Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Backers of an initiative aimed at slowing growth by prohibiting Hollister from extending services outside its city limits submitted nearly 3,900 petition signatures to City Hall on Oct. 16.
The total number of signatures was about 1,400 more than the minimum required to proceed, City Clerk Merab Talamantes told BenitoLink.
The signatures still need to go through a validation process before the petition can be considered by the Hollister City Council, which would either adopt the initiative establishing an urban growth boundary or submit it to a public vote.
San Benito County Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder-Elections Ana De Castro Maquiz said her office, which is tasked with verifying the signatures for Hollister, received 3,879 signatures from the city on Oct. 20.
De Castro Maquiz noted her office will confirm the signature count and that the city will then decide how to proceed, which can include conducting a random sample verification of at least 500 signatures within 30 business days, or else verifying all of the signatures submitted within 90 business days.
The proponents need 2,426 valid signatures from registered voters living in Hollister for the City Council to adopt the initiative or place it on a future ballot.
De Castro Maquiz said a special election would cost between $87,000 and $92,000.
According to the petition, the lead proponents of the Hollister Urban Growth Boundary and Voter Empowerment Initiative are Larry Rebecchi, Craig Rutz and Belinda Garcia.
Mary Hsia-Coron, a backer of the initiative who was among those delivering the signatures to the city, did not respond to requests for comment.
Hsia-Coron is an officer of the group Protect San Benito, according to the organization’s documents. She said at the Sept. 21 City Council meeting that her group backs the initiative. She also said two other local groups—Hollister Guardians and Save Hollister From Developers—launched the petition.
The proponents had until March 7, 2027 to submit the signatures, Hollister administrative analyst Leah Calderon previously told BenitoLink.
The initiative’s stated intent is “encouraging infill development” and “promoting compact growth.” However, 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.
According to the initiative filed with the city on Aug. 24, the measure would ask voters to approve any new city services outside the boundary, which it proposes to place near or at the city limit in conjunction with another planning boundary known as the sphere of influence.
The initiative also proposes to remove the urban service area, which identifies where the city can provide services beyond its jurisdiction.
While the initiative intends to limit development outside the city boundary, it does allow certain projects to move forward without voter approval, such as schools, roads, government buildings, facilities that support agricultural operations, and housing necessary to meet state and federal laws.
This is the second time Hsia-Coron has taken the lead on a similar initiative.
In March 2020, she and her husband Andy Hsia-Coron 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 abandoned about a month later because it was in the midst of the COVID pandemic and according to Mary Hsia-Coron, many of the effort’s members were retired and at high risk of contracting the virus.
The Hsia-Corons successfully led the passage of Measure A in 2024.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website covering San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and to providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.