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A petition circulated by Hollister Guardians Action to rescind the 2040 Hollister General Plan appears to have obtained enough signatures to be considered by the Hollister City Council.
The San Benito County Elections Office notified the city of Hollister that it predicts 2,902 of the signatures collected by the local activist group are valid. The petition needed at least 2,313 valid signatures.
City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth told BenitoLink the city will wait until all signatures are verified before the City Council considers the referendum. She said it would occur at the first regular meeting following the completion of the signature verification process.
The Elections Office has until March 22 to verify all the signatures, but San Benito County Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder-Elections Ana De Castro Maquiz said her office may complete the process sooner. This means the City Council could consider the referendum on March 4 or 18.
De Castro Maquiz said her office informed the city of Hollister on Jan. 31 that the threshold is likely to be met.
According to the summary of the referendum published on the Hollister Guardians Action website, the petition “requests that the City Council repeal Resolution 2024-201 or submit it to a vote of the electors of the City of Hollister.”
Maquiz said the cost for a special election would be between $375,000 and $475,000. The City Council could also place it on the 2026 primary election ballot, which would cost much less.
If the City Council or voters rescind the general plan, the city would revert to the previous one, which was adopted in 2005. Such a move would also rescind the city’s housing element—a component of the general plan—leaving the city susceptible to a provision of state law known as “the builder’s remedy,” which limits how much power local jurisdictions have over residential projects. The city has been out of compliance with a state-approved housing element since Jan. 1, 2024.
The state-mandated general plan serves as the city’s blueprint for growth. The housing element has been required since 1969 and primarily serves to identify where a jurisdiction can accommodate residential development assigned by the state for the next eight years.
In 2022 San Benito County was assigned the planning of 5,005 units with 4,163 to be within Hollister, 754 in unincorporated San Benito County and 88 in San Juan Bautista. Of those units, 22.2% are to be very low income housing units, 17.8% low income, and 18.9% moderate income. The remaining 41.1% can be market rate homes.
The summary of the referendum does not point to a specific portion of the General Plan that the Hollister Guardians oppose. However, the Hollister Guardians Action website states the group opposes expanding the sphere of influence—which is a planning boundary that indicates a jurisdiction’s probable future boundary and service area. Community members involved with the group have also noted their opposition to specific areas identified in the General Plan.
Hollister Guardians did not respond to BenitoLink requests for comment. Among the questions was whether the group approached the City Council to make changes to the General Plan before moving to rescind it.
The City Council, the majority of whose members were backed by Hollister Guardians, has the power to make up to four changes to the General Plan each year.
Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens said she could not comment on the issue because the City Council will likely discuss it at a meeting and consider taking action.
“We should be doing it in public with the entire council and I just need to respect that process and I’m going to honor that,” Stephens said.
She said she was approached by a member of the group early on and asked about her position and she said she answered that she could not comment on it.
Councilmember Dolores Morales, who was part of the council which approved the General Plan, did not respond to a request for comment.
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