At City Council meeting on Monday, September 16, Interim City Manager William Avera addressed the concerns of members of the public who had addressed the council at the previous meeting. Concern had been expressed that the City Zoning map had indicated R-4 usage (High Density Residential) for parts of Park Hill, which had been zoned for Public Use. They felt this was a “re-zoning” of the property which they had not been aware of.
During his City Manager comments, Mr. Avera responded to those concerns and stated that the misunderstanding was due to a “mapping error”. He said that there had been no change in the status of the property, owned by the City of Hollister. He reported that the City had no plans for changing the designation of that property to use for High-Density Residential use.
Here are City Manager Avera’s responses to BenitoLink’s questions;
1. What is the error?
“The error is an inconsistency between the City of Hollister General Plan and the City’s Zoning Map. General Plans land use designations supersede zoning. The General Plan has the area around the park (City offices) as Public Facilities. Whereas it appears that a portion of that area on the zoning map is designated as R-4. In fact, it appears that Building “E”currently occupied by the County’s IT department is also designated R-4. It should not be. Those areas should be zoned PF for Public Facilities.”
2. Who was responsible for the error?
“The original maps were essentially created by Consultants working on the General Plan and the Zoning Ordinance. However, the City has amended the documents and maps in the past and is our responsibility. The City bears the burden of making sure the maps are consistent.”
3. Has it been, or when will it be addressed?
“I believe it has been addressed. We have an employee in the Engineering Department that oversees the City’s mapping. It is a relatively easy fix. Once the error is corrected, the City will update the maps on our website.“
This article has been updated 9/17/13 12:22pm to include the City Manager’s responses.