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After three years stalled in litigation, Ryder and Victoria McDowell are pursuing an alternative path for their 111-acre property at Betabel Road and Hwy 101.
While their original plan—a visitor center, fruit stand, gas station and motel known as the Betabel Road Project—remains tied up in court, they’ve submitted a proposal for 280 homes on the site, leveraging the county’s delays in meeting state housing mandates.
Peter Prows, the McDowells’ attorney, told BenitoLink the new plan doesn’t mean the original is off the table. Instead, he called it “an all-of-the-above approach” to see what “makes it to the finish line first.”
“The McDowells are trustees of a trust and so they have a fiduciary obligation to continue to think about the highest and best use of the property,” Prows said. “It wasn’t my clients’ first choice for this property, but if it’s what can be accomplished, they have a fiduciary obligation to pursue it.”
The McDowells’ original Betabel Road Project has spent nearly as much time in court as it took to conceive. In December 2022, just a month after the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved it, Protect San Benito County, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the Center for Biological Diversity sued, alleging the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act and state planning and zoning laws by failing to properly consult area tribes.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit in May 2023, but the Sixth District Court of Appeal overturned that ruling and sent the case back to the county. The case drew wider attention in February when Attorney General Rob Bonta sided with the Amah Mutsun, saying the county and the developer had “rushed” the tribal consultation process.
Tori Gibbons, an attorney representing the Amah Mutsun, told BenitoLink that they are still “reviewing” the project. She added that “the tribe is disappointed to see that the developer is continuing to propose an additional development that would harm a sensitive tribal cultural resource area and a sensitive tribal cultural landscape.”
While both sides wait for a new court decision, the McDowells submitted an application in July for 280 homes, 685 parking spaces, and a community building on 23 acres of the site. The proposal includes 223 market-rate units and 57 units for lower income residents.
Prows said the McDowells’ original goal of using the development to raise money for pediatric cancer research remains.
The new housing proposal is in its early stages and was filed under California’s “builder’s remedy,” which lets developers bypass local zoning rules if a jurisdiction lacks a state-approved housing plan, as long as the project includes affordable housing. That plan, known as the Housing Element, is still incomplete in San Benito County, which makes it one of 88 jurisdictions—out of 539 in the state—without one.
Hollister and San Juan Bautista are also out of compliance, but San Benito County is more advanced in the process. In May, the Board of Supervisors approved a new Housing Element, but it won’t be certified by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) until the county rezones 12 parcels to accommodate new housing. Once the rezoning is complete and approved by the board, HCD will certify the Housing Element. Until then, the county remains susceptible to builder’s remedy projects.
Prows said the McDowells haven’t decided which path they will take if the Betabel Road Project lawsuit is resolved in their favor and the housing proposal moves forward.
“We’ll have to see what the market is telling us is the best choice for the McDowells and their charitable purposes at that time,” he said, adding that housing developers have already expressed interest in the property.
As of today, seven projects in San Benito County have invoked the builder’s remedy, senior planner Stephanie Reck told BenitoLink. Together, they total more than 1,400 units on land zoned agricultural or rural.
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