Published in the February 4-17, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Cheri Devlin
Cheri Devlin
This year has already kicked into full gear and the transformation of downtown Morgan Hill is set to begin this month. The city of Morgan Hill is committed to doing everything it can to minimize the impacts of construction to downtown residents and businesses, and in supporting their efforts, included below is a recap of the communication Maureen Tobin, city of Moran Hill communications and engagement manager, sends out bi-weekly to keep everyone engaged and informed.
The parking structure project behind Huntington Station is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 9. As the site preparation begins, there are likely to be trucks in and out on both 3rd and 4th streets, up and down Depot Street, and construction noise during the day. The project is anticipated to be completed in mid-November, which is very exciting for the holiday season.
The Complete Street Pilot Project, which involves narrowing Monterey Road to one lane in each direction between Dunne and Main, is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 16. The intention of this upgrading of our streets project is to increase business vitality, particularly in the downtown core, by providing a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly environment. Striping of the road will be done Feb. 16 and 17 (weather permitting) and the official start will be Feb. 18. While this does not directly impact Third Street or Depot Street, it indirectly affects everyone downtown. The pilot project is scheduled to be completed in September.
One of the tools that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the complete streets pilot project will be the analysis of sales tax returns. Because sales tax data is delivered retroactively, policy makers would very much like to have more timely access to this information to gauge the impacts of the pilot. In order to do so, the Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Morgan Hill Downtown Association and city of Morgan Hill, will be working together to manage a Business Vitality Measurement Pilot Program. Businesses in the downtown corridor are being asked to participate in a voluntary self-reporting program. Given the sensitivity of collecting such data, the actual dollar figures of the data provided will be kept confidential. However, the percentage increases and decreases in revenue will be disclosed to the public.
Also, the city is soliciting feedback on how its staff and members of the public will evaluate the success of the pilot project beyond actual dollar figures. If you are interested in participating, visit www.survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eaervx9ni4vzrbbe/start and complete the 10 question survey.
Mini Grant Placemaking Art Pieces are scheduled to be installed in various locations in downtown during March. Utility undergrounding for downtown side streets is scheduled to begin in June. Reconstruction of Fourth Street is scheduled to begin in June, too. The Third Street construction is currently scheduled to begin in August, and the Monterey Road Streetscape improvements are scheduled to begin in August as well.
Cheri Devlin is a Morgan Hill resident and president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association Board of Directors.
