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Members of the political group Hollister Guardians Action are gathering signatures in pursuit of a referendum to reverse the Hollister City Council’s recent adoption of its 2040 General Plan. The local activist group has until Jan. 21 to collect and submit to the city at least 2,312 valid signatures of registered voters.
According to the summary of the referendum published on the group’s website, the petition “requests that the City Council repeal Resolution 2024-201 or submit it to a vote of the electors of the City of Hollister.”
In Resolution 2024-201, the council approved the 2040 General Plan update and certified its environmental impact report. A key element of the new General Plan is the expansion of the city’s “sphere of influence” in some unincorporated county lands adjoining the city.
A sphere of influence is a planning boundary that defines the city’s probable future boundary and service area. Specific plan areas set development standards and criteria for those regions. The 2040 General Plan update expanded the sphere of influence by adding 3,000 acres, and identifies five specific areas in which development can occur.
The summary of the referendum does not point to a specific portion of the General Plan that the Hollister Guardians oppose. However, the Hollister Guardians Action website states the group opposes expanding the sphere of influence. Community members involved with the group have also noted their opposition to the specific plan areas.
Briggite Baumann-Thorp, who was collecting signatures Jan. 6, said the General Plan was an attempt to circumvent Measure A, which requires voter approval to change land use designations in the unincorporated county from rural, rangeland, farmland and agriculture to other uses.
Councilmember Dolores Morales, who voted to approve the General Plan as a member of the previous council, said the sphere of influence was created in consideration of the planned San Benito High School District campus at Wright Road and the recently completed Gavilan College on Fairview Road.
“The General Plan is an important guiding document for the next 20 to 30 years,” she said. “It is a living document, which means the council can make amendments up to four times a year to adjust to changing needs in the city.”
Hollister City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth said the City Council could call for a special election on the referendum or wait until the 2026 primary. She also said if the City Council or voters rescind the General Plan, the city would revert back to the previous one, which was adopted in 2005.
The San Benito Elections Office told BenitoLink it could provide an estimate of how much a special election would cost, but has not completed its calculations as of publication.
Woodworth said that since the citizens’ group submitted its proposed referendum, the General Plan that was adopted in December has been placed on hold and the 2005 version is still in effect.
California law requires cities, counties and other municipalities to have a general plan, which serves as the city’s blueprint for growth. Hollister began the process of updating its plan in 2020. It has 10 elements including Housing, Open Space and Agriculture, and Land use and Community Design.
According to the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), the state requires jurisdictions to “periodically” update their general plans. The documents are traditionally updated every 15 to 20 years.
“The housing element is the only portion of the general plan that is on a mandated update schedule,” LCI states. The city submitted its housing element to the state for review in 2024. While still under review, it is unclear if the housing element would also be repealed and open the door for a process known as “builder’s remedy,” which requires a county or city to make one of five findings before denying a project.
A Political Shift
When BenitoLink approached a group of seven people collecting signatures at Nob Hill, local activist Mary Hsia-Coron said they had no comment. Signature gatherers have also frequented the Safeway and Target parking lots.
Hsia-Coron is treasurer of Campaign to Protect San Benito, formerly known as Preserve Our Rural Communities. She has helped lead other land use reform efforts including Measure A, which county voters passed in November. She is also aligned with Hollister Guardians, which is led by Jasmine and Bella Rosales.
“This plan allows residential subdivisions to be built along Fairview, Union, and Buena Vista roads,” the Hollister Guardians website states. Those areas are within the unincorporated county jurisdiction. Any proposed development would need county approval unless it is annexed into the city limits.
Though the sphere of influence was adopted as part of the General Plan, it can still be rejected by the San Benito County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), the agency consisting of elected representatives from San Juan Bautista, Hollister, San Benito County, plus a non-elected resident.
According to its website, LAFCO’s mission is to “encourage the orderly growth of local communities, preserve agricultural lands, discourage urban sprawl and assure efficient local government service.”
San Benito County LAFCO Executive Director Jennifer Stephenson said Hollister needs to file its sphere of influence for a municipal review. She said LAFCO is going through the same process with San Juan Bautista.
According to the Hollister Guardians Action website, the signature-gathering is paid for by Save Hollister From Developers. Hollister Guardians Action and Save Hollister From Developers have the same phone number filed with the secretary of state. BenitoLink called the number but did not receive a response. There is no information as to the committee’s donors or members on the secretary of state’s website. According to its website, Hollister Guardians Action is a sister organization of Hollister Guardians.
The referendum effort follows a political shift in which voters in November replaced three Hollister council members with ones who campaigned on slowing growth. The Hollister Guardians sent out multiple political flyers in 2024 attacking members of the Hollister City Council. BenitoLink found a number of their statements to be either false or misleading.
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