Will LAFCo Stand Firm to Protect Prime Farmland?
Prime farmland that will become baseball fields if LAFCo grants the City’s request. Photo: Julie Hutcheson
On March 11, 2016, the City of Morgan Hill will go before the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) with a request to annex 215 acres of an area known as the Southeast Quadrant (SEQ). The request is part of the City’s larger plan to annex a total of over 400 acres in the SEQ. It will test the LAFCo Commissioners’ adherence to their mission to stop sprawl and protect the premature conversion of farmland.
The SEQ represents the last large area of farming in Morgan Hill’s environs and serves as an unofficial greenbelt between Morgan Hill and San Martin, its neighbor to the south. The SEQ also plays an important part in the rural image and quality of life valued by so many of the people who make Morgan Hill their home. More than that though, the SEQ represents the front line in southern Santa Clara County in the fight to stop sprawl from taking over farmland.
Time and again, the residents of Morgan Hill have made clear that retaining farmland is a priority. However, if this first annexation request is approved by LAFCO, almost one third of the prime farmland in the SEQ will be lost to development. That loss will leave the remaining 500 acres of farmland in the SEQ at significant risk of development.
The proposed projects do not require annexation. All of the elements – a private high school, some sports fields, and a strip mall - can be built within existing city limits and under current zoning. Nonetheless, the City created a new zoning designation – Sport-Recreation-Leisure – to try and justify this plan for sprawl. A further head-scratcher is that 40% of the land being annexed doesn’t have a development proposal associated with it.
So what compelling reason drives Morgan Hill to make this request?
The City’s explanations don’t add up. The City claims the SEQ will soon be overrun by rural residential housing and their plan will protect the existing agriculture. Facts do not bear this statement out. Carving up the SEQ for development will decrease the amount of farmland left in the area and increase urban encroachment on the remaining farmland, placing an additional burden on local farming operations. This plan also continues to push development out on the fringes of the city instead of focusing on infill.
Adding further insult to injury, the City’s program to mitigate for the loss of farmland is inadequate to say the least. Just as egregious, the City has made little effort to inform residents of this project or to solicit community-wide input during its current General Plan update process. This omission is a very important point as the majority of farmland outside the SEQ has been designated for development per Morgan Hill’s new 2035 General Plan map.
A Path Forward
Other better options exist. Recently, Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority were awarded a $100,000 Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALCP) grant. The grant will be used to create a regional framework connecting farmland preservation with climate change mitigation efforts in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Jose and the unincorporated areas of the county. This endeavor, the first of its kind in the county, could help Morgan Hill better direct future growth and protect significant amounts of farmland in the SEQ as a climate change mitigation strategy.
Before this can happen though, LAFCo must deny the City’s SEQ annexation request.
If you want to help safeguard the future of farmlands in Morgan Hill, send an e-mail to the LAFCo Executive Director (Neelima.Palacherla@ceo.sccgov.org) prior to December 2, 2015 asking that the request for annexation be denied, explaining why in your own words, and asking that your e-mail be sent to all commissioners and alternates.
If you wish to attend the hearing and address the Commission, contact Julie Hutcheson at julie@greenfoothills.org. The hearing will be held on Friday, March 11 at 10:00 am at the Board Chambers at the County Government center at 70 West Hedding St, San Jose.
Julie Hutcheson is a Legislative Advocate for Committee for Green Foothills