100 homes planned off freeway exit in Morgan Hill

A proposed housing project that would bring more than 100 homes to Morgan Hill is inching closer to breaking ground following a recommendation from planning officials.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved recommending plans for a housing development just east of the U.S. Highway 101 Cochrane Road exit that would add 105 single-family homes to the South County city. If approved by the City Council at a later date, the 15.8-acre site would move forward alongside an adjacent shopping center. The shopping center is slated to open in late 2027.

The project plans to utilize a state law known as “builder’s remedy,” which allows developments to ignore restrictions on building height and density when local governments lack state approval for their housing plans. Developer High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company, filed an application with the city in October 2023. Morgan Hill’s state-mandated housing plan wasn’t certified until one month later, allowing for the use of builder’s remedy.

As mandated by the state, Morgan Hill must plan for 1,037 homes by 2031, broken up across six different income levels.

High Street Residential asked the city to switch the commercially-zoned land to residential, which the city partially agreed to reluctantly by way of a settlement. City officials said they opted for the settlement to avoid a lengthy and costly litigation with the developer and the state.

“In the end, what the city has gained overall is a project that is going to advance the city and is within the character of the city,” Edith Ramirez, assistant city manager for development services, told San José Spotlight. “Trammell Crow has acted as good partners throughout the entirety of the project. We’re grateful for the partnership and that they’ve been listening to the community.”

The land, which spans roughly 28.5 acres, was split into three pieces as part of the settlement, including the 15.8-acre site for the 105 homes; a 7.8-acre parcel along Cochrane Road for a shopping center anchored by a Sprouts grocery store; and a 4.7-acre parcel earmarked for affordable housing to be transferred to the city, helping to meet its state housing requirements.

The two housing components are sandwiched between the Cochrane Technology Center and future shopping center.

The developer agreed to pay $500,000 to the city’s housing fund and a 15% fee in lieu of providing affordable housing in the project.

The site is nearby another shopping center with a Target and other stores.

When finished, the High Street housing development will feature 105 market rate single-family, two-story, two-car garage detached homes, which will range in size from 2,147 square feet to 2,615 square feet. Each is planned to have some private open space that could be a yard, porch and patio. The project will also have more than 21,000 square feet of common open space.

Additionally, there will be a fenced dog park and a more than quarter-acre park with with a covered picnic area and kids play area. It will also include 158 on-street guest parking spaces.

An environmental impact report on the project shows significant, unavoidable impacts including eliminating nearly 11 acres of farmland, changing the air quality to below Bay Area Air Quality District thresholds and exceeding the city’s 26.4 vehicle miles traveled per capita threshold by nearly four miles. There are mitigation plans in place for all three, but impacts will still be present.

Representatives for High Street Residential declined to comment on the project.

“I’d like to thank staff for their work over the last three years in processing the project forward,” Brian Pianca, Northern California principal for High Street Residential, said at the meeting. “We do think it’s been truly a collaborative process and we’re excited to be at the point where we have this project in front of you.”

Pianca said that the company, which primarily works in rental properties, is still determining whether they will complete construction of the project or hand it off to another developer.

Commissioners at the meeting did not have many questions nor discuss the project much, as they were unable to question anything pertaining to the settlement agreement. Commissioner Steve Adamo, however, voiced his displeasure about the project, despite following the commission’s recommendation of approval.

“You follow the law, you try to do the right thing and you end up in a situation like this where that freeway front of commercial properties we were hoping to try and preserve ends up in housing,” Adamo said at the meeting. “I don’t like it. I don’t like its location, it’s not the right place to put housing — in between a drone manufacturer and a commercial outlet.”

Contact Giovanni Albanese Jr. at [email protected].