Morgan Hill considers 50-year Urban Line Limit

Committee for Green Foothills continues to weigh in on Morgan Hill's proposal to add a 50-year Urban Line Limit (ULL) somewhere beyond the city's current 20-year Urban Growth Boundary.

While the ULL may promote the speculative value of land that the city does not need to annex for decades, certain alignments of a ULL could minimize this and other potential harm from the establishment of such a line.

Fortunately, Morgan Hill is considering establishing a greenbelt, which might be a worthwhile balance for the economic windfall the ULL will give to potential developers.

CGF is particularly concerned with an area southeast of the main part of the city, which Morgan Hill is considering annexing. The so-called Southeast Quadrant, which is currently farmland, is already subdivided into 10-acre parcels, a size too small to be conducive to farming.

In addition, the city is suggesting a potential deal that would allow increased development in some areas of the Southeast Quadrant while promising an expanded open space area in return.

We will weigh this proposal carefully; the alternative is keeping the area outside city limits. CGF will continue to work to keep this land as working farmland, and will support a change in the land use only if it is in the best interest of the community as a whole.

If you are interested in getting involved in our work to monitor and comment on the ULL process, please contact Legislative Advocate Brian Schmidt at 650-968-7243 or Brian@GreenFoothills.org.

Published November 2004 in Green Footnotes.

Page last updated September 13, 2010 .