De La Cruz and Rivas in favor of giving proposal a shot
County supervisors Tuesday stamped an official denial on a
resident’s proposal to develop a flea market along San Felipe
Road.
The board voted 3-2 during their meeting, with Supervisors Jaime
De La Cruz and Robert Rivas in favor of granting the applicant’s
appeal and approving the project.
Resident Robert Rodriguez is proposing the market for a spot
near a runway at the Hollister Municipal Airport. Opponents with
the city and county have contended it is an unsafe distance from
the runway and would create some traffic issues as well.
De La Cruz and Rivas in favor of giving proposal a shot
County supervisors Tuesday stamped an official denial on a resident’s proposal to develop a flea market along San Felipe Road.
The board voted 3-2 during their meeting, with Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas in favor of granting the applicant’s appeal and approving the project.
Resident Robert Rodriguez is proposing the market for a spot near a runway at the Hollister Municipal Airport. Opponents with the city and county have contended it is an unsafe distance from the runway and would create some traffic issues as well.
Supervisors Anthony Botelho, Margie Barrios and Jerry Muenzer agreed that the flea market was planned in the wrong area, but said they wouldn’t be against the project at a different location.
Barrios believed it was important to respect the businesses in an area that was zone as industrial, she said.
“That is an industrial zoned area that has the potential for a lot of industry in the future, and I want to protect that,” Barrios said. “With the proper businesses that we keep that zoned industrial so we can attract the business that may be coming and may be looking at San Benito County.
“They are bringing, my hope is that they will locate here, and bring hundreds of jobs to San Benito County. I’m personally not willing to risk losing the jobs that are currently being provided to hundreds already in that general area.”
Botelho worried that approving the project and changing the zoning could lead to future lawsuits by companies in the area.
“If we do that we are going to have issues,” Botelho said.
Calling the project an opportunity, Rivas hoped to give Rodriguez’s project a trail run – or a permit that would run month-to-month to test its success in the area.
“We don’t know if it is going to work. We don’t know if the location is good and we don’t know if it is bad,” he said. ” But it is an opportunity. And I think it’s an opportunity that we at least have to embrace.”
De La Cruz was outspoken in support of the project, believing that not supporting the flea market would push the county into a “slippery slope” with business in the area.
“Are we going to create his zone in which there are a few people that control this zone and (choose) which businesses they want to bring into this zone?” De La Cruz asked the board. “We are going to a very slippery slope situation (with the businesses) in which we don’t like your businesses – we don’t like the way it is.”
De La Cruz also called into question safety issues in the area, referring to the Hollister City Council’s recent approval of a dog park in the area.
“The safety issue is just hard for me to understand,” De La Cruz said.
Rodriguez was forced to appeal the earlier decision in the fall by the San Benito County Planning Commission, which also denied the proposal. Supervisors’ denial of that appeal should end the consideration for that site.
The Rodriguez proposal near the airport is for a weekend operation with 100 vending booths, parking for 350 or more cars, portable concession areas, chemical toilets, and live and recorded music.
Rodriguez about year ago also had another site denied for a flea market proposal along Shore Road, mainly due to traffic concerns.
The board, with help from the city, did express interest in helping Rodriguez find an alternative site for the flea market.
Supervisors Barrios and Botelho said they have and will continue to work with Rodriguez.
