Del Webb wants to build Sun City Hollister near airport
A city composed of as many as 4,200 homes
– all occupied by people of a certain age – is proposed for
farmland located just across Highway 156 from the Hollister
Airport.
Representatives of Del Webb’s parent company, Pulte Homes,
visited Hollister Tuesday to discuss their plans with local
officials and the press.
Del Webb wants to build Sun City Hollister near airport
A city composed of as many as 4,200 homes – all occupied by people of a certain age – is proposed for farmland located just across Highway 156 from the Hollister Airport.
Representatives of Del Webb’s parent company, Pulte Homes, visited Hollister Tuesday to discuss their plans with local officials and the press.
While the company has not yet developed a timeline, its spokespersons describe a vivid vision of what would take shape on the plain north of Hollister.
The parcel Del Web has the option to purchase is 1,360 acres shaped roughly like a T-shirt, stretching from Highway 25 on the west to 156 on the south and east to San Felipe Road. The community – like the other four “Sun City” developments scattered across California – would offer homes only to adults 55 or older. The mixture of 3,600 to 4,200 homes and townhouses would surround a public golf course, 100 acres of public parks and waterways, hiking trails and 170 acres of natural habitat. “We’re looking at … and alley-loaded product that’s a little more dense [than typical],” said Wendy Elliott of Pulte Homes, one of two to visit Hollister last week. “You would have no driveways out front, with closer setbacks.” Homes would vary from about 1,000 square feet to as large as 2,200 to 2,300 square feet, she said. Average occupancy is 1.8 residents per dwelling, she said.
In deference to the physical limitations some of its target clientele might experience, all dwellings would be single-story, featuring wider hallways to accommodate walkers or wheelchairs, toggle light switches set low on the walls and outlets set high enough to eliminate stooping, according to Elliott explained.
“People are asking what it looks like and I tell them it’s like summer camp for adults,” Elliott said.
If approved, developers would seek annexation to the city of Hollister.
With Hollister currently under a construction moratorium imposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Del Webb would take a different approach. “As far as a sewer moratorium, the advise from staff is to build our own treatment plant on site. The plan would be to work with the city and county and collaborate to help the cty and the county.”
Elliott and Sam Singer, president of the public relations firm retained to assist in the development effort, described their reception among public officials as cautiously enthusiastic.
“The thing that makes a real estate development like this beneficial is that it has less impact on services while benefiting the community,” Singer said. “Residents are not commuting, they contribute to schools through their taxes but do not use them. A development of this size and quality will positively impact downtown. Our residents like to use local resources. It’s an opportunity to grow smart with very little impact.”
However, Hollister Mayor Robbie Scattini fears one insurmountable obstacle: Hollister Airport.
Sun City Hollister is directly in the path of Runway 31, the airport’s main strip, Scattini said.
While Scattini, himself a private pilot and an outspoken airport booster, said he is enthusiastic about the concept of a senior community coming to Hollister but that the location Del Webb has in mind is probably a mistake.
“I don’t know if you’re going to want to put a retirement center at the end of an airport runway,” Scattini said. “Eventually, somebody’s going to drop in on somebody else’s dinner. Just generally, I don’t think it’s going to fly. I told them, ‘you guys are dreaming.'”
Developers, however, told Scattini they looked into the issue, and they do not anticipate a problem. A press release announcing Del Webb’s plans said, “the development will be designed to allow the airport to continue its future expansion plans and will not impact air traffic.”
The company has not yet set a timeline for the proposed development, but has scheduled two meetings for public input. People can learn about the project and comment from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on March 21 and March 23 at the Hollister Community Center, 300 West St.
