It is Hollister’s most visible park, yet perhaps its least
visited. With sweeping views of the city and county and its
location just north of downtown, Vista Park Hill has the potential
to be a crown jewel. However, a lack of funding, concerns about
visitor safety and its general state of disrepair have tarnished
the resource.
See the full story in The Weekend Pinnacle on Friday.
BY ADAM BREEN
It is Hollister’s most visible park, yet perhaps its least visited. With sweeping views of the city and county and its location just north of downtown, Vista Park Hill has the potential to be a crown jewel.
However, a lack of funding, concerns about visitor safety and its general state of disrepair have tarnished the resource.
So, despite having less than $30,000 in its Park Development Fund, the Hollister City Council this week approved an ambitious Park Hill Master Plan that calls for $8.7 million in renovations to the 15-acre park – a plan that officials acknowledge may not come to fruition for a the better part of a decade.
“It might be on the shelf for awhile, but at least it’s there and ready to go,” said Community Services Director Clay Lee. “To have a plan in place is a valuable place if grant money does come available. If you can show the funding agency that you do have a plan in place, it gives you a leg up on somebody that doesn’t have plans.”
A report presented this week to the council said that with the current economic climate and lack of residential growth – which drives the collection of park acquisition and development fees – “it is difficult to estimate when the first phase of the project might occur.”
The “best estimate,” according to the report, “is that it would take a minimum of seven to 10 years of solid housing starts and residential growth to collect enough funding to consider design and construction of Phase 1 of the project.
For the full story, see the Pinnacle on Friday.
