Hollister
– If you’re a developer and you dreamed up a fantastic housing
project this morning, that’s great. Of course, you’ll need to get
in line behind the nearly 1,200 residential units already in the
pipeline.
Hollister – If you’re a developer and you dreamed up a fantastic housing project this morning, that’s great. Of course, you’ll need to get in line behind the nearly 1,200 residential units already in the pipeline.
City Redevelopment Director Bill Avera said the city hasn’t given out any building permits or residential development allocations – which developers need before they can get a building permit – since the state-imposed moratorium took effect in 2002. But there are 1,183 units that received allocations prior to the moratorium, and they’re on hold until it’s lifted, likely at the end of 2008.
“It’s fair to say that if you don’t have an allocation and you try to get one, construction probably won’t happen until at least 2010,” Avera said. “It may be even further down the line.”
Developer Tod duBois plans to build a senior housing project on Vista Park Hill, and he wants the city to work out its post-moratorium plans as quickly as possible. DuBois said he is hoping the city prioritizes projects based on their merit, rather than telling everyone to go to the back of the line.
“I’m anxious to know when they’re going to accept applications and what the beauty contest looks like,” duBois said. “If I’m just the next guy in line … 2010, 2012 is way out there.”
DuBois doesn’t believe all of those 1,183 units will get built, because a developer’s financial situation and plans can change dramatically in six years.
“When they start releasing those permits, who knows whether (the developers) will be able to act on them,” duBois said.
Avera said Hollister’s Planning Commission and City Council will be trying to figure out their post-moratorium planning policies in the coming months.
If a project already has its allocation, Avera said it’s not restricted by the city’s 244-unit annual growth cap. But that doesn’t mean every project will break ground immediately after the moratorium ends, Avera said.
“The number we’ve been kicking around for a while – and it’s what we used when we were planning for the wastewater treatment plant – is 350 a year for the first couple years, and then 300 a year after that,” Avera said.
Many of those allocations are going to the 677-unit Award Homes project, located west of Fairview Road. The City Council will consider approving the project’s final environmental impact report in April; Avera said the developer’s 2004 settlement agreement calls for 125 units to be built each year during the project’s early stages.
With a limited pot of allocations to distribute among Award Homes, older projects and new developers, Avera said the city will probably struggle with a backlog of applications for several years.
“I’m in a situation where it’s going to be difficult to ever catch up,” Avera said.
He added that construction on the Award Homes development is scheduled to finish in 2015.
Hollister resident John Rinck said he is concerned that the city not return to the fast-paced development of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“It was just ridiculous,” Rinck said.
Police Chief Jeff Miller has said his department has been severely understaffed since 2004, while the the fire department is cutting its ladder truck service one-third of the time.
Rinck said rapid growth could hit the city’s police and fire departments particularly hard, since they’re already having a hard time serving the existing population.
“There have been five years of built-up pressure,” Rinck said. “Now they’re going to blow up another balloon, and it’s going to pop again.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
.
