$1 • Friday, July 21, 2017 • Vol. 123, No. 29 • morganhilltimes.com • Serving Morgan Hill since 1894
Morgan Hill housing market hits record highs HOME SALES PRICES NOT SLOWING DOWN Scott Forstner Reporter
➝ More photos, 14
➝ Real Estate, 13
Robert Eliason
660 W. Main Ave., is one event in a summer filled with educational programs for children at the site. For more information about summer learning and events at the library, visit sccl.org/ Locations/Morgan-Hill.
Locating a house on the market for under $800,000 in Morgan Hill is like finding a needle in a haystack these days, and home sale prices are only on the rise, according to local real estate people. Even with the nonstop new construction at what seems like every open nook and cranny throughout town, the demand continues to far outweigh the supply in Morgan Hill and throughout South County. “This is definitely the time to sell,” said realtor Kathleen Davis with Coldwell Banker Real Estate. “(Home prices) are as high as I’ve ever seen them. You can’t really get much in Morgan Hill for under $800,000 anymore.” While it is a sellers’ market, the home buyers, with enough savings and annual income, can get “very affordable” interest rates around 4 percent for a 30-year mortgage, according to Davis. Davis, who lives in Morgan Hill and has children attending the local public schools, said homes are “snatched up and bought right away”—sometimes even above asking price— and can go into escrow in a week or less. “We have a lot of migration into South County,” added Davis, who estimated at least 80 percent of buyers are from San Jose and even farther north. “They are looking for good schools in a nice community.”
ONE LIZARD, THREE KIDS Local children Aiden Fergusen, Collyer and Gage (last names not given) hold a black and white Tegu
at a presentation hosted by Python Ron McGee July 14 at the Morgan Hill Library.
It’s a reptilian affair MORGAN HILL LIBRARY HOSTED ‘PYTHON RON’ PRESENTATION JULY 14 Ron McGee, known as THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
JULY 21, 2017
FEASTING ON FIFTH
A section of the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
Food trucks have gone upscale and gourmet in Gilroy
STEFANIA WINE P10 | LION KING P12 | REALTOR MARY SQUIRE P16
Inside this issue: Food Truck Review
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“Python Ron,” brought his traveling reptile kingdom to the Morgan Hill Library July 14 to give local children a chance to get up close and personal with giant snakes and other critters they’re unlikely to encounter anywhere else near their homes. The kids and their
parents learned all about the albino python, black and white tegu, bearded dragon, Borneo roughneck lizard, African spur tortoise and other reptiles while getting a chance to pet and hold the animals. Python Ron’s Reptile Kingdom is based in
Grand jury report on SEQ draws fire BODY ACCUSED OF MISLEADING, OMITTING FACTS Michael Moore Editor
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Modesto. McGee and his animals travel the state to give educational and entertaining hands-on presentations about “the world of reptiles, spiders and insects,” according to his website, pythonron.com. The July 14 presentation at the Morgan Hill Library,
A Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report that investigated the failure of the Catholic Diocese to annex property to build a new high school in Morgan Hill is harshly critical of the local commission tasked with processing such approvals.
But some environmental groups who have followed the high school’s annexation effort closely in recent years think the report was home-cooked with a bias in favor of the City of Morgan Hill, because the 2016-17 grand jury foreperson is a city planning commissioner. These critics also claim there are some “factual inaccuracies” in the report. The grand jury report titled “LAFCO Denials: A high school caught in the middle,” published
June 5, took an in-depth look at the city’s effort in 2016 to annex about 230 acres of agricultural land from the 1,200-acre Southeast Quadrant into Morgan Hill’s Urban Service Area. As required by state law, the Morgan Hill City Council submitted an application requesting this annexation to the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). The seven-member LAFCO commission rejected the annexation proposal on a 5-2 vote
March 11, 2016. A second motion for an alternative proposal—to annex only the 38 acres within the SEQ (at the intersection of Tennant and Murphy avenues) designated by the Diocese for a private high school—failed at the same LAFCO meeting. The grand jury report took LAFCO to task for inconsistently and subjectively enforcing its guidelines and applying undefined terminology to their annexation criteria. It also criticized the City of Morgan Hill for not including
enough public participation in the SEQ process and ineffective communication with LAFCO staff. Both agencies are responsible for the “strained relationship” between them, the grand jury report suggests.
‘Inherent bias’?
A group of private, nonprofit environmental organizations that argued against the city’s SEQ annexation proposal sent a letter to the LAFCO board ➝ LAFCO, 10