Workshop offers chance for public input on future
developments
By Richard Lopez
Special to the Pinnacle
To better address special housing needs in San Benito County,
representatives from the City of Hollister and San Benito County
will hold a workshop Saturday, Oct. 25.
The workshop is a major part of the outreach efforts by both
agencies to assess the current Housing Element Program, and to
develop programs needed for the 2009 Housing Element Revision.
Workshop offers chance for public input on future developments
By Richard Lopez
Special to the Pinnacle
To better address special housing needs in San Benito County, representatives from the City of Hollister and San Benito County will hold a workshop Saturday, Oct. 25.
The workshop is a major part of the outreach efforts by both agencies to assess the current Housing Element Program, and to develop programs needed for the 2009 Housing Element Revision.
The housing element is part of the General Plan, which is under a revision mandated by law, and it deals with housing development guidelines. The Oct.25 workshop is a chance for the public to have a say in updating the Housing Element portion of the General Plan.
For San Benito County Housing Programs Coordinator C.J. Valenzuela, the primary objective of the event is to help the city and county identify the highest-priority local housing needs.
“The purpose of this workshop is to involve our local community members,” Valenzuela said. “That way, the city and county, along with the public input, can come together and start formulating some action plans.”
Public outreach is a requirement of the Housing Element revision process.
“Because we’re a smaller county, the city and the county thought it would be good to partner [for] the outreach so that we’re not separately going to all these organizations and separately having meetings,” said Mary Paxton, Hollister planning manager. “We’re hoping that we’ll have a better public process by partnering together.”
City and county staff have spoken with members of local nonprofit and social service organizations such as the Hollister Youth Alliance and the One-Stop Career Center, agencies that often deal with people with special housing needs.
“We want to hear from the community itself, what they think the needs are,” Paxton said.
The topics of discussion include housing for the homeless; farm workers; seniors; disabled persons; low income groups; and homes for foster children, among others.
And in the midst of the housing crisis, the issue of transitional housing for displaced homeowners should prove to be a hot-button topic. San Benito County possesses the seventh-highest home foreclosure rate of all California counties, according to Valenzuela.
The emphasis at the workshop will be on public participation. City and county representatives will facilitate discussion, but guest speakers from the local community will be present, including local housing developers, nonprofit spokesmen, and other community representatives. According to Michael P. Kelly of the San Benito County Planning Department, the workshop is supposed to bring everyone together to “bounce ideas off each other.”
The workshop will include an overview of the information gained by the city and county through focus groups conducted with nonprofits and other social agencies, and an open group discussion. Residents will have an opportunity to provide feedback, and then participants will be divided into smaller groups for further discussion.
Each individual group of eight to 10 people will have an opportunity to address a city or county representative directly with their concerns or ideas.
“We need the public to help us prioritize,” Valenzuela said.
The feedback from these focus groups will then be used as further talking points in a larger group discussion.
“We’re trying to give people a fair shot to express their opinion,” Valenzuela said. Those who do not voice their opinions at the meeting may submit written suggestions to their city or county facilitator.
While the workshop is meant to benefit those who are most in need of public housing, Kelly says that anyone with good ideas is invited to attend. Organizers emphasize that public participation will be critical to the workshop’s success.
“If you were to say [from a scale of] one to 10,” public participation would be a “10” in terms of its importance to this event, Paxton said.
“We’re going to want as big of a turnout as we can get,” Valenzuela said.
The Housing Element workshop is Saturday, Oct. 25 from 9:30 a.m. to noon, with refreshments served from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. It will be at the Veteran’s Memorial Building, 649 San Benito St., in Hollister, Rm. 204. The event may extend past noon depending on length of discussions. Translators will be available for Spanish-speaking residents. For more information, contact Abraham Prado at 636-4360 or e-mail
ab***********@ho*******.gov
; or contact Michael P. Kelly at 637-5313 or e-mail
mk****@pl******.us
.
