In a 3-2 vote, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors denied on Feb. 7 the appeal of a 141-unit residential subdivision on Fairview Road. Supervisors Kollin Kosmicki, Dom Zanger and Angela Curro voted in the majority.
The project was also denied by the Planning Commission on Nov. 16. Commissioners voiced concern that the environmental impact report, which is intended to analyze and mitigate any foreseeable impacts, did not study the traffic impact based on the entire planned development of the area, which includes two residential subdivisions totaling 330 units and the San Benito County Gavilan College campus.
This was the second time that the supervisors discussed the project.
The swing vote was Curro, who said at the Feb. 7 meeting that though the project checked every box the county was looking for in a project and it filled a void in affordable housing, she could not support it because of her concerns with infrastructure.
“This is 141 homes,” Curro said. “[multiple] individuals living in these units that the traffic level can be substantial when you add Dividend Homes and the community college.”
She said the county needed to come up with a new way of analyzing the impact of developments on the community.
“We are a Prop 13 poor county,” Curro said. We don’t have any money and if we continue to not look outside of the box of how we are going to fix our infrastructure then we are just digging the hole deeper.”
She added, “I’m extremely favorable of projects like this but I think we need the infrastructure in place prior to approval.”
She also said the quality of water and sewer hookups also need to be resolved before moving forward.
Developer Bill Lee and Sunnyslope Water District are at odds with the city of Hollister and the Local Agency Formation Commission over the city supplying water to the project. LAFCO has yet to determine whether it has a role in approving water connections for the project.
According to the agenda packet, the Lee subdivision consists of 121 one- and two-story single-family detached units, 20 single-family duet units and a public park. The agenda packet notes that 21 units (15%) would be designated as affordable housing and that 25 affordable accessory dwelling units (ADUs) would also be built by the developer.
“However, 103 of the proposed lots could accommodate a site plan that includes an ADU as an optional feature,” the staff report states.
San Benito High School District Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum, who spoke in favor of the project, also said the district entered into an agreement with the developer to increase its impact fee to the school district from $2.98 to $5 per square feet in order to help fund the proposed second high school.
“The lands of Lee project is a model for the type of home building partner that ensures our next generation and working families are successful,” Tennenbaum said.
Lee said the district would get about $1.6 million from the project. Additionally, he said the project would be required to pay about $2 million to the county in traffic impact fees.
County planner Arielle Goodspeed said per county code, the “exact same” project can be resubmitted to the county in one year after the board’s decision or at any time if it “significantly” changes.
Lee did not respond to multiple queries by BenitoLink on his plans for the project following the supervisors’ vote to deny the appeal.
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