sobrato was in a greenbelt area.
There has been discussion off and on for decades on the possibility of the Morgan Hill School District changing its boundaries so it no longer extends into the Coyote Valley and San Jose. Several speakers at a recent meeting raised that issue.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy asked the planners take the message back to San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales that the Council would like to have formal representation on the task force.
Gonzales rejected the proposal.
Kennedy voiced his support of the school board’s request.
“The number-one issue we gave them is that we need and want to have meaningful input to the process,” Kennedy told the trustees at a recent meeting. ”We were rejected twice. It is important that your staff is involved on the technical advisory committee. If there is a policy issue or a problem, neither you nor one of us is at the table to address it.”
During a March 19 meeting of the City/School District Liaison Committee, Superintendent of Schools Carolyn McKennan said the timeline makes it imperative that discussions begin soon.
“Even if you say 10 years (for development to begin), that’s not too soon to be thinking about these issues,” she said.
David Vossbrink, communications director for Gonzales, said the school board and the City of Morgan Hill already are represented on the technical advisory committee. Rebecca Tolentino, from the city’s planning department, and McKennan sit on that committee.
“It’s the next best option other than serving on the task force,” Vossbrink said. “Coyote Valley will have a tremendous impact on both the City of Morgan Hill and the School District.”
