The San Benito County Planning Commission will reconsider
Wednesday an application by Hollister Ranches to divide a 195-acre
lot along U.S. 101 into 21 single-family homes.
The San Benito County Planning Commission will reconsider Wednesday an application by Hollister Ranches to divide a 195-acre lot along U.S. 101 into 21 single-family homes.
The original application included a vested tentative sudivision map, a General Plan amendment and a zone change to allow for commercial development of 16 acres at Searle Road and Highway 129. But after much opposition, those aspects of the application were removed.
“The neighbors did not want commercial buildings on the site and the applicants agreed it was inappropriate for the area,” said Bradley Torgan, attorney and planner for the applicants. “It’s all residential and we are no longer asking for a general plan or zone change.”
The revised vested tentative subdivision map application is a new application due to the impacts caused by the many substantial revisions to the original proposal.
Hollister Ranches was ordered to pay a new map application fee and the costs of any supplemental environmental reviews.
The original tentative map proposal for San Juan Vista Estates was denied by the planning commission in January 2002, but Hollister Ranches appealed to the Board of Supervisors, which found that the commission failed to direct staff to conduct further environmental review while the appellant failed to establish how the commission erred in making its decision.
The appeal was in part denied and in part granted and the revised map was sent back to the county planning department.
“Part of the resolution set by the Board of Supervisors was to get it back to commission for a reasonable amount of time to get this done,” Torgan said. “It has taken us about five months since the appeal, working on a different version. We have been working on the issues with the planning staff, addressing their concerns.”
Torgan said no construction of homes is currently being proposed, but some would have to be single-story and each home built would be to an individual’s preference.
If the commission approves the vested map, it will be locked in the county’s map ordinance.
A 25-acre lot has been provided as habitat for the California tiger salamander.
“This land will go undeveloped in perpetuity,” Torgan said. “We’ll give it to a non-profit agency to oversee the site.”
One issue that needs to be resolved is the condition for affordable housing, Torgan said.
“You can’t keep large lots affordable because of the land value itself,” he said. “We’re suggesting that we provide affordable housing off-site closer to social services, transit lines, stores – what folks might need, or pay in-lieu fees subject to the county’s satisfaction.”
