Strada Verde Innovation Park (SVIP), the 2,770-acre research and development project for autonomous vehicles, has been delayed after the Southern California residential and commercial real estate developer Newport Pacific Land Company requested on March 9 that the ongoing environmental impact review be temporarily stopped, according to Director of Planning and Building Services Abraham Prado.
“The applicant indicated that they hope to proceed with the project in one to two months,” he said in a March 31 email to BenitoLink. “A request to proceed with the application process from the applicant would be required for the county to proceed with the processing of the EIR.”
Typically, applicants deposit funds with the county to pay for the ongoing costs of environmental impact studies that result in the EIRs. Prado said applicants are periodically invoiced for costs incurred by staff and consultants.
“Draws are made against the amounts on deposit to defray these costs,” he said. “Replenishment of deposit is also required. The Strada Verde Specific Plan application does not include any residential uses. To build residential uses, the plan would have to be amended and approved by the Board of Supervisors.”
According to the county records, Newport Pacific has paid the county $316,000 and has a balance of $63,000 in its account. Prado did not respond before publication to confirm the amounts paid and outstanding are correct.
The controversial project has faced opposition primarily from former Hollister mayor Ignacio Velazquez and local activist groups Protect Our Rural County and Protect San Benito led by Andy and Mary Hsia-Coron who have made unsubstantiated claims that the project includes housing.
Prado told BenitoLink there is nothing in the study that would support Velazquez’s claim. Anthony Botelho, a former county supervisor and current director, local government and community development for SVIP, said: “There are not any plans to change to housing and there would not be any supervisor that would entertain a remote thought of even the possibility. There is not the economic viability to it.”
And while a lot of the focus has been on the property, which was previously proposed for housing, 27 parcels, totaling over 7,400 acres, surrounding the proposed Strada Verde project have been quietly transferred to a Delaware-based company.
Botelho thanked Prado in an email for postponing a joint study session scheduled for March 21, and stated, “We have some new leadership changes at Newport Pacific Land Co. and our new team members would like to have a bit more time to review the current project and the new information that is being generated by the current application in the CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] process through the County.”
Botelho went on to say that, “It is our intention to continue with our application as submitted and on the agreed upon entitlement timeline. We just want to make sure Newport Pacific has a full understanding of the project and alternatives that may be reflected in the draft EIR, before this information is disseminated in a public setting.”
In raising concerns that the postponement of the joint study session and EIS might be connected to recent flooding in the northwest area of the county, Botelho told BenitoLink: “Flooding was not an issue. The water from this year’s storm events acted as expected, within the 100-year flood zone. These are areas not to be developed. It is just getting new leadership up to speed on the project. I am not worried at this time that anything has changed in the desire to pursue the SVIP project.”
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