MORGAN HILL – The next lob in the contest between the City of
Morgan Hill and John Fry’s Math Institute Golf Course was launched
Wednesday when the city issued a cease-and-desist order, followed
Thursday by a temporary use permit (TUP).
The city and the American Institute of Mathematics have been
going round and round since 1996 over The Institute’s redeveloping
an existing golf course without proper permits and, as a result,
experts say, threatening watershed and wildlife.
MORGAN HILL – The next lob in the contest between the City of Morgan Hill and John Fry’s Math Institute Golf Course was launched Wednesday when the city issued a cease-and-desist order, followed Thursday by a temporary use permit (TUP).
The city and the American Institute of Mathematics have been going round and round since 1996 over The Institute’s redeveloping an existing golf course without proper permits and, as a result, experts say, threatening watershed and wildlife.
Fry, of Fry’s Electronics, is a co-founder of the Math Institute in Palo Alto and plans to move the Institute to the former Flying Lady site on Foothill Avenue, which he owns as part of Corralitos Creek, LLC. The golf course is meant to provide entertainment for visitors to the Institute’s conference center and for Institute staff.
“It is our intent to allow for continued maintenance and limited play of the course – subject to a couple of dozen conditions,” said David Bischoff, community development director for the city. The conditions, he said, are intended to mitigate the environmental impact of the course on nearby wildlife and water to less than significant levels.
The cease and desist order, Bischoff said, demands city access to the golf course by Monday. Representatives of Fry’s Electronics, Corralitos Creek or the AIM did not return telephones calls by deadline.
Randy Long from RCL Ecology, the firm hired by Corralitos Creek, LLC. – the group developing the property – to coordinate the biological issues concerning water and wildlife habitat, said during a public hearing on the draft EIR in March, that the city followed a “worst-case scenario.” It expected a high level of adverse affect on these entities, which were the findings of the city’s consultant, David J. Powers Associates of San Jose. In fact, Long said, the reverse was true.
The TUP allowing continued maintenance won’t expire until March 31, 2004, but play on the course must cease after Sept. 30, 2003, the permit states.
The TUP is to allow maintenance on the course while a draft EIR is completed. It allows 16 rounds of golf a day plus normal watering, feeding and mowing. Golf carts are banned.
In January 2000, the city advised the Institute that a draft Economic Impact Report would need to be prepared. As the applicant, the city said the Institute would need to pay the more than $100,000 for the EIR.
Bischoff said that, of the many conditions, three are primary. The Institute must limit watering on the course to lessen the affect on groundwater.
“They must install a weather station to evaluate the evapo-transpiration rate,” Bischoff said, “though they may already have this.”
The station, Bischoff said, should help determine the proper amount of water needed to keep the course healthy but not overwatered.
The Institute must install three groundwater monitoring wells. And they must reach agreement within 30 days of Aug. 15, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide adequate buffers along Corralitos Creek to protect endangered species. The buffers must be in place within 60 days from Aug. 15.
“We want to do a thorough investigation of other potential violations,” Bischoff said. “Should they not let us on the property or not agree to the terms and conditions of the TUP, we will proceed with enforcement.”
Enforcement could take the form of a citation leading to a hearing before a ‘hearing officer’ – like an administrative law judge – Bischoff said.
“That officer has the ability to impose fines and other restrictions.”
Chief Building Official Larry Ford said the range of possible penalties is wide.
“It could be $100 per day, per violation,” he said, “or whatever the hearing officer decides is appropriate.”
While the private golf course is being touted as world class, making it so involved rerouting Corralitos Creek and grading 200 acres instead of the 50 acres originally requested in 1996.
While the City of Morgan Hill is the lead agency in the dispute, several other agencies – federal and state – and environmental groups as well are keeping an eye on developments. Prominent in the dispute is the fate of the California red-legged frog and the tiger salamander, both on the federal endangered species list, and the quality of groundwater that could be affected by nitrate run-off from fertilizer. To date, none of the agencies has fined or otherwise assessed punitive damages against the golf course.
“If they (The Institute) want to build a culvert (north from Maple Avenue) through the creek they must seek a permit from the Corps of Engineers,” said Jim Rowe, planning manager who has been the issue’s point man since the beginning. “This allows Fish and Wildlife to extend its jurisdiction.”
Rowe said he thought Fish and Wildlife and the other agencies are relying on the city’s CEQA process to require fixes – habitat replacement, for example – rather than pursue law enforcement action.
Jim Nichols of U.S. Fish and Wildlife said his agency has written several strong letters to the city, commenting on the Environmental Impact Report the city is requiring the Institute to prepare.
“We have had intensive discussions with different agencies to come up with solutions,” Nichols said. “We are concerned with the (course’s) impact on endangered wildlife.”
Nichols said his agency is able to fine The Institute for violations but would not say whether or not it is a likely scenario.
The California Department of Fish and Game is also involved but, since the frog and salamander only enjoy “special status species” in California and are not on the endangered list, Rowe said, their agency is less involved.
