Continuing the Heritage by Weekender Magazine

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

REMINDER FROM THE SANTA CLARA FARM BUREAU

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“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

NO ONE MODEL OF AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION

MORGAN HILL’S AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM & UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES Marin Agricultural Land Trust:

Morgan Hill:

29,700+ acres—mostly paid by federal and state funds.

No federal or state funds; no general taxes; no new additional housing. Program achieved by:

Sonoma County: 17,255 acres—mostly paid by state funds and local taxes.

South Livermore: 800 acres of new vineyards paid as mitigation for a 1,600 home residental development and destination resort area on 550 acres.

a) Current fee on all new housing b) Agricultural mitigation fee c) Additional programs to promote local farms d) Repositioning of current rural housing rights

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

TODAY’S DYNAMICS

• Decline in county-wide farming • Residential estates • Regional sports & visitor hub • Major city investment and improvements

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY AGRICULTURE

Santa Clara County Farming

(acres) 6

Bushberry/strawberry Fruit/Nut Seed Crops Vegetable Total Santa Clara County Crop Report, 2010

1949

1969

1989

2010

Total Change

1,503

390

230

100

-93.3%

95,468

41,818

5,524

2,728

-97.1%

375

1,433

950

456

21.6%

26,707

15,751

10,495

11,974

-55.2%

126,002

61,361

19,188

17,268

-86.3%

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SOUTHEAST QUADRANT AGRICULTURE PROBLEMS

• Farming difficult on small parcels • Fragmented farming area and conflicts • Farm family generational change • Land for residential estates is too expensive for dedicated farming

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SOUTHEAST QUADRANT CROPS (CROP MARGINS PER ACRE)

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

100 YEAR-OLD TEN-ACRE PARCELS

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SIZE OF SOUTHEAST QUADRANT PARCELS

Size of SEQ Parcels 120 10

100 80 # of Parcels

60 40 20 0

0-5

5.1-10.0

10.1-15.0 Acres

15.1-20.0

20.1 +

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

WHY MAINTAIN ACTIVE AGRICULTURE & OPEN SPACE?

• Agriculture & open space landscape (Garden Cities tradition) • Reinforces Morgan Hill’s heritage and creates southern greenbelt and gateway 11

• Introduces agritourism to visitor’s experience • Helps retain agriculture production facilities/jobs • Supports interest and education in healthy foods

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

PLANNING PURPOSES

• Strengthen City’s identity as an active, family-friendly community • Obtain permanent open space via conservation easements 12

• Expand the City’s economic base with visitor-serving sports/recreation/ leisure activities and agritourism • Shared use and cost of sports facilities • Create a financial program for permanent protection of farming and open space • Minimize extension of public utilities

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

LAND USE PROGRAM

Sports, Recreation & Leisure: Amenities near the freeway exit and available utilities

Sub-District B: (nearest exit): visitor-oriented uses; hotels; restaurant, support retail, recreation uses â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 114 acres

Sub-District A: indoor/outdoor sports facilities, recreation transition zone; 147 acres

High School: situated where it can share costs of adjacent recreational facilities; 40 acres

Agriculture & Open Space District: Dedicated agriculture; agriculture support facilities; open space uses

Transfer of Development Rights Area: Defines area to be permanently preserved in agriculture by transfering existing rights to transfer overlay. Overlay area includes estate home lots already approved by County.

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SOUTHEAST QUADRANT WITHOUT MORGAN HILL PLAN

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SOUTHEAST QUADRANT WITHOUT MORGAN HILL PLAN

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

SOUTHEAST QUADRANT WITHOUT MORGAN HILL PLAN

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

PROPOSED MORGAN HILL PLAN

PROPOSED LAND USE PLAN PROPOSED CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL RECREATION / COMMERCIAL RECREATION / OPEN SPACE EXISTING RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL DETACHED RESIDENTIAL TRANSFER OVERLAY

MORGAN HILL OUTDOOR SPORTS COMPLEX

CONDIT ROAD

SAN PEDRO AVENUE

AGRICULTURE / OPEN SPACE PRIORITY AG. EASEMENT PURCHASE OVERLAY

PERMANENT FARMLAND TRANSFER PARCELS CITY LIMITS

BARRETT AVENUE

EXISTING NEW RESIDENTIAL

FISHER AVENUE

MAPLE AVENUE

FOOTHILL ROAD

HILL ROAD

MURPHY ROAD

U.S. 101

TENNANT AVENUE

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CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

PROPOSED MORGAN HILL PLAN - VISION

VISION

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

PROPOSED MORGAN HILL PLAN - KEY PROGRAM ELEMENTS

• Purchase Agriculture Conservation Easements paid for by agriculture mitigation and current developer open space fees • Create Transfer of Development Rights program in General Plan Update to preserve significant portion of SEQ • Promote Agritourism and Health Foods Program • Concentrate rural housing rights to smaller footprint • Enable compatible Open Space & Recreation to retain rural character of the area • New rules to support agriculture

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION EASEMENTS

• Landowner paid to commit to permanently farm their property • Funds for program come from new Agriculture Mitigation Program and current housing developer-paid fees for open space 20

• Projected $13-$15 million fund over 15 years; acquire 250-300 acres on southern border of City in SEQ; after SEQ success, the program could expand to other Morgan Hill locations • Use Conservation easements as part of Transfer of Development Rights program • Program to be administered by qualified third party with expertise in farming

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PROGRAMS TO PROMOTE AGRITOURISM & HEALTH FOODS

• Farming Education Center and Community Garden at old farm house (Tennant & Hill Intersection) • Farm to school training; including at new High School 21

• Seasonal activities - crops and farm animals • Classes in cooking and agriculture products • Hosting community events and festivals • Direct sales and u-pick

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LESSONS FOR NEW & OLD

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FARMING EDUCATION CENTER & COMMUNITY GARDEN

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

FARM-TO-SCHOOL TRAINING

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

TRANSFER CURRENT RESIDENTIAL RIGHTS TO SMALLER FOOTPRINT

• Cluster remaining rural housing rights to location that is compatible with other nearby rural housing • Locate in a manner that does not conflict with nearby agriculture 25

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

REGULATORY CHANGES THAT SUPPORT AGRICULTURE

• Right-to-farm ordinance • Direct farm stand sales and tasting rooms 26

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

CONSISTENCY WITH SANTA CLARA COUNTY LAFCo POLICIES

• City-adopted agriculture mitigation policy

• Conservation land in Morgan Hill or Santa Clara County

• Agriculture conservation easements and lands to be managed by funded conservation entity with expertise in agriculture

• Established buffer zone – helped by clustering of rural housing and location of priority purchase areas of agriculture conservation easements.

• Funded source in place when mitigation is needed. In this case, it is likely that there will be more land in conservation easements than is required for mitigation.

• Adoption of Right-to-Farm ordinance • Programs to promote agriculture – see agritourism and healthy food items

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT

Thank You For Your Time ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CONTINUING THE HERITAGE PLANNING FOR MORGAN HILL’S SOUTHEAST QUADRANT