As the Award Homes 677-unit development project moves forward in
the planning process in the coming weeks and months, the Hollister
City Council must prepare to make an important decision on the fate
of the project.
As the Award Homes 677-unit development project moves forward in the planning process in the coming weeks and months, the Hollister City Council must prepare to make an important decision on the fate of the project.
If there was ever a time the city needed to prove its planning process works it is now, when preparations are being made for the state’s lifting of the ban on new sewer connections.
The City Council’s decision on this project will in many ways serve as a precedent for future development in our city. Since 2002, the City Council has made relatively few decisions about growth in Hollister because of the city’s sewer connection moratorium. The council’s decision on this project will give developers and residents alike a clear picture of what to expect when it comes to development in Hollister.
A large-scale development such as that proposed by Santa Clara-based Award Homes could drastically alter our community. The development project, as it stands now, calls for the construction of 517 single-family homes, 100 apartments and 60 “garden homes” – homes built at a higher density than normal single-family houses – on a 126-acre parcel west of Fairview Road and north of Airline Highway.
The subdivision could lead to increased delays at the intersection of San Benito and Nash streets, San Benito and Fourth streets and along San Benito Street/San Felipe Road between Hillcrest Road and Highway 25, according to an environmental impact report presented to the City Council.
In a city where economic development has come to a virtual standstill in the last four years, this is a huge project. Hollister residents are deeply divided on the issue of growth. Evidence of this divide can be seen in Measure U, the 1 percent growth cap approved by more than two-thirds of voters in 2002.
In many ways, the mere fact that the Award Homes project is moving through the planning process is a good sign for our community. We are glad to see that Hollister is nearing a point where projects of this nature can even be considered.
Economic development is important to our community if we want to create additional jobs, attract young professionals and provide affordable housing.
We can see many benefits coming from the Award Homes project. The project would even help offset spiraling sewer rates in the coming years, something we can all welcome with a flush of relief.
However, large-scale development is also a scary proposition for many in our community who view “growth” as a dirty word.
As the Award Homes project moves forward, the City Council and the Planning Commission must demonstrate that the planning process works.
The city must show that it has learned a lesson from the development boom of the early 1990s that heavily taxed local infrastructure and led to the sewer moratorium.
