Officials hope removal will open door for future residential,
commercial development
San Benito County supervisors reversed course Tuesday on a set
of rules that restrict growth.
Officials hope removal will open door for future residential, commercial development
San Benito County supervisors reversed course Tuesday on a set of rules that restrict growth.
The board voted 4-1 to nix the growth management ordinance – which includes an array of restrictions such as annual caps on the number of allocations issued – and voted unanimously on the separate ordinance that requires voters to approve developments of 100 or more units.
Supervisor Robert Rivas was the lone dissenting vote in the decisions. He noted that he opposed removing the growth ordinance in May when supervisors voted to start the process of eliminating it – while an environmental review was necessary before the board could make it official this week.
“I can’t disagree with all that’s been said because I agree with most, if not all, of what was said,” Rivas said.
But he cited problems with the “process” in opposing it.
“We do not have a concrete plan in place to attract investors here,” he said.
His lone dissent, though, means that the county is nixing the two ordinances, approved within the past 11 years, and officials hope it can open doors for future residential and commercial growth.
Supervisor Margie Barrios, the board chairwoman, disagreed with Rivas’ perspective of the county’s direction. She mentioned that a committee is putting together a new county General Plan, which will guide growth decisions.
“This is part of the plan,” she said. “This is the plan that we’re moving toward and have been for a few years. We do have a vision and that vision will be complete by next year in the way of our General Plan.”
There were several public speakers on the topic, while just one was in opposition of eliminating the ordinances. That was Janet Brians, who has been at the forefront of local efforts for controlled growth, such as the Measure G proposal that failed at the polls in 2003. She also mentioned the proposed 6,800-unit El Rancho San Benito development from DMB, which backed out of the plans in 2009.
“If we hadn’t had the growth management ordinance, we might have had the DMB project sitting on our doorstep with the shoppers going to Gilroy,” she said.
Others contended the growth rules are unnecessary.
“We do need to have some growth in this community and we need to remove the roadblocks in front of us,” said Nancy Martin, president of the Economic Development Corp. of San Benito County. “We need to develop rooftops or else we’re always going to be shopping in Gilroy or somewhere else.”
