Today will likely see the final vote to approve the Highway 25
bypass project, a $29.9 million undertaking that would divert
traffic off of San Benito Street by building a new highway through
town.
Hollister – Today will likely see the final vote to approve the Highway 25 bypass project, a $29.9 million undertaking that would divert traffic off of San Benito Street by building a new highway through town.
The Council of Governments is expected to finalize details at a special meeting this afternoon, unless lawyers representing landowners who’ve threatened to sue COG if they take their land can persuade officials to find another plan.
However, COG Director Robert Scattini said Thursday regardless of the legal threats he was ready to move forward with the project, which has been in the works since 1959.
“I just feel like there’s so much work that has been done on it already. There’s nothing new, there’s no surprises. We’re past the point of no return in my opinion,” Scattini said.
Last week, COG voted to delay its final decision on the Highway 25 bypass when lawyers threatened to sue COG for millions of dollars if they proceeded with the project as planned. COG’s plans to use land belonging to their clients for the project was unnecessary, the lawyers argued, and said COG was low-balling the landowners in offers to purchase the land.
Like Scattini, County Supervisor and COG Director Pat Loe said Thursday evening that barring any new developments, she was ready to vote to approve the plan Friday regardless of the lawyers’ promise of trouble.
“At this point if someone is going to sue us for putting that road through their property, they’ll sue us. We can’t change the plans; they’ve been tweaked and reworked as much as they’re going to be,” Loe said. “That road has been planned like this since the ’80s, and as far as I know everything’s been done legally that needs to be done.”
A lawyer for Safeway was among several who addressed the board last week, saying the current plans would take 30 parking spaces away from the busy grocery store. Several land-owning families were also represented, including the Righettis, whose lawyer threatened the council with $2 million in damages if they proceeded as planned.
County Counsel Karen Forcum told the council last week there were some legal issues that should be addressed, and the board opted to postpone its vote until today so it would have time to consult with Forcum.
Forcum said Thursday COG would be voting to adopt resolutions of necessity into the plan at Friday’s meeting. This would clear up any legal arguments that planners hadn’t proved taking the land was absolutely necessary for the project, she said. On Thursday the board faxed copies of the newly proposed plan to the various lawyers who spoke last week, she said, giving them time to review them and prepare any arguments.
The $29.9 million bypass project has been planned since 1959, and is designed to divert cross-town traffic off of San Benito Street by building a bypass road off of Sunnyslope Road. The current plan also extends Park Street to connect to the bypass, forming a triangle of Tres Pinos Road, Park Street, and the bypass road. Unless further problems come up at today’s special meeting, construction should begin in June and last about 15-18 months.
One group that will be speaking at today’s meeting represents Mark Gibson, a farmer who owns the land Park Street cuts through in the design. Gibson, his lawyer, and two engineers have put together a different plan that they say will be better for traffic and better for the Gibson property. They first presented the plan to the COG board last week, with little reaction. Today, Gibson said, they’re hoping to make the COG directors more familiar with their design.
“It’s going to be a brief but formal presentation about why we think our plan is better,” Gibson said.
The meeting will be held in the San Benito County Board of Supervisors’ chambers at 481 Fourth Street today at 1pm.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
