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The group Hollister Guardians Action submitted signatures to the city of Hollister on Jan. 21, in a referendum campaign to rescind the recently adopted 2040 General Plan, City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth confirmed to BenitoLink.
Woodworth said Hollister Guardians stated it collected 3,562 signatures, adding that the San Benito County Elections Office will verify their validity. For the referendum to move forward, Hollister Guardians needed to collect at least 2,312 valid signatures of registered voters in the city.
The elections office has 30 days starting Jan. 21 to verify the signatures. San Benito County Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder-Elections Ana de Castro Maquiz said the Elections Office has 30 days to do a random sampling of 500 signatures and 60 days to verify all the signatures.
If the threshold is met, the referendum will be presented to the Hollister City Council to immediately rescind the general plan, call for a special election on the referendum, or wait until the 2026 primary election to put the proposal on the ballot. Woodworth previously told BenitoLink that if the General Plan is rescinded, the city would revert back to the previous plan, which was adopted in 2005.
Maquiz said the cost for a special election for the city of Hollister would be between $375,000 and $475,000.
California law requires cities, counties and other municipalities to create a general plan, which serves as the city’s blueprint for growth. Hollister began the process of updating its plan in 2020. It addresses 10 elements, including housing, open space and agriculture, and land use and community design.
The city contracted with the consulting group PlaceWorks to update the General Plan in 2020, at an estimated cost of $1.4 million. Since then, the city has approved several amendments which added over $938,000 to the cost.
Hollister Guardians Action did not respond to BenitoLink’s request for comment. On its website it said the referendum was paid for by a group called Save Hollister From Developers. Hollister Guardians Action and Save Hollister From Developers have the same phone number filed with the secretary of state.
There is no information as to the Hollister Guardians Action’s donors or members on the secretary of state’s website. It is a sister organization of Hollister Guardians, led by Bella and Jasmine Rosales.
The referendum effort follows a political shift in which voters in November replaced three Hollister City Council members with challengers 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 false or misleading.
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