El Rancho San Benito staff submits thick proposal to county
planning
El Rancho San Benito, a 6,800-unit project that would rise on an
agricultural floodplain between Hollister and Gilroy, will probably
not come to a vote before local residents for two years or more,
according to the county’s leading planner.
El Rancho San Benito staff submits thick proposal to county planning
El Rancho San Benito, a 6,800-unit project that would rise on an agricultural floodplain between Hollister and Gilroy, will probably not come to a vote before local residents for two years or more, according to the county’s leading planner.
“Up until now it’s been DMB coordinating the process,” said county Planning Director Art Henriques.
Developers from DMB have spent the last three years planning El Rancho San Benito.
Through a series of public meetings, staff from DMB solicited the opinion of residents on a variety of topics, including economic development, education, housing, public safety and traffic.
With the submittal of an official application during the last week of 2007, planning department staff now takes the lead.
The project area is 5,792 acres of ranch and farmland. When it is complete, it would be home to 21,000 people, according to the application.
The vision for El Rancho San Benito, as expressed in the application, is to mimic the look and feel of small town America.
To avoid the cookie cutter look of ’60s era subdivisions, the project would contain a mix of architectural styles, according to the application. The style of the houses will reflect the diversity already found in Hollister, Becker said.
Before the project goes to a vote, the San Benito County Planning Commission and – most likely – Board of Supervisors must approve the project.
DMB staff has a goal of two years from application submittal to approval by the board of supervisors, Becker said.
Even that goal might be unrealistic.
“Now it’s a formal application, so that triggers a number of reviews,” Henriques said.
The reviews may take two years to complete, he said.
While planning department staff wants to complete the reviews in a timely manner, they will take as much time as they need to do a thorough job, Henriques said.
“We want to do this process the right way, from the get go,” he said.
Planning staff will submit the application to outside agencies for review. Agencies such as the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) and the California Department of Fish and Game will have a chance to comment, he said.
It could be three to six months or longer before the application can be considered complete, Henriques said.
“It really depends on the kind of comments,” he said.
Becker hoped the application would be considered complete within 30 days, he said.
CalTrans could require detailed traffic modeling from DMB, Henriques said. Fish and Game could require studies about species of special concern that live in the project area, he said.
Burrowing owls and western pond turtles, both listed as species of special concern on the California Endangered Species List, can be found in the project area.
It is unclear how staff from the agencies will respond to the application, but Henriques would not be surprised if they did require such studies. That would take extra time, he said.
The application also starts the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process, Henriques said.
Due to CEQA, the El Rancho San Benito project is required to go through a comprehensive environmental review, he said.
Consultants for the planning department will produce an Environmental Impact Report. The report will analyze the potential impacts of the project on the environment and ways to mitigate those impacts, if possible.
“My hope is that we are going to have the EIR done by September,” Becker said.
But it will likely take at least a year for before the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is final, Henriques said.
“For a big project, you’re probably somewhere between a year or two years,” he said.
Planning department staff will keep the public involved in the process, Henriques said.
“There will be a number of public meetings with the planning commission,” he said.
Staff will hold meetings with the public at various milestones in the process. The public will have the opportunity to learn about what is happing with the project, comment and ask questions, Henriques said.
When the reviews are finalized, the staff from the planning department will make a recommendation for a county Planning Commission vote. If the commission is challenged, the entire proposal would go to a vote of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors.
“If the board approves the project, and only if the board approves the project, it will be referred to a vote [of the public],” Becker said.
