41-year-resident has served 35 years on the city’s planning commission

The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce is managed by a few paid employees, but much of the work is done by volunteers. One of those volunteers is Joe Mueller, who sits on the city’s planning commission and attends the chamber’s Economic Development & Government Affairs meetings providing status updates from the perspective of the Planning Commission.

Joe and his wife moved to Morgan Hill in 1983 from Michigan, lured by Silicon Valley. He was shopping for plants at Bell Nursery when Laurie Bjarke, former city councilmember and mayor, talked to him about volunteering. He served on two commissions before joining the planning commission in January of 1989.

When Mueller joined the planning commission there were significant growth ordinances in place, the regulations changed during the years as new laws were passed.

“The Residential Development Control System took a long time to learn,” he said of the city’s growth control system then in place. When the state passed SB330 that law declared a housing emergency, and other state mandated regulations regarding housing development, the role of the planning commission has changed. In the past, the planning commission could mandate changes to development, now they can only encourage developers to make those changes.

Mueller’s goal is to encourage as much input from the public as possible. The planning commission’s meetings are structured differently than the city council meetings. They try to keep the meetings less formal to encourage input from community members.

“We want to get as much input from our community as possible, civility of the meetings is very important to me,” Mueller said.  “When people move here, they see Morgan Hill is different than San Jose; slower, family-centric, supportive of children and diverse. The reason we are different is because of the people who volunteer. Our city has physically changed, with the addition of all the housing, but the environment is the same. The essence of Morgan Hill is still here.”

In 1988, Joe’s wife Cheryl passed away suddenly, leaving him with three small children to raise.

“I saw the true essence of our community during that time,” he said. “People I didn’t know came out to help me and my children. One of great attributes of the residents of Morgan Hill is their willingness to work together to make the city better.”

Mueller is one of seven of our planning commissioners, with 36 years of experience, he is the longest serving and brings a unique historical perspective to the role.

He and his fellow commissioners spend hundreds of hours reviewing Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) and other reports to ensure they resolve issues prior to sending proposals to the city council, and they provide input to the city council along with the city staff on land use, tentative maps, design review and conditional use permits.

Chamber President and CEO Nick Gaich Mueller has unselfishly gifted to our community an unparalleled lifetime of dedication, expertise, and a passion to serve.

“The chamber is deeply grateful and honored for his continued support and guidance,” he said. “I would like to thank Joe for his significant contributions to our community and look forward to collaborating with him in the years to come.”

Cheri Brown is a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Reach her at [email protected].