Main story: Supervisors limit development of RV parks in rural areas

Homeowners expressed concerns to board about proposed expansion of Thousand Trails resort

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By Chad Mays and Marty Cheek

Residents living in unincorporated areas of South Valley have long worried about how the potential construction of RV parks near their homes will impact their quality of life. They found relief last month.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously May 25 to approve a re-zoning amendment to change the current Recreational Vehicle Park General Plan, impacting a project to expand the Thousand Trails resort along Watsonville Road west of Morgan Hill. The amended ordinance  will allow RV parks to be developed only in rural zoning districts that are designated for higher intensity commercial uses.

Two other proposed RV park projects are also impacted by the amendment. An application for the San Martin RV Park, originally planned for the northwest corner of Monterey Road and California Avenue, was withdrawn. The DiVittorio RV Park, proposed for the southeast corner of Middle and Seymour avenues, is the second project.

Following the board’s decision, Chicago-based Equity LifeStyle Properties, owner of Thousand Trails, brought an appeal to the county’s Planning Commission on a technicality.

They argued the county replied late to Equity’s April 7 application letter for a use permit which the county rejected, deeming the letter “incomplete.”

The planning commissioners at the May 27 meeting voted 5-1 against approving Thousand Trails appeal, with Commissioner Marc Rauser voting in favor. This means the amendment will become law June 25. Any applicant that does not have a “deemed complete” permit by that date will not be grandfathered in under the current rules.

A group of homeowners living near the RV park calling itself Heritage Neighborhood Alliance fought the proposed Thousand Trails expansion, arguing it will harm the environment and their quality of life in their rural neighborhood.

“These types of expansions have no place in a rural environment,” the group’s leader Pat Toombs said.

The group is pleased with the final outcome of the board’s amendment approval and the commissioners’ appeal rejection, she said.

“They can still expand or put in a new park under the new rules defined in the ordinance and its amendments,” she said. “This really just affects parks trying to begin or expand in rural residential, hillside or ag-zoning areas without a zoning change.”

The proposed Thousand Trails expansion would have added 54 sites on an adjacent 6.8-acre plot of land for RVs to park, a 15 percent increase to the existing resort.

The area is zoned by the county for one home per five acres, Toombs said. The neighborhood group said construction would cause serious harm to the wildlife and ecology of the area and increase light pollution as well as noise that would disturb wildlife. For example, the threatened steelhead trout in Uvas Creek would be put at risk if the water is polluted or drained, they said.

Residents expressed their concerns to Santa Clara County officials about the impact more RV guests could have on the rural environment, community safety and road traffic near their homes.

They put a petition online and gathered more than 400 signatures from people opposing the project.

At a May 10 outreach Zoom meeting facilitated by county staff, the homeowners and representatives from Equity LifeStyle Properties, a real estate investment trust, presented their views regarding the expansion.

Equity’s Director of Asset Management of California Mike Sukel and Equity Regional Vice President for California Jeff Kimes spoke about the positive reviews from Thousand Trail guests and also the company’s environmental stewardship.

More than a dozen homeowners, however, expressed their concerns about how the expansion might cause problems for the neighborhood.

Their worries include home security and fire safety issues, increased traffic on narrow roads, loud noise from RV guests, flooding problems during storms, pollution to Uvas Creek and potential adverse effects from human sewage on well water. There were also concerns about property values dropping because of possible adverse conditions of the RV park.

The proposed expansion may cause safety issues for residents and park guests if they have a long line of RVs and emergency vehicles crowding the narrow roads during a fire or other emergencies, Toombs said.

County ordinance would require Merriman Lane, the narrow road that runs along the Toombs’ home and to the Thousand Trails property, be widened to about 20 feet for emergency vehicles and RVs to get in and out of the park in an emergency.

Equity spokesperson Jennifer Ludovice asked this newspaper to email questions regarding the expansion project and the impact on the neighborhood.

“We have a team of experienced professionals on staff to help manage the project and have enlisted the services of licensed civil engineers, traffic engineers and environmental consultants to ensure that all guidelines of Santa Clara County are followed throughout the duration of the project,” she replied.

Despite what the homeowners say about increased traffic, there would have been mostly non-RV vehicles passing through on existing roads, she said.

“The addition of 54 sites, a 15 percent increase to the existing resort, is estimated to add only 68 trips per day . . .  to traffic flow on existing access roads such as Monterey Road and U.S. 101,” she said. “Many of these trips will be in a vehicle other than an RV, as many guests have small tow vehicles they use for their local driving.”

The environmental concerns are also addressed by Equity, she said. In recent years, Thousand Trails has made “significant investments in green initiatives” at the present resort in southwest Morgan Hill. These included solar energy, motion and dusk-to-dawn sensors for lighting, LED lighting, and smart thermostats.

“We believe being a good neighbor includes being mindful of our carbon footprint,” she said.

Environmental stewardship in the expansion project is also vital to Equity, she said. This includes fish and wildlife care along the Uvas Creek bordering the Thousand Trails site.

Care for Uvas Creek has been taken into consideration in the planning of this project, Ludovice said.

“A 200-foot wide, 1.5-acre woodland area adjacent to Uvas Creek, comprising roughly 20 percent of the total area of the expansion project, has been reserved in the site plan design as a buffer zone which will remain undisturbed,” she said. “Proper drainage and runoff plans would be established and approved as part of the development.”

The county health department and state water board approved a “state-of-the-art” wastewater treatment system on the site, constructed outside of the floodplain, she said. It is designed and permitted to accommodate the new sites and improve treatment efficiency for the entire property. The Thousand Trails resort also maintains monitoring wells for regular groundwater testing, she said.

“The area will be well screened from neighbors and there is no reason to believe the additional sites will have any impact on neighboring property values,” she said.