A hotel in Tres Pinos?
I have been a resident of Tres Pinos for 30 years. My husband
was born when his parents lived in Tres Pinos behind the Tres Pinos
Inn 67 years ago. If you do not think that the issue of the Spur
Hotel is about sentiment and emotion and public opinion folks, then
you are sadly mistaken.
A hotel in Tres Pinos?
I have been a resident of Tres Pinos for 30 years. My husband was born when his parents lived in Tres Pinos behind the Tres Pinos Inn 67 years ago. If you do not think that the issue of the Spur Hotel is about sentiment and emotion and public opinion folks, then you are sadly mistaken.
We do not need a gateway into our town. Ed Schmidt’s home of 40-plus years provides the entire gateway we need. The Immaculate Conception Church on the other side of town has always led our way home.
I have been an employee of the county of San Benito for 23 years, 20 of it as a service employee for the San Benito County Department of Child Support Services. I did not choose to speak at the meetings because my emotions on the subject run too deep. I did attend both hearings on the Spur Hotel and was proud of the way the Planning Commission and the public conducted the first meeting. There was no hostility in the crowd, no feeling of one’s safety as someone insinuated at the second meeting. At the end of the first meeting, the zone change did not pass and the commission was to come back with the findings to deny the zone change, thus the reason for he second meeting. Why didn’t that happen? Why then wasn’t Mr. Eade then directed to appeal? Instead, Mr. Eade came back in full force with several people to speak on his behalf for the Spur Hotel, and another open discussion ensued.
Any discussion regarding the general plan amendment should have been done at the first meeting prior to the denial of the zone change, or should have been continued due to the lateness of the hour.
Did Mr. Eade have inside information as to the direction the second hearing was going to take the evening of June 20, because the residents of Tres Pinos sure did not.
I personally feel that the residents’ opinion about the Spur Hotel doesn’t really matter. These are the great grandparents, grandparents, parents and children that have kept the town alive for so many years without a hotel. With the revenue the Spur Hotel will allegedly make, how will the county then enhance our town? How will the county make it safer for our children? Will there be security for the newly proposed parking lot separated from the Hotel, and bordered by three streets? How will the county provide police and fire protection? We don’t have murder. We don’t have gang violence. We don’t have graffiti. We don’t have rape and kidnapping. Are you, the county, willing to risk bringing this type of influence into our town? And if you pass this hotel, what is “your” plan then to protect us?
And To Mr. Leal, I will not address the facts of the motion for the denial for the zone change either, since you did not, but I can address wine. I love wine and wineries. My husband worked for Almaden Vineyards for several years as a ranch foreman. My son’s girlfriend works for a winemaker in Morgan Hill. If you love the Spur Hotel project so much, why don’t you collaborate with John and Jae Eade and make it a gateway to your wine tasting room at the corner of Fairview and Maranatha? I’m sure the Planning Commission could easily change the zoning from an R1 to commercial, the property being so close to Ridgemark, golfing, Hollister, shopping, and Tres Pinos. It would make the perfect gateway to Hollister from the south and Tres Pinos to the north and Ridgemark from the east. There would be very little impact to residents and children.
The county should realize that property owners who have resided in, and have raised their children in Tres Pinos for generations, are talking of moving, as their cherished neighborhood will now be substituted with sound walls and parking lots and all that goes with it. Their homes will be replaced with new families, but not necessarily the kinds of families that make our town beloved.
Tres Pinos has been a decent town, a slow growing town, a quaint town for many years. It has been good to its residents. If this project is allowed to pass you can be sure that it will create a domino effect. Some of the most outspoken for the project have been Tres Pinos and Hollister business owners who have the ability to gain financially, but do not reside there and therefore cannot begin to know the impact a hotel will have on residents.
I sincerely hope that the Planning Commission does rely on the facts in Mr. Eade’s application for a zone change, because that is the process, but I also hope that the commissioners take into consideration people, because people came to your meetings, and voiced their feelings, especially the Tres Pinos residents who spoke from their hearts about what is best for their town.
In years past the Planning Commission, comprised of a different board then, made a very wise decision for the township of Tres Pinos by converting a commercial piece of property on East Fifth Street, directly across the street from my residence, to residential. The then-commercial property, formerly the site of the blacksmith shop, the Tres Pinos Hotel and the Livery Stable, would not have been conducive to commercial building had it been left zoned commercial, nor would I have had the pleasure of three beautiful homes across the street from me.
I think the board should take a stroll through the town of Tres Pinos, stand on the proposed sites for the hotel and parking lot, look upon the neighborhood, talk to the residents, walk down the bike path, assess the traffic situation, drive down Southside Road, envision the awkward proposed entrance into the Hotel and parking lots, and ask yourselves like the residents do each day?
Would I want the biggest Hotel in San Benito County in my back yard?
Cassandra Spencer
Tres Pinos
