Hollister council denies six-unit housing add-on

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A six-unit housing addition to the Everglen subdivision has been rejected by the Hollister City Council, which cited a lack of affordable and multi-family housing in the proposal.

The council denied the proposal in a 4-1 vote on May 19. The subdivision is located between North Chappell Road and Hwy 25. 

The Everglen project of 82-single family residential units on about 14 acres is currently under construction and was approved in 2022.

The applicant, Pad Investment Trust, was addressing a council whose majority advocates for slowing growth. Pad proposed keeping an existing unit on the new site and subdividing the remaining property into six additional lots. 

Pad Trust’s Augie Dent said he removed the residential units in the undeveloped area from the original project of 88 units because a 2022 density calculation “required to take them away.”

“Since that time, the way density is calculated has been changed so we can now put these back  on there,” he said. “This should have been part of the project in the first place.”

Councilmember Rolan Resendiz said he voted against the proposal because he favors more affordable housing, multifamily housing and parks. 

“That would be a good spot to do some multifamily, some apartments or townhouses or something that will be affordable by design,” he said. “We cannot tell them what to do but we have the authority to say no rather than add six more single-family homes.”

Resendiz said adding affordable units to the development would allow the city to meet the goal of affordable units set by the state for the area. Hollister is required to plan for 4,163 units for the sixth housing cycle. Of those units, 22.2% are to be very low income housing units, 17.8% low income, 18.9% moderate income and 41.1% above moderate income.

The state assigned unincorporated areas of the county to plan for 754 units and 88 units in San Juan Bautista.

Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens said she opposed the project overall because she didn’t see the benefit to the community.

“I don’t see the point of this coming before us, I don’t understand why we’re looking at this,” she said. 

Councilmember Priscilla De Anda said it was a red flag that the project was exempt from the city’s inclusionary ordinance, which was adopted in 2024 and requires residential projects of 10 units or more units to include 15% affordable housing.

“The project targets higher income buyers or investors and to me that signals only a few benefits rather than the larger community,” she said.

Everglen includes a linear park and walkway totaling 1.3 acres along the interior of Hwy 25. Some of the units are planned to have attached accessory dwelling units. None of the residential units were deeded affordable. 

Councilmember Dolores Morales cast the lone dissenting vote.

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