San Juan Bautista
– The Mission City’s growth restrictions have stalled the
proposed San Juan Bautista Artisan’s Plaza, but developer Tod
duBois hopes to take the question to local voters.
San Juan Bautista – The Mission City’s growth restrictions have stalled the proposed San Juan Bautista Artisan’s Plaza, but developer Tod duBois hopes to take the question to local voters.
“The project’s at risk if we don’t move quickly,” duBois said.
DuBois is proposing the construction of 10 live-work condominiums, a bed and breakfast, an art gallery, a regional visitor center and between 20 and 25 units of senior “co-housing,” which allows future residents to participate in the design and operation of their neighborhood.
According to duBois and City Manager Jan McClintock, the project just won’t fly under the existing growth ordinance. The ordinance limits development to seven units a year, McClintock said.
“You can’t build a complex like that at seven units a year,” she said.
Instead, duBois wants San Juan Bautista voters to exempt the project from local growth restrictions. DuBois will go before the City Council tonight to ask that the city hold a special election in June to decide the matter.
DuBois said that if the project is going to happen, it needs to be approved by September. After that deadline passes, the landowners may consider selling the Muckelemi Street property to someone else, he said.
The live-work units will be aimed at artists, duBois said, in part because an arts-focused neighborhood will be a boon to the local economy.
San Juan Bautista painter Gayle Sleznick said the artisan’s plaza could be a great addition to the community.
“Everyone seems pretty positive about his concept,” Sleznick said.
She noted that the Mission City’s rental market has slowed down recently, but she believes duBois project is diverse enough to avoid that problem.
Sleznick said that since she heard about the project last year, she’s been walking by the Muckelemi Street site and wondering when construction will start.
A ballot measure that would have exempted a senior community of up to 4,400 homes from Hollister’s growth restrictions was soundly defeated by Hollisterites in November. Some of the measure’s opponents said it was unfair to give special treatment to a single project.
DuBois said that while equal treatment is an important issue, he doesn’t think there’s any problem with asking the voters to decide.
“This is the community making a decision,” duBois said.
He added that if the project moves forward, 20 percent of the condos and senior co-housing will be available at below-market rates. DuBois said it’s hard to know what the prices will be, since construction costs keep going up, but he estimated that the affordable units will available for $200,000, while the other units will go for between $275,000 and $475,000.
McClintock said she doesn’t have an estimate on how much a special election could cost.
When asked if he plans to keep pushing if the council doesn’t approve the election, duBois said, “I leave that to the seniors and the artists in the community.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
