A Hollister City Councilman’s reconsideration of opposition to the proposed closure of Nash Road between West and Monterey streets near San Benito High School has rekindled school officials’ hopes that the safety measure will be approved at the council’s Aug. 17 meeting.
The council voted 3-2 against the closure idea in January, with Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and Councilman Karson Klauer in favor of the plan and Raymond Friend, Mickie Solorio-Luna and Victor Gomez opposed. No school officials attended the meeting, and later indicated they were surprised that the item was on the agenda. Several residents living near the school spoke out against the plan to close the roadway for up to 12 hours per day — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — during the school year. The idea of a permanent closure of the road is favored by school officials, who want to connect the campus that is currently bisected by Nash, which is open to vehicular traffic.
Gomez recently suggested bringing the issue back before the council for consideration, with the following conditions:
1. No closure of Nash Road would be considered until a planned bypass south of the campus “was complete.”
2. All mitigation measures identified in the California Environmental Quality Act document were in compliance.
3. Traffic calming measures were in place on Monterey, West and B streets, such as speed bumps, speed humps or “other approved calming devices” as a way to appease residents’ concerns about traffic being routed into neighborhoods near the school
The high school district owns unimproved property adjacent to campus south of Nash, which the district has agreed to transfer to the county at no cost to facilitate the building of a public park. It would also offer a permanent easement for right-of-way purposes, to allow for an access road to the regional park. The transfer of property is based on the condition that student safety concerns be addressed.
A portion of Nash Road between Monterey and West streets bisects the campus, requiring the nearly 3,000 students to cross Nash at a lighted crosswalk up to three times per day during the school day and after school for sporting events on the south side of Nash. The city staff report that will be presented to the council says the Nash Road crossing “poses a concern for student safety.”
What complicates the multi-agency proposal is that the south side of Nash Road is county property, while the northern half of the road is in the city of Hollister. The school district wants the city and county to close Nash between Monterey and West so that the divided campus “will be contiguous and uninterrupted by vehicular traffic.”
The staff report says that the county and city are “willing to consider the closure of aforesaid portion of Nash Road” provided the high school would be responsible for improvement costs necessary to facilitate the closure. The agreement would also require that the county receives the permanent easement for a parkway that would be developed as an alternate route to connect Nash Road and San Benito Street at county expense.
The parkway, the report states, would serve two purposes: to be the access road from Nash Road to the regional park and to extend the San Benito Street extension and serve as an interim joint use road around the south campus for Nash Road traffic.