Photo courtesy of Mia Casey.
Photo courtesy of Mia Casey.

This commentary was contributed by Hollister Mayor Mia Casey. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues.

 

I take being your mayor seriously and I won’t apologize for asking questions and doing thorough research to ensure projects we undertake or laws we create have adequate review and make sense for our community. I am not someone who just rubber stamps things. I’ve observed policies in the past that were pushed through too quickly and wreak havoc, and then end up being rescinded or rewritten. It is a waste of city resources.

My questioning or asking for changes during council meetings is in no way a condemnation of our city staff. They are a wonderful group of dedicated individuals who work hard and serve our community well, despite being very understaffed. This is about being careful. Not overlooking anything. Reducing legal risk. Making sure we put our best foot forward and undertake projects, create policies or laws that enhance our community.

 

The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance:

At Monday’s meeting we reviewed an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. This ordinance will require all development to include a percentage of affordable housing on every project. Some have insinuated because I asked questions and requested additional work that I don’t support this ordinance. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I know how important affordable housing is to our community. I was not in office yet when this ordinance was worked on last year. To bring myself up to speed I did research, watched meeting videos, reviewed the scope of work and looked at what other communities are doing around inclusionary housing. I do support the ordinance, but want to make sure we have a thorough review and end up with the best ordinance possible.

I discovered an important part of the process outlined in the scope of the contract was not completed–the community outreach meeting. This allows residents and stakeholders to come together and discuss the ordinance and make observations and suggestions. Community input is vital to local government. I requested bringing the ordinance back after the community outreach piece was completed, and there was opportunity to review the input and consider any needed changes. Both Councilmember Burns and Councilmember Morales supported this recommendation.

There is also a concern about the requirement that 20% of each project to be affordable. This is a high threshold that can cause problems. The State of California has underscored that an ordinance that goes over 15% may actually become a deterrent to getting affordable housing built. In fact, the State requires a feasibility study for levels over 15% because they want proof this won’t become a roadblock to building. Our consultant did that feasibility study. The report concluded the 20% was too high: “As noted above, the Inclusionary Scenarios of all five prototypes dropped to infeasible levels…This indicates that a 20% inclusionary requirement consisting of roughly equal proportions of very-low-, low- and moderate-income units will render residential development projects financially infeasible.”

The only way to make it ‘feasible’ would be to offer big incentives to make the project work financially. The consultant recommended adding a massive 56% Density Bonus incentive. What does this mean? As an example, a project that would normally only build 100-units would be able to build an additional 56 units making things very dense! With only so much space on a piece of land, this means building up–we would begin to see a lot of 3, 4 possibly even 5 story buildings around town.

One of the concerns raised by Councilmember Morales’ is whether or not our fire department has a ladder tall enough to reach buildings that are 3 stories or higher in case of fire. Our Fire Chief indicated that we do not. This is a big safety concern.

I love our small town with its rural charm and open spaces and I want to preserve it. A lot of tall buildings going up around town will change Hollister into a more urban city feel. That 20% level will bring with it a number of impacts and unintended consequences. Everything I have read indicates successful Inclusionary Housing ordinances are set at more reasonable levels of 10-15%. San Benito County has adopted a 15% policy. Gilroy has a 15% policy. Morgan Hill has a 10-15% policy. That is why I suggested dropping our policy to 15%. It makes sense. I want affordable housing to actually be built, and it is more likely to occur if we set a reasonable level. Also, it won’t be necessary to offer that massive density bonus which creates fire safety risks or causes us to lose our small-town charm.

 

Disruptive and unprofessional behavior has no place at City Council meetings:

One councilmember wanted the ordinance to pass Monday evening and had invited the news to attend. During the deliberation rather than allowing fellow councilmembers to ask questions and discuss concerns, Councilmember Resendiz chose to hurl insults and accusations at others in an attempt to silence and discredit them. Despite a point of order being called he continued the tirade, and has even repeated his accusations to the press. While everyone on council should have the opportunity to share their views, demeaning or disrespecting others only creates division and negativity and does not serve the council, the city or the community.

Disruptions and personal attacks can actually interfere with the ability to get work done. It became necessary to stop the meeting and go to a recess. While an informal warning had already been issued, the councilmember has indicated he has no intention of conforming to the rules of order, complying with our Code of Conduct or respecting other councilmembers. This is truly unfortunate. None of us wants to have disciplinary hearings, but I will do what is necessary to keep order at meetings. And I know the community does not want to see Hollister council meetings return to the dysfunctional state of past years.

The days of creating drama, division and negativity must give way for positive change to occur. Respecting each other despite differing views is essential for an effective city council. Nothing less is acceptable.