A regional soccer group is looking at San Benito County as a
possible new home for its soccer complex, which would draw people
from throughout the United States and likely bring much-needed
revenue into county coffers and local businesses.
Hollister – A regional soccer group is looking at San Benito County as a possible new home for its soccer complex, which would draw people from throughout the United States and likely bring much-needed revenue into county coffers and local businesses.
Dave Morton, president of the San Jose Soccer Complex Foundation that is currently located in Morgan Hill, said pressure from the San Jose City Council and the desire for cheaper land has led the group to look at property on Highway 25 near Shore Road in San Benito as a
possible new home for the group’s facility. The group is also looking at properties in southern Gilroy.
“We’re very serious,” about possibly relocating in San Benito County, Morton said. “We need to find a home for the soccer complex.”
“We’re looking at some alternative sites but have not pursued it to the next level. The attractiveness frankly is the potential size of the parcels available. We’re looking to build a large complex. It could be more than 16 fields,” he said.
People from throughout the country would travel to the soccer complex for tournaments about 45 weekends a year, bringing customers to the restaurants, places of lodging and other business that surround the facility, Morton said.
“It has a pretty significant fiscal impact on the community,” he said.
Morton contacted County Supervisor Don Marcus, and the two plan to meet early next month to discuss the possibility of bringing the facility to San Benito.
Though property on Highway 25 near Shore Road is zoned for agricultural use, the county planning department could consider issuing a recreational use permit that would allow the SJSCF to use the land for soccer tournaments, Associate Planner Byron Turner said.
“There could be an issue of loss of agricultural land,” he said. “That could be a sticking point.”
The current 35-acre soccer complex on Condit Road in Morgan Hill was built 12 years ago. The foundation began searching for a new home because the City of Morgan Hill plans to convert the site into an outdoor sports complex. Morgan Hill City officials plan to contribute $1 million of the projected $3.5 million needed to build 16 new fields by Ann Sobrato High School. But San Jose officials, who retain control over the proposed site since it lies in the city’s greenbelt, are demanding exclusive use of several fields as a condition of approval.
Morton and other foundation officials are opposed to sacrificing exclusive rights to any of the fields. They expected to meet with San Jose officials to discuss alternatives soon. In the meantime, they have begun shopping for cheaper alternatives.
The soccer group is also considering properties around Garlic World, just south of Gilroy along Highway 101, as a new home for its complex.
Gilroy City Administrator Jay Baksa said soccer representatives stopped by his office about six months ago, but was unaware of any recent plans to move the facility closer to Gilroy. He welcomed a regional complex, which draws families from Northern California and the western United States for weekend tournaments throughout the year.
“The good part of it is it brings a number of folks in on the weekend,” he said. “That’s good from a restaurants point of view, a lodging point of view. There’s an economic benefit to it.”
Any proposal in Santa Clara County faces significant environmental hurdles, according to Rachael Gibson, a policy aide for county supervisor Don Gage. Most of the land surrounding Garlic World is classified as medium- or large-scale agricultural. The latter designation would not allow for a soccer complex under any conditions. Locating on medium-scale land requires proof that the property is of “marginal” agricultural quality, meaning poor soil quality, water resources or other conditions. More importantly, any land used for recreational purposes must be for the exclusive use of rural county residents.
“The land down by Gilroy would be cheaper, but the reason it’s cheaper is because it has more restrictions on it,” Gibson said. “The challenges are pretty formidable.”
Luke Roney covers politics and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
