DMB Inc., the Arizona-based developer looking to build a planned
community on seven square miles off of Highway 25, says it still
has no set plans for the property and won’t make any until it knows
what residents want.
Hollister – DMB Inc., the Arizona-based developer looking to build a planned community on seven square miles off of Highway 25, says it still has no set plans for the property and won’t make any until it knows what residents want.
DMB’s Hollister Representative, Ray Becker, said the company wants to do what’s best for the community. And government officials and residents in other communities DMB has come into say that’s exactly how the company operates.
“My impression of DMB is generally extremely favorable,” said Claudia Walters, vice mayor of Mesa, Ariz., which is home to DMB’s Superstition Springs community.
DMB has owned the El Rancho San Benito property off of Highway 25 – the site of a proposed 10,000-home development in the 1980s – for three years, according to Becker. He said DMB doesn’t have any specific plans yet for the planned community, nor does it have any kind of timeline. DMB is still feeling out the general sentiment in San Benito County, Becker said, especially because the county has had such divisive growth-control problems before with Measure G.
Janet Brians, the former spokeswoman for Measure G proponents Citizens for Responsible Growth, said her group’s campaign had been aimed at putting together rules for growth before developers like DMB came in.
“We had hoped to have solid rules in place before these developments surfaced. We knew they would surface sooner or later, and obviously this is sooner. But they’re well prepared and it will be interesting to see how it plays out,” Brians said.
The El Rancho San Benito property has gone through the hands of several owners over the years, one of whom tried to build a planned community in the late 1980s. Roberto Floriani attempted to build thousands of homes between 1988-1990 while he owned the property, but hit environmental impact report problems and a lack of support from local government.
According to Becker, DMB has a different approach to building than most other developers. The company’s philosophy, he said, is to go into a town and find out what the residents want to see, listen to their ideas and build a planned community based on the results.
Those familiar with DMB’s projects in Arizona say that’s an accurate description of how the company operates.
“Their relationship with the city has been very positive,” said Walters, the vice mayor of Mesa. DMB also has planned-communities in nearby Scottsdale and Gilbert, and is building a second community in Scottsdale.
“They have been very straight-forward with working with us, because they take the approach that they want to be here for a long time,” Walters said.
Becker has met with all five San Benito County supervisors to introduce himself and DMB in the past weeks.
Dist. 1 Supervisor Don Marcus, who also owns a private building company, said it would take some time before he had an opinion on the possibility of a new city off Highway. 25.
“I think what we need to do is keep working on the county’s General Plan and see if that’s somewhere where people would like to see a development,” he said. “I think by working on the General Plan we make sure we get everybody’s opinion in there.”
Mesa City Manager Mike Hutchinson, who has worked for the city for 22 years, said when DMB was looking at Mesa for Superstition Springs, the process was smooth and the experience was positive.
“They do a lot of public meetings before they build, and when they do the meetings they certainly listen to what the public has to say,” Hutchinson said. “DMB is a great company from my perspective. We’ve had great dealings with them over the years. They’re a very professional group; they do what they say they’re going to do. I have nothing but good things to say about them.”
Carolyn Harvey, who has lived at DMB’s DC Ranch in Scottsdale Ariz. for seven years, raved about the community, saying it has something for everyone. Harvey and her husband moved to DC Ranch from Connecticut in 1998, and since then Harvey’s daughter and son-in-law have bought a home in the community with their three children.
“My daughter wasn’t living in DC Ranch when we moved in, but she lived nearby. When she came up and started to get interested, she started saying ‘I don’t want to live where I live; I want to live here, too,'” Harvey said.
Harvey’s 91-year-old mother now lives with them as well. Her son also owns a house in DC Ranch, she said, and has just bought a second home in DMB’s Verrado community nearby.
“I remember when he bought the place (in Verrado) and he called me and said ‘Mom, what do you think?’ And I told him, ‘You can’t go wrong, it’s a DMB project,'” Harvey said.
As Hutchinson said of Superstition Springs, Harvey said all of the promises DMB has made to the DC Ranch community over the years have materialized – a community center, swimming pool, playgrounds, parks, and a fitness center have all been built just like DMB said they would, Harvey said. The community recently even got its own Safeway.
“I do hear a lot of people say ‘God, I wish I had a place in there,'” Harvey said. “Resale values are going up; they do great. There’s custom homes being built on the high, high end, but then there’s average people like us and we’re just happy to be here and be able to enjoy all the amenities we have that aren’t just for people who can afford things.”
Since moving to Hollister about a year ago from Southern California, Becker said he has been talking to people in San Benito County trying to gauge their reaction to the idea of a whole new community just outside of town.
“I would categorize it as interest at this point,” Becker said last week. “I haven’t had anybody tell me ‘Gee, I don’t want this in town,’ but people are understandably cautious.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
