The San Benito County Business Council on July 13 heard from Hollister city staff members about residential and commercial growth. Afterward, the council held a closed session to discuss the members’ concerns about the ongoing controversy between Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and the rest of the city council over the development of the 400 Block downtown.
“The Business Council has always invested a lot of interest in growth and we have a lot of issues and opportunities that we can take advantage of, including to start implementing our General Plan and moving forward with the zoning map,” said Kristina Chavez Wyatt, the group’s executive director.
Bryan Swanson, development services director, spoke for the city at the council’s monthly meeting that was held at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on Gateway Drive, laying out for the group an extensive overview of the development within the city as dictated by the 2005 to 2023 General Plan. He noted that general plans are living documents that, from time to time, need to be revisited to see if they need to be updated or amended. At the July 19 Hollister City Council meeting, the city plans to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for consultants to examine and possibly amend it.
Swanson went over the two measures (U and Y) that were passed by votes that determined the makeup of housing growth. Even with the recent increase in residential building, the city is still well below the 2.4 percent growth rate or 244 units a year under Measure U, which expired in 2012. In Nov. 2008, Measure Y passed. It was exempt from Measure U for downtown Hollister and allowed mixed-use, more dense construction.
Swanson also mentioned the new 130,000-square-foot retail center that had been approved and could begin construction along the Highway 25 bypass in Hollister by October.
In addition to a Petco, T.J. Maxx and Panera Bread that were previously announced, he said the outlet will also include an unnamed national sporting goods store, as well as Chipotle and a Black Angus Restaurants. He also said the John Wynn project just north of the Hollister Municipal Airport on San Felipe Road where Swank Farms operated for 40 years, was on track.
“Mr. Wynn is creating a 150,000-square-foot building, which he will utilize to make smart glass in Hollister,” Swanson said, telling BenitoLink afterward that the new facility will cover approximately 20 acres of the 220 acres Wynn bought and that he will also be developing the remaining acreage. The smart glass facility will employ approximately 150 people.
When asked if he thought there was a disconnect between the actual numbers of homes being built and the public perception as voiced on social media, and if the city is concerned, Swanson said society is controlled by social media.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think the facts are conveyed very well to the people who use Facebook,” he said. “When people see orchards or vineyards converted into homes they don’t even listen to the numbers we put out. We ultimately have to educate the people that are on Facebook and other social media. There’s a lot of miscommunication.”
One Business Council member said she had seen on the Hollister Neighborhood Watch Facebook page that someone was calling for people to go to the LAFCO meeting if they wanted to stop 2,000 homes that are going to be built along Union Road. Velazquez posted that message, though he wasn’t specifically mentioned.
“It’s actually 200 homes,” offered Christine Breen, a local attorney. “The project that is under consideration tonight (July 13) at LAFCO is a 200-home project that’s already approved.”
Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said, “I got a phone call this morning asking me to vote ‘no’ on the 2,000 homes. I’m not even a LAFCO member. The misperception that is being presented by a member of the city is very wrong.”
Bob Tiffany, president of the Business Council, asked Swanson what he thought were some of the positive aspects of the growth. Swanson said he thought there were more investors who care about Hollister.
“Business follows businesses, but you have to have rooftops, too,” he said. “Growth goes hand-in-hand with the Hawkins Development (retail center coming in October). They’ve been focusing on Hollister for quite some time. They need to see growth in order to invest their millions of dollars into the community. Growth is necessary if everyone wants amenities and services.”
Another council member said he found it ironic that a lot of the same people who are complaining about the “massive growth” that isn’t even accurate, are the same people who complain there aren’t any restaurants or services.
“Obviously, we spend a lot of time talking about getting more jobs, but in order to attract new businesses that have jobs that will keep people from commuting you’ve got to have rooftops,” he said.
“Something else that’s overlooked is we have big infrastructure needs here, too,” said Scott Fuller, manager of San Juan Oaks Golf Course. “If we want a wastewater plant and water plant we’ve got to spread those costs over a critical-mass of people. Otherwise, the people who are here are paying way too much. Just look at your sewer bill. How much lower would that be if you had more people to spread that cost with?”
Fuller added that he thought traffic was more of an issue than growth. Swanson disagreed.
“I don’t think widening roads always helps because you’re always going to have traffic,” he said. “This region needs to think a little bit differently. We need to have some rail service that eventually comes to Hollister. If we want to get people from Silicon Valley to work here, sometimes they have to be on trains.”
Tiffany commented that as a group they need to do something about the misinformation.
“We need to educate the best we can,” he said. “What we don’t want, and we’re already hearing some rumblings about this, is for people to overreact and a moratorium comes back in place and we have these wild swings of growth and no growth. That’s what kills a community. We need to have a steady, balanced growth. When you shut things down it kills you economically.”
Swanson told the group that during the second city council meeting of August, the staff would be presenting a traffic study that would propose to lower traffic mitigation fees for industrial properties and possibly shift them to residential.
“At the same time, it would provide an incentive for multi-family housing and decrease their impact fees because rental housing is an investment,” he said. “Right now, impact fees are very high, so we’re trying to shift a little bit so we can get some businesses into Hollister.”
Swanson recommended that people come to that meeting to let the council know their opinions.
Tiffany asked if San Benito County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer had an update on county roads. Muenzer said it was his understanding that COG had decided to wait until 2020 before proposing another sales tax after Proposition P had failed to do so in 2016.
“All the people who complained about the roads, complained about the infrastructure, where were they when we had Measure P?” he asked. “That would have gone a long ways to solving our problems. COG is planning on coming back in 2020 with another half-cent sales tax for transportation. The reason they chose to wait until 2020 is because they aren’t sure what the backlash will be on SB-1 (California 12-cent per gallon gas tax and 20-cent diesel tax).”
Muenzer said the county is planning to place its own sales tax measure on the 2018 ballot. When asked if the Highway 156 project was still going forward, Muenzer said it was funded, he responded, “As long as the state has some money.”
Hollister City Councilman Jim Gillio wondered what the possible timeframe was improvements to the off-ramp from Highway 101 to Highway 25. Tiffany said that because the project was one of many being funded by a 30-year bond, projects would be prioritized. He said it would be wise for the council to lobby for it.
“Unless we have a vociferous lobbying effort coming from Gilroy, from San Benito County to continue to prioritize that we’re going to lose that opportunity,” Wyatt said. “VTA’s (Valley Transit Authority) priority right now is to bring BART to San Jose, so unless we get going with a mobility partnership and making a big effort on the critical nature of project and moving the bond as soon as possible, we might lose that opportunity.”
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