Event will include panel discussion, tour of downtown, reception
Published in the June 22 – July 5, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Edith Ramirez
Morgan Hill Life file image
An artist’s rendering of the proposed Granada Hotel at the corner of First Street and Monterey Road in downtown Morgan Hill.
Downtown Morgan Hill is undergoing a major transformation, with new construction over the course of a year or so bringing in new businesses that will make Morgan Hill’s city center a more exciting place to visit and work. The city will hold a Downtown Visioning Summit June 30 to inform members of the public about what to expect in retail, housing and hotel development in the future.
Morgan Hill Life asked Edith Ramirez, principal planner for economic development with the city, about the free summit and why local residents might want to attend.
The city will hold various panels with prominent developers for the visioning summit. What might this engagement with the public accomplish?
The impetus of the Downtown Visioning Summit is to create a Station Area Master Plan. The city received a grant through the Valley Transit Authority and Metropolitan Transportation Commission to help us plan for the future of transit connections in downtown. We are doing this summit to engage the community on this particular issue. This is an opportunity to share and celebrate the amount of investment into our downtown.
This is a good time for us to pause and reflect on the major milestones we’ve achieved. The city just invested $25 million in much needed infrastructure improvements, such as streets, lights, undergrounding of utilities and a new parking garage. The several new private development projects in downtown that collectively are investing millions of dollars into the community. The Downtown Visioning Summit provides a forum for the community to see and hear how projects will evolve.
It’s also an opportunity to have an open dialog on what the future of downtown could look like including several parcels within and adjacent to downtown that have the ability to redevelopment into a different mixture of uses.
Another aspect of the summit is the public realm panel. Why might people want to learn about plans for creating “livable and exciting places through public spaces, transportation and art” downtown?
Downtown Morgan Hill is fortunate to be at the apex of several interconnecting realms. It is close to rail and transit, engages the community with murals and public art and it allows for a greater density of homes.
There is an opportunity to continue to evolve the downtown into a walkable, bikeable, playable environment where people linger and enjoy not only great dining experiences but new parks and other entertainment and shopping venues. At the end of the day, the downtown is the entire community’s living room and we have to pay attention to the details and ensure that we are creating a friendly space for the whole community.
As an example, the pop-up park is a perfect example of a placemaking initiative that has enlivened the public space and created a gathering space for the community, in particular families with children to come and enjoy the downtown. We have had much success on the various initiatives. The question is: what is next? We hope to be inspired by this panel.
The summit will have a walking tour of downtown to see upcoming sites. Which sites will be featured and why might you encourage people to learn about future housing and retail development opportunities?
The downtown walking tour is an opportunity to showcase to the public and developers five new private development projects that will be breaking ground in 2016 as well as showcase underutilized or underdeveloped sites within and adjacent to downtown for future development. As downtown Morgan Hill has gone through a renaissance it will be important to have more people living in and around downtown to support the long term success of retailers.
Downtown Morgan Hill is rapidly evolving. Why might merchants want to participate in the summit to learn how to enhance their businesses with the changing environment downtown?
This is a great opportunity for local merchants and businesses to see how downtown will physically change and evolve in the next 24 months. It will also be an opportunity to hear what the future of retail will look like as many of the projects will have new retail space coming online as part of their developments. While new retail opportunities could bring more competition to the marketplace, it also has the opportunity to bring more complimentary uses thus creating more vibrancy to the downtown landscape.
How is the city working with the Morgan Hill Downtown Association in developing the visioning summit?
The city has been in close dialog and partnership with the downtown association on the visioning summit. They are helping us promote the event and will help co-sponsor the reception.
