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Press Release

November 8, 2006

Contact:
Michele Beasley, South Bay Field Representative, (408) 983-0856
Elizabeth Stampe, Communications Director, (415) 543-6771 x307

Morgan Hill Welcomes Homes to Downtown

Measure F Passes, Giving Green Light to Growth Downtown

In Tuesday’s election, Morgan Hill’s Measure F passed with 52.1% of the vote, allowing 100 additional homes to be built in Morgan Hill’s downtown.

“Morgan Hill’s downtown needs people to bring it to life,” said Michele Beasley, Greenbelt Alliance’s South Bay field representative, who says that the infusion of new customers will support downtown businesses.

“Morgan Hill residents care about the open space that surrounds the city,” Beasley said, “and building downtown provides an alternative to paving over working farms and natural areas.”

“The passage of Measure F is a step toward better development,” said Beasley.

Morgan Hill’s growth cap, Measure C, most recently renewed in 2004, limits the city to 250 new housing units per year. This growth cap has encouraged single-family housing development on open space at the town’s edges, with little to no growth in the downtown. This is because it is relatively easy to build just a few single-family homes each year, but is impossible to build higher-density buildings downtown in this incremental way.

Measure F was conceived to solve the problem. It takes 100 units that are slated under Measure C to be built in future years and allow them to be built now, as long as they are built downtown. Measure F would also allow more than 300 homes approved in March for downtown to be built now. This will allow a total of more than 400 new homes in Morgan Hill’s downtown.

The Bay Area is slated to receive an additional one million residents by 2020, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments. Many cities are directing new development into their downtowns to accommodate growth without straining highways, farmlands, and open space.

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For 50 years, Greenbelt Alliance has been the San Francisco Bay Area's advocate for open spaces and vibrant places, with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Fairfield, and Santa Rosa. www.greenbelt.org