Hollister
– The final environmental impact report for Award Homes’ planned
677-unit subdivision will go before the City Council on Monday.
Hollister – The final environmental impact report for Award Homes’ planned 677-unit subdivision will go before the City Council on Monday.
The council meeting will be one of the last opportunities for the city to discuss the project as a whole. According to city planning manager Mary Paxton, the city still needs to approve the project’s tentative site map and perform site and architectural reviews of each of its individual components.
“I don’t know how it’s going to go,” Councilman Doug Emerson said. “I know it’s going to be very controversial.”
The project has drawn fire from many locals who believe it could have a big effect on the community and its infrastructure. Hollister resident Carmen Garza said most of the subdivision’s residents will probably commute to out-of-town jobs, turning Hollister into even more of a bedroom community.
The city needs more jobs, not more homes, she said.
“You’re making a bedroom; that’s all you’re doing,” Garza said.
But Hollister resident John Ucovich said bringing more residents to Hollister will be a shot in the arm for the city’s finances and local businesses.
“It just helps the general economy all the way around,” Ucovich said. “You can’t do it without the numbers.”
Award Homes signed a development agreement with the City Council in October of 2000, but the project was held up by years of litigation. In the settlement agreement, the Local Agency Formation Commission agreed to annex the project into Hollister, and Award Homes agreed to give the city additional incentives, including more affordable housing.
If everything goes smoothly, city officials have said construction could start at the end of 2008, when Hollister’s sewer moratorium is lifted.
Redevelopment Agency Director Bill Avera said that the build-out of the subdivision is likely to dominate local development for the next few years.
The EIR states that all of the project’s impacts can be mitigated except for traffic. Drivers will likely see increased delays at San Benito Street and Nash Road, San Benito and Fourth Streets and along San Benito Street/San Felipe Road between Hillcrest Road and Highway 25, according to the report.
Emerson said the key to his decision will be whether the project’s traffic impacts are outweighed by its benefits. One of Award Homes’ biggest pluses is affordable housing, Emerson said.
A report from the city’s planning department notes that Award Homes has pledged to make 100 units available to low- and very low-income buyers in the project’s first three years.
Planning Commissioner Chris Alvarez, who voted against approving the EIR, agreed that the developer has been very cooperative, but said he’s still worried about how the subdivision will affect local roads and schools, and about the destruction of vernal pool habitats.
“I’m glad they’re going to come and get it done,” Alvarez said. “I just think we need to ask for more. … If we don’t ask for it, we’re not going to get it.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
