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A group of community members is collecting signatures for a measure intended to limit urban development outside Hollister by creating a land use tool known as an urban growth boundary.
If the required 2,426 valid petition signatures from registered voters are collected, the measure could be adopted by the Hollister City Council or placed on a future ballot.
Though the initiative’s stated intent is “encouraging infill development” and “promoting compact growth,” the area outside of the city limits, including areas proposed to be within the urban growth boundary but still outside the city limits, is under the jurisdiction of San Benito County and its land use policies.
The boundary, if passed, would be the latest land use tool pushed by local groups to make it more difficult for commercial and residential projects to move forward in the county.
In 2024, voters approved Measure A, which requires voter approval in order to rezone agricultural, rural and range lands in the unincorporated area to other land uses such as commercial and residential.
According to the Hollister urban growth boundary and Voter Empowerment Initiative filed with the city on Aug. 24 by Hollister residents Larry Rebecchi, Craig Rutz and Belinda Garcia, the measure would require voters to approve new city services outside the boundary, which is proposed to run generally near or at the city limit in conjunction with another planning boundary known as the sphere of influence.
The urban growth boundary is a land use tool used to limit expansion outside of a designated area and to encourage contiguous and compact urban development, according to the California Air Resources Board.
At the Sept. 21 Hollister City Council meeting, Aromas activist Mary Hsia-Coron, who is gathering signatures for the initiative, said the initiative is backed by three groups—Hollister Guardians, Protect San Benito and Save Hollister From Developers. Hsia-Coron is listed as an officer with Protect San Benito, according to campaign documents.
Hollister Administrative Analyst Leah Calderon told BenitoLink the group has until March 7, 2027, to submit the signatures, which is 180 days from when the proponents received the city attorney’s ballot title and summary.
Chief Deputy County Clerk-Recorder Ana De Castro Maquiz told BenitoLink her office would conduct a verification of a random sample of at least 500 signatures within 30 business days of the signatures’ submission.
Maquiz said if the rate of valid signatures is less than 95%, her office would not check the remainder of the signatures because “the [statistical] probability is that it won’t pass.”
She added that if the rate of valid signatures meets the 95% threshold, her office would have 90 business days from the filing date to examine all the signatures.
According to the initiative, “urban development” is any development that requires new or “significant expansion” of utilities such as water and wastewater.
The initiative would also remove the Urban Service Area from Hollister’s General Plan, which serves as the blueprint for future growth. The Urban Service Area identifies where the city provides expanded services beyond its jurisdiction.
The proposed initiative, however, allows development to move forward without voter approval for public use projects such as schools, roads, and government buildings and facilities that support agricultural operations. It also allows the city to approve residential development outside the boundary if it is necessary to comply with state or federal housing laws.
In a statement to BenitoLink, the San Benito County Business Council opposed the proposed initiative, saying the Hollister City Council is evaluating implementing a growth boundary. The business council added that the city’s process would include public input, environmental review and an option to put the approval before voters.
“This initiative cuts in front of that process with a fixed line drawn by petition, locked in for decades, that no future council could adjust on its own,” the business council said in the statement.
The business council adds that commercial development and tax revenue, which fund public services such as public safety and roads, depends on the city’s ability to plan.
Andy and Mary Hsia-Coron, who have spearheaded other initiatives and are collecting signatures for the urban growth boundary initiative effort, did not immediately respond to comment.
It is not the first time a similar initiative has been brought forward in Hollister.
In March 2020, less than three weeks before the state declared a state of emergency and issued stay-at-home orders in an effort to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the Hsia-Corons led an effort through a group called Preserve Our Rural Communities to gather signatures for an initiative called The Hollister Urban Growth Boundary and Democracy Initiative.
The effort was ultimately abandoned about a month later because, according to Mary Hsia-Coron, many of its members were retired and most at risk of contracting COVID-19.
The Hsia-Corons successfully led the passage of Measure A in 2024.
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