Group says the city is ignoring the will of local voters
Published in the March 16- 29, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Asit Panwala
A 3.39-acre property near the intersection of Lightpost Way and Madrone Parkway in north Morgan Hill is the site where developer River Park Hospitality wants to build a Hilton Garden Inn. Last April, the Morgan Hill City Council voted 3-2 to rezone the land from industrial to commercial use to allow the hotel to be built, despite warnings from a group of hotel owners and managers who say the local hotel market cannot sustain another mid-level size hotel.
In January, they filed a lawsuit against the city of Morgan Hill.
Asit Panwala is the San Francisco-based attorney representing the Hotel Coalition of Morgan Hill in the case. Morgan Hill Life asked Panwala to explain the suit and why the hotel owners have brought it against the city.
The Hotel Coalition of Morgan Hill is suing the City of Morgan Hill for violating the California Election Code, seeking a court order to suspend the ordinance (No. 2131) that rezoned the parcel of land from industrial to commercial use. Please explain the lawsuit.
Last spring, more than 4,000 (voters) signed a petition suspending ordinance 2131, and asking the city to repeal it or place it on the ballot for voter approval before it went into effect. Instead of honoring the wishes of the voters and following the Election Code and State Constitution, the city council chose to terminate the referendum despite acknowledging that a sufficient number of voters signed it.
The Hotel Coalition sued on behalf of the voters and itself to force the measure on the ballot. The city capitulated and placed it on the ballot, but also decided to sue to take the measure off the ballot. Their decisions have been anti-democratic.
Why is this question of rezoning the land important to the Hotel Coalition of Morgan Hill and what might be the financial impact to the hotel industry here?
The question of zoning is important because we need smart development in Morgan Hill. We do not have enough jobs in Morgan Hill for the residents who live here. We have one of the lowest jobs-to-residents ratio in the county. Many residents commute north for work. Rather than using industrial land to attract companies and industry to Morgan Hill, the city is trying to change the zoning so that another hotel could be built. A hotel that will create minimum wage jobs and use valuable water rather than create lucrative jobs that allow employees to buy a home and live in Morgan Hill. Industrial land is scarce in our city and should not be changed to commercial.
How stable is the growth of room supply in Morgan Hill, especially as Silicon Valley uses the city’s hotel for corporate visitors?
Allowing another hotel to be built in Morgan Hill will be disastrous. There are approximately 500 mid- to high-level hotels rooms.
One hundred rooms will open soon at the La Quinta on Condit Road. There are plans for a 60-room boutique hotel downtown. Adding another 150 rooms would increase the supply by 60 percent in a very short period of time. It’s unsustainable and all of the hotels will suffer, especially in light of the fact that 3,500 hotel rooms will be built in San Jose in the coming years.
Unfortunately, Morgan Hill has lost businesses rather than attracting them, and the number of hotels built recently in Santa Clara/San Jose supplies the rooms needed for Silicon Valley businesses.
More than 4,000 people signed a petition to suspend Ordinance 2131 and the city clerk certified the petition, but the city later terminated it. How does this action impact the lawsuit?
The city’s decision to terminate a valid petition was illegal and undemocratic. It shows that the city will take any measure, including illegal ones, to help an out-of-town developer build a hotel on scarce industrial land.
I feel lucky to live in this country where we value freedom and democracy, and I hope that the court will see that the city’s arguments lack merit. Clearly, the city could care less about what the voters think. Otherwise, they would have paused and reconsidered other options.
Why isn’t the coalition concerned about the new hotels being built — the La Quinta Inn on Condit Road and the boutique hotel planned for the downtown?
The Hotel Coalitions is not anti-development. We are for smart development. Industrial land is needed to bring jobs and companies to this city. Without that key component, the hotels will not thrive and our town will suffer financially.
We believe that the market can absorb growth in hotel rooms provided by La Quinta and the downtown boutique hotel, but none of the hotels thrive if we increase the supply of rooms by 60 percent in one or two years.
An out-of-town developer bought industrial land which is half of the cost of commercial land and then proposes a hotel. He should not receive a hand-out from the city, especially in light of the fact that we do not need another hotel and need more industry that brings more higher paying jobs to come to our city.
