Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include Scott Fuller’s comments. Last updated May 13, 12:35 p.m.
At its May 11 meeting, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved nine contracts and amendments totaling $717,616 for consulting and space leasing. Only Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki voted no on three items dealing with contract renewals for behavioral health consultants.
All the contracts were in the consent agenda, where items are approved without discussion unless a supervisor or member of the public requests to pull the item for discussion. Six of the contracts were pulled for discussion.
Among the contracts considered by the supervisors were two related to environmental work for the John Smith Road Landfill expansion project and the San Juan Oaks Specific Plan Implementation project.
The landfill expansion project proposes to increase the size of the landfill by 388 acres. It currently is 95 acres. If approved, the expansion would allow the operator to accept 2,300 tons of waste daily. It’s currently limited to 1,000 tons, of which 80% is coming from outside the county.
A county document further describes the project, its potential environmental impact and required permits and approvals.
In order to increase the landfill’s capacity in the near-term as it is near the 15-year capacity threshold for in-county waste, the operator is applying for a permit to increase the permitted landfill slope. If not approved by CalRecycle, out-of-county waste will not be accepted starting Sept. 20.
Related to the landfill, the supervisors approved changes to the contract with Grassetti Environmental Consulting, which was hired by the county on Feb. 23 to do an independent review of the environmental impact report on the John Smith Road Landfill expansion, for an amount not to exceed $136,685. The contract ends on June 30, 2024.
According to the agenda packet, the Landfill Operating Agreement states that the amount spent on the review of the document will be reimbursed by the landfill operator Waste Solutions Group.
The new contract adds three subconsultants—PHA Transportation Consultants, Vollmar Natural Lands Consulting and Albion Environmental, Inc.—to the team. Though the amount of the contract was not changed, it did modify the rate schedule in which staff from those firms are paid—between $89 and $180 per hour, depending on the position.
The supervisors also approved a $150,000 contract with Denise Duffy and Associates for planning and environmental support services through 2022 for the San Juan Oaks project.
The project consists of up to 1,084 senior residential units, a 200-room hotel and up to 65,000 square feet of neighborhood commercial uses in the 1,994-acre property near the San Juan Oaks Golf Course, according to the agenda packet.
Though it was first approved in 2015, the project has not been taken on by a developer. Developer Del Webb pulled out of the project in 2016 for “business reasons,” as previously reported by BenitoLink.
That might be changing, though, as the agenda packet noted that “a new investment interest may be ready to proceed with the project.” It goes on to add that the contract with Denise Duffy and Associates can serve as county oversight and facilitation of the project.
Scott Fuller, principal with the project and former San Juan Oaks Golf Club manager, said the property owner, Ken Gimelli, has a developer under contract. The developer, he said, is working with the county planning department on permits such as grading and final maps. He said he could not disclose who the developer is and added that it would be made public in early August.
He said Gimelli has owned the property since 2006.
The contract, along with the requirement to review documents, outlines specific staff from Denise Duffy and Associates who will be assigned to the project and that they must participate in weekly meetings to update the county and make “periodic” presentations to the San Benito County Planning Commission.
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