Anyone who follows local politics should have seen this coming:
citizens making an effort to control the destiny of San Benito
County.
Anyone who follows local politics should have seen this coming: citizens making an effort to control the destiny of San Benito County.
A group of local residents – some whose names are known in political circles, some newcomers – have worked quietly for six months drafting a legal document that would allow voters to control how San Benito County grows.
After watching Hollister approve rapid development over the past half-dozen years and destroy the city’s infrastructure in the process, is it surprising that citizens projected forward and feared what a different county Board of Supervisors – one elected by developer money – might do?
The result of that vision is the proposed San Benito County Growth Control Initiative nicknamed “On Any Given Tuesday” because that’s the day the Board of Supervisors meets. On any given Tuesday a three-member majority could end the county’s 1 percent growth cap and all of the other protections now a part of the planning process.
The initiative makes permanent the growth cap, the dark skies ordinance that limits the amount of light that can be broadcast and bans ridge-top development, among other things. The goal is to keep the rural character of the county viable for decades to come while preserving farmland and cattle ranches. But it allows those very farmers and ranchers to profit from development by selling to builders closer to Hollister the credits for homes that could otherwise be built on their properties.
It comes on the heels of Hollister’s Measure U, a citizen-backed growth-control initiative passed in November by 70 percent of the city’s voters. They were clearly fed up with the direction in which the city was heading and spoke with their vote for control. Now only a majority of Hollister citizens – not the council – can change it.
Beginning this weekend, organizers will be at supermarkets and knocking on front doors asking for you to sign the petition that will place the county measure on a future ballot. We recommend that you do.
The measure would allow citizens to decide what’s best for the future of San Benito County. It potentially could take San Benito County’s destiny out of the hands of special interests. Passage means that county citizens can worry less about out-of-town influences on local politics and politicians.
Which is how it should be.
