The Hollister City Council may consider pursuing other college tenants for the former Leatherback property on McCray Street after Gavilan College recently reaffirmed its intent to build an educational center on land it owns at the corner of Fairview Road and Airline Highway, across the street from Ridgemark Golf and Country Club.
The council on March 21 received a report from Mary Paxton, program manager for the city’s Development Services Department, on the status of the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) for a build-to-lease 25,000-square-foot education center where the former industrial site — now owned by the city — was located.
Paxton reminded the council that her department came before it in August 2015 with a request to authorize negotiating an agreement with TT&I developers to construct a build-to-lease education center and that the long-range plan allowed for the property to be transferred for governmental use. She said the education center came under the “nine economic development principles” to enhance college education within the community.
The ENA was executed November 2015, but earlier this month Gavilan College announced that it would not pursue a memorandum of understanding in order to establish an education center at that location and opted, instead, to concentrate its efforts to build on land that it already owns just south of Hollister on Highway 25.
“At this juncture, we need direction,” Paxton advised the council, “on whether to continue to identify a governmental use for the property or, as required by our long-range property management plan, issue a request for proposal qualifications for commercial development. The report does ask whether we should continue to pursue a higher education facility there.”
Before asking for council comments, Mayor Ignacio Velazquez asked if there were any public comments. Resident Marty Richman said he had read the remarks from Gavilan’s board of trustees and gathered from them that there is no inkling that the college has any interest in building at the Leatherback site. He said he would like to see some other education-related facility there, if possible, and recommended a search be conducted for private colleges.
“If that doesn’t happen, I don’t see a good government use for that property,” he said. “I hope that you would try to put something there that would generate revenue for the city. Most of our revenue comes from sales taxes, so if it were something that we don’t currently have here that gives us a net gain because it’s something that our residents use, I think that would be one of your top priorities.”
When Velazquez started to ask the council members for comments, City Attorney Paul Rovella interrupted to remind the council that it was discussing an agenda item to review the Leatherback site for an educational center, and said if the council wanted to discuss alternatives it might be best for the staff to bring it back for a future meeting.
Velazquez commented that he thought there had been a change in the law that allowed the city more time to consider what could be done with such properties. He said he would like to find out what other opportunities there might be, such as a recreation center if it also had an education component.
Councilman Raymond Friend agreed with Richman’s assessment and said the council should consider other suggestions, including possible commercial development.
“We are up against an 18-month timeline, I think, to make that decision,” he said.
The mayor said they need a better understanding of what the timeline is. City Manager Bill Avera said he was unaware of any change to the law.
Councilman Karson Klauer said he was disappointed, but not surprised by Gavilan’s decision to stick with its plan to build on the land it already owns, but like the rest of the council he would like to see a governmental use of the property. Avera said perhaps a satellite campus could be set up for California State University of Monterey Bay, among others.
Councilwoman Mickie Luna asked Paxton if there has ever been a survey to determine the potential number of students from the county and Hollister who attend Cabrillo College in Aptos or Hartnell College in Salinas in case there was an opportunity for either to set up a satellite campus in Hollister.
“Our closest college, which is Gavilan, is not interested in us,” she said. “I believe that even San Jose State might be interested. I would like to bring this back for further discussion.”
The mayor said all options were “back on the table,” and recommended a special meeting might be appropriate.
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