Looking at an aerial view of the potential site for Gavilan
College’s satellite location in Hollister, small groups
brainstormed over how they envisioned the layout of the campus at
Thursday’s meeting.
Looking at an aerial view of the potential site for Gavilan College’s satellite location in Hollister, small groups brainstormed over how they envisioned the layout of the campus at Thursday’s meeting.
The second forum to discuss plans for the future of San Benito County’s Gavilan campus drew around 40 residents. While the first meeting focused on broad ideas for the campus’ programs, amenities and layout, this meeting specifically served as a site planning workshop.
“It is important that it is designed to meet the specific needs of San Benito County,” said Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella. “It is going to be your community college.”
Those in attendance were divided into small groups and given a board with a blank layout of the campus. The groups discussed ideas and plans for where they wanted the campus’ various buildings, classrooms and parking lots laid out on the plot.
Rob Barthelman, a senior associate with Steinberg Architects, which organized the meeting, said that the architecture firm would then take these ideas and use them to present three potential ideas for the campus layout at the next meeting.
“The idea is that we’re eliciting a lot of different ideas and coming away with a consensus on goals,” Barthelman said. “Those will become the guiding principles.”
For this meeting, the layout was planned using the tentative site of the campus, located at the corner of Airline Highway and Fairview Road. This site is still not finalized and is being analyzed for sewage, water, seismic and traffic issues.
Popular ideas included having the main entrance off Fairview Road by Cielo Vista Drive, to help mitigate traffic problems; putting the athletic fields along Airline Highway to create continuity with the green of the golf courses at Ridgemark; putting a theater at the corner of the two main roads to serve as a landmark; and putting in a lot of trees for aesthetics and sound buffers.
Antoinette Ochoa, a Hollister resident and student at Gavilan College, said she wanted to make sure that the campus remains true to the environment of San Benito County.
“I just hope they keep it really naturalistic,” Ochoa said. “That’s what Hollister is really about.”
At this meeting, themes from the first meeting were also incorporated – such as a desire for a sustainable and green campus.
Gavilan College is developing a full-service campus in San Benito County in the next 20 to 30 years.
