Score: -4
(1/0/5)
Santa Clara County Grand Jury
• 2016-2017
• Agency Response
Response to:
City of Morgan Hill
City of Morgan Hill*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F5, F6, F8, F9
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F3
Page 3
The Local Agency Formation Commission staff deviated from the Commission's Agricultural Mitigation Policies in the staff's evaluation of the Morgan Hill 2016 Urban Service Area Amendment that includes the South County Catholic High School. The staff interpreted the policies to be mandatory rather than advisory and established its own criteria for a satisfactory agriculture mitigation program. City of Morgan Hill Response: Agree. Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Response Letter LAFCO Denials: A High School Caught in the Middle July 26, 2017 SCCCGJ
Related Recommendations (2)
R3a
Page 4
The Local Agency Formation Commission should amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies to clarify whether the policies are advisory or mandatory. The amendment process should provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to participate. City of Morgan Hill Response: The City agrees that LAFCO should clarify that its Agricultural Mitigation Policies were adopted in 2007 as advisory and not mandating specific requirements. Should LAFCO initiate a process to amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies, the City of Morgan Hill would be a willing and active participant to ensure a collaborative and inclusive process is achieved. As such, the City views this as an early opportunity to develop collaborative relationships between the City and LAFCO as discussed in
R3b
Page 4
The Local Agency Formation Commission should amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies to define a satisfactory agricultural mitigation program. The amendment process should provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to participate. City of Morgan Hill Response: When LAFCO adopted its Agricultural Mitigation Policies in 2007, cities were encouraged to adopt their own mitigation policies based on LAFCO's framework. It should be noted that the City of Morgan Hill developed and adopted its own Agricultural Preservation Program (first in the County) based on the LAFCO framework. Morgan Hill's Agricultural Preservation Program should be cited as a satisfactory agricultural mitigation program as pointed out in Appendix C of the Grand Jury Report. Should LAFCO initiate a process to amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies, the City of Morgan Hill would be a willing and active participant to ensure a collaborative and inclusive process is achieved. Please feel free to contact me or Morgan Hill City Manager, Steve Rymer, if you seek additional information or have any questions regarding this follow-up response to the SCCCGJ June 5, 2017 letter. Sincerely, Steve Tate, Mayor Cc: Members of the City Council Steve Rymer, City Manager Donald Larkin, City Attorney
F4
Page 2
The Morgan Hill Agricultural Preservation Program requires more funding for the purchase of agricultural easements than is generated from the mitigation fees collected through new development. City of Morgan Hill Response Penal Code § 933.05 (a)(1): Agree. Since the agricultural land adjacent to Morgan Hill is in an urban/rural interface, the cost per acre of land is much greater than other areas in the County and other regions of the State. However, to ensure the City complies with state law, the City's agricultural mitigation fees are set according to a nexus study that calculates the fees the City can legally collect at a much lower level due to the availability of much lower priced land in other areas (see attached excerpt from nexus study). To address this fact and ensure the City's commitment to agricultural preservation can be achieved, the City is committed to working with the County of Santa Clara, the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, the State of California, Land Conservation non- profits, and local land owners. More specifically, the City partnered with the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, Santa Clara County, and a private land owner to submit a grant application for State funds that would assist in preserving approximately 70 acres. In addition to utilizing a combination of tools, techniques, mechanisms, and internal funding sources for agricultural preservation, the City will continue to leverage external resources - local funds, local stewardship contribution, state funds (Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program and High Speed Rail), federal funds, and private funds (corporate, foundations, and landowner donations) to realize the forward thinking goals of the City's agricultural land preservation program. <b>SCCCGJ
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Page 2
</b> The County of Santa Clara, the City of Morgan Hill, and the Local Agency Formation Commission should work together to develop a funding mechanism to cover the acquisition and on-going cost of agricultural easements in the Morgan Hill area. City of Morgan Hill Action Penal Code § 933.05 (b)(1): The recommendation has been implemented, with a summary regarding the implemented action. As described above, the City of Morgan Hill is currently and will continue to collaborate with a variety of partners (County of Santa Clara, Open Space Authority, and others) who share, and can help support, the City's agricultural preservation goals. The City welcomes further support from LAFCO. SCCCGJ
F7
Page 2
The relationship between the staff of the Local Agency Formation Commission and the staff of the City of Morgan Hill appears to be strained. City of Morgan Hill Response Penal Code § 933.05 (a)(1): Agree. Morgan Hill staff are eager to work collaboratively and proactively with LAFCO for the benefit of our region and community. <b>SCCCGJ
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
Page 4
SCCCGJ Recommendation 3b: The Local Agency Formation Commission should amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies to define a satisfactory agricultural mitigation program. The amendment process should provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to participate. City of Morgan Hill Response: When LAFCO adopted its Agricultural Mitigation Policies in 2007, cities were encouraged to adopt their own mitigation policies based on LAFCO's framework. It should be noted that the City of Morgan Hill developed and adopted its own Agricultural Preservation Program (first in the County) based on the LAFCO framework. Morgan Hill's Agricultural Preservation Program should be cited as a satisfactory agricultural mitigation program as pointed out in Appendix C of the Grand Jury Report. Should LAFCO initiate a process to amend its Agricultural Mitigation Policies, the City of Morgan Hill would be a willing and active participant to ensure a collaborative and inclusive process is achieved. Please feel free to contact me or Morgan Hill City Manager, Steve Rymer, if you seek additional information or have any questions regarding this follow-up response to the SCCCGJ June 5, 2017 letter. Sincerely, Steve Tate, Mayor Cc: Members of the City Council Steve Rymer, City Manager Donald Larkin, City Attorney
F10
Page 3
The City of Morgan Hill's update of the 2016 General Plan, which dealt separately with the Southeast Quadrant, gave the appearance of special consideration for the property owners. City of Morgan Hill Response Penal Code § 933.05 (a)(1): Agree The City agrees the Southeast Quadrant (SEQ) was dealt with separately from the Morgan Hill 2035 General Plan (GP) Update. Because the "appearance of special consideration" is the Grand Jury's opinion, the City cannot dispute this statement and agrees. To further explain our response, the City of Morgan Hill's previous General Plan, which was adopted in 2001, established the framework for the extensive public outreach and discussions that occurred over the course of nearly 14 years regarding the various components of Morgan Hill's Citywide Agricultural Lands Preservation Program and SEQ Land Use Plan project. The City did not give special consideration to SEQ property owners. The City had an obligation to process the five (5) General Plan Amendments, four (4) Urban Service Area Amendments, and three (3) Zoning Amendment applications that were privately initiated in 2008. Those applications and the preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Agricultural Preservation/SEQ project in 2010, began well before the GP Update was initiated in December 2012. Moving forward, it is the City's intent that its next GP Update will comprehensively consider and include all lands within the City's Sphere of Influence. SCCCGJ
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
Page 3
The City of Morgan Hill should adopt a single, open, transparent process in future updates of its General Plan. City of Morgan Hill Action Penal Code § 933.05 (b)(2): The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, with a timeframe for implementation. The next comprehensive update of the City's General Plan will likely begin 10+ years from adoption of the Morgan Hill 2035 General Plan. It is the City's intent that future General Plan updates will be open and transparent. Thank you for also considering our additional comments for #3. SCCCGJ
Agency Responses 2
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
County of Santa Clara
Agency
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.