Hollister
– Mike Serpa, Bay Area brand manager for developer Del Webb,
told the Free Lance this week that the company has no plans to
continue pursuing a Sun City project in Hollister.
Hollister – Mike Serpa, Bay Area brand manager for developer Del Webb, told the Free Lance this week that the company has no plans to continue pursuing a Sun City project in Hollister.
The project was the focus of a contentious campaign at the end of 2006. Both supporters and some opponents of the Del Webb-sponsored Measure S expressed hope that the developer would continue considering a Sun City Hollister project despite the measure’s defeat.
Serpa, however, said Del Webb will respect the wishes of Hollister’s voters and move on. He also noted that with the slowing of the housing market, the developer is planning to scale back.
Del Webb spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote Measure S, which would have exempted land targeted for the development from Hollister’s 244-unit cap on building permits. However, the measure was defeated on Nov. 7, 58 percent to 42 percent.
“I wasn’t surprised so much as disappointed,” Serpa said. “We’d been working in the community for more than a year, so we understood the politics involved … but we really thought we could surprise and impress.”
