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CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16 OPERATING AND CIP
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY 15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
CITY OF MORGAN HILL
FY15-16
OPERATING AND CIP BUDGET
Community Development Department
The Community Development Department contains functions of the City dealing with the built environment including
Building, Building Inspection, Current and Long Range Planning, Code Enforcement, Economic Development and Af-
fordable Housing as well as related Administrative Support Services for those functions.
Together this team provides collaborative leadership on such City Council “Focus Areas” as the General Plan Update,
Morgan Hill
2035 including updating and incorporating the Residential Development control System (RDCS), advanc-
ing revitalization of our downtown, implementation of the Southeast Quadrant agricultural presentation and land use
plans, advancing regional transportation decisions and providing the comprehensive planning required to accommo-
date specific transportation enhancements, economic development attraction, retention, tourism and place-making
activities to increase jobs and expand the City's tax base, as well as affordable housing preservation and develop-
ment.
The 14-15 fiscal year saw continued high demands on planning and building activity as the economy stabilized and im-
proved. The residential development market remains vigorous, and the commercial/industrial market has re-surfaced
after a long absence. For Morgan Hill, the health in the economy activated residential projects that in previous years
had been awarded allocations through the Residential Development Control System (RDCS), and did not build due to
financial limitations. These activated projects accounted for nearly 1200 residential units in FY 13-14 entering the devel-
opment review implementation process, and continuing into FY 14-15 on to completion of construction. Again, as in FY
13-14, in FY 14-15 the surge of activity was mitigated in some cases by contract planning and building inspection ser-
vices, augmented by overtime, particularly to accommodate more than 14,040 building inspection requests. This was
up from a previous high of over 13,000 building inspection requests in 13-14. In FY 14-15, 25% of this activity was com-
mercial or industrial activity mirroring the dramatic absorption of commercial/industrial space citywide. By mid-year FY
14-15, industrial vacancies for existing space plummeted from 16% to less than 3%. Contract planning services were used
to accommodate an unusual number of General Plan amendment requests, and the completion of the SEQ. Highlights
of the year included the preparation of updated Public Safety and Housing Elements of the General Plan, adoption of
an Agricultural Land Use Preservation Program and Southeast Quadrant Area Plan, release of the Notice of Prepara-
tion (NOP) for the Morgan Hill 2035 General Plan Update draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), a zoning code
amendment regulating payday lending, a municipal code amendment permitting detached sidewalks in residential
neighborhoods, and transit station area master planning facilitated by a technical grant awarded by MTC as well as a
more extensive Station Area Master Plan grant effort, resulting in over $320,000 from VTA to be used in FY 15-16 to-
wards the creation of a formal Station Area Master Plan for Downtown Morgan Hill." Grantsmanship" was a key work
effort as well, as the Community Development Department collaborated with Community Services, and others
throughout the city team to submit requests for over $8 million in grants for enhanced forestation, improvements to
public rights of way to enhance pedestrian, bicycle and transit use and accessibility, park enhancements to provide
benefits to neighborhoods with affordable housing, electric charging stations and various activities to reduce green-
house gas emissions.
The FY 15-16 Budget reflects an emphasis on core, non-RDA functions, the anticipation of continued growth in housing
starts, a relatively more promising outlook for commercial and industrial new construction, a focus on planning and
implementation of projects that are being funded by the remaining bond proceeds of the 2008 RDA bonds which are
available for projects as a result of the dissolution of the RDA. Making major gains in the dissolution process, the City
received approval from the Successor Agency, the Oversight Board and from the Department of Finance (DOF) in late