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Morgan Hill Times By Carol Holzgrafe After a four-hour meeting Wednesday night, the City Council decided to delay making a decision on The Institute Golf Course until July 7.
Council was asked to certify the final environmental impact report (EIR) describing the effects the 18-hole course has area vegetation, wildlife and water quality. Mitigations - or fixes - to problems described in the EIR by
the city, the water district and state and federal wildlife protection agencies are included and must be agreed upon by all parties before certification. The four weeks until July 7 will allow city staff to review changes to the
mitigations proposed Wednesday by Steve Sorenson, who operates the course on Foothill Avenue. Whether the EIR can be certified after this review or must be re-circulated for another 45 days to collect public opinion on the changes
depends on one thing: whether or not the scientific evidence backing up Sorenson's changes is already included in the EIR. The EIR process was unconventional because The Institute graded and landscaped the site and built the
course before the EIR was undertaken and without the proper permits. The American Institute of Mathematics, founded by John Fry of Fry's Electronics, intends to move to the site from its Palo Alto headquarters after the EIR is
certified and a new building is constructed, using the golf course for recreation. How wide the naturally landscaped buffer zone surrounding Corralitos Creek and several ponds would be occupied much of Wednesday's discussions
but was ultimately settled. Wildland buffers are necessary, council was told by consultant Dan Stephens, to protect the red-legged frog when they wander off foraging for food. A second contentious issue was whether The Institute
could buy land elsewhere to substitute for land it altered; that will be discussed during the interim period. Brian Schmidt, a legislative analyst for the Committee for Green Foothills said Thursday that he wanted the EIR
re-circulated in any case. "We should have a chance to look at and comment on the changes," Schmidt said, "and the city should respond to comments. Even if the scientific evidence is there the city should not rely on that
(Sorenson-provided) information." Schmidt said the city has always relied on their expert consultants and the agencies for interpretation. Jim Rowe, the city's planning manager said the city did accept monitoring reports from
The Institute's consultants. In a letter sent to the city on Wednesday, Schmidt and Craig Breon, executive director of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society also asked that ambiguous language be tightened up to make absolutely
clear what mitigations are needed and how they should be carried out. Institute neighbors Rich Gamboa, J.J. Vogel and Darlene Vogel asked the council to guard their interests over nitrate loading of groundwater, drainage
and view problems caused by the course, even though they live in San Martin. They had no quibble with The Institute aside from these few problems. Sorenson said he would have a crushed culvert on Darlene Vogel's property
repaired after she said construction trucks caused the damage. The Institute is located on the former Hill Country property on Foothill Avenue at Maple Avenue. Page last updated June 15, 2004 . |
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