Focus needs to be on outside funding for Park Hill plan
A master plan to revamp Vista Park Hill in Hollister has many
great ideas, but the reality is that city officials will have to
obtain mostly outside funding if they hope to finish it anytime
soon. Anytime soon, as in about a decade.
Focus needs to be on outside funding for Park Hill plan
A master plan to revamp Vista Park Hill in Hollister has many great ideas, but the reality is that city officials will have to obtain mostly outside funding if they hope to finish it anytime soon. Anytime soon, as in about a decade.
That didn’t stop parks officials from completing the long-overdue master plan that includes a slate of ideas to transform the land north of downtown into a more desirable destination for families, who have been pushed out by the presence of drug dealers and homeless residents there.
City leaders, with the help of many interested residents at recent workshops, have finished the document despite having only about $30,000 remaining in the fund used for park upgrades throughout Hollister – to eventually “take back” Vista Park Hill and add such amenities as an amphitheater, play areas, a kiosk, basketball hoops and a disc golf course.
There examination was valuable and, despite the likelihood of waiting for a decade to merely get started on the project, parks officials were wise to follow through on the master plan because the most likely avenue for a kick-start to the work would be private or grant funding.
Those kinds of dollars theoretically could filter to the project at any time, so having a plan in place makes sense due to such uncertainties and to have a guiding document available if and when the money becomes available from outside sources. The one thing certain at this point, meanwhile, is that Hollister’s fund for parks – which depends on impact fees from development – has deflated and nearly emptied while this project has an estimated cost of $8.7 million.
Since a top official estimated a seven- to 10-year period before that parks fund collects enough money just to start Phase 1 of the masterplan, it means leaders are better off focusing for a while on pursuit of grant money. And that approach necessitates the master plan or else the efforts, and any hope of this valuable project getting off the ground, will fall flat.
City officials contend Vista Park Hill, developed in the 1970s, still has tremendous potential. They are right. It has beautiful views and an ideal location north of downtown. Parks officials and citizens have done the work they can for now. Next might be the hardest part yet – waiting to see their vision come to fruition.
