Some property stuck between San Juan Bautista and the county
Elayne Reyna owns property in San Juan Bautista and a house in
unincorporated San Benito County.
They are the same plot of land. The San Juan city limit splits
Reyna’s parcel.
Some property stuck between San Juan Bautista and the county
Elayne Reyna owns property in San Juan Bautista and a house in unincorporated San Benito County.
They are the same plot of land. The San Juan city limit splits Reyna’s parcel.
Most of her house and the left side of her property are in San Benito County. Her bathroom and the right side of her property are in San Juan.
This year Reyna planted blue corn from 20-year-old Hopi seeds on the San Juan side of her property.
“It’s the blue corn land,” Reyna said. “That’s what it is. Every day it was just the magic of watching the corn grow. It made my heart sing.”
If Barbie were allowed to grow old she might look like Elayne Reyna. Reyna looks as though she were a knockout when she was young. She’s still beautiful.
“That’s what the land is for now,” Reyna said, “because it can’t do anything else. I didn’t like to look out the window and see the land barren.”
Reyna would like to build a small modular home behind her house.
“That’s all I need, just a small cabin,” Reyna said. “The rent of this front house would be a nice income for me because I live on a veteran’s income.”
What difference does an invisible line on a map make? Perhaps plenty.
The legality of driving through city property to build on county land could be problematic, according to Jan McClintock, city manager of San Juan.
“In the state law there are so many if, ands, and buts to that question,” McClintock said.
To resolve the issue Reyna needs her entire property to be annexed by either San Juan or San Benito County.
Decisions about annexation go through the San Benito County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), said Judy Johnson, executive director of LAFCO. LAFCO regulates every cities, unincorporated areas and other special districts in the county.
LAFCO consists of Johnson and a five-member commission. Johnson reviews all applications for annexation, checks that they are complete, and writes a report for the commission with a staff recommendation.
The commission itself makes the final decision about annexation, Johnson said.
“We have particular issues which we need to get fixed,” McClintock said. “We are concerned about one particular parcel where the sphere of influence goes right through it.”
The sphere of influence is outside the city limits, but it is the area within which the city can reasonably be expected to provide services over the next few decades, Johnson said. The areas can ultimately be incorporated into the city.
The parcel that San Juan city officials are particularly concerned about is a 490-acre property. It is the one-time site of an old cement plant.
A developer owns the property and has plans to build an executive class hotel, surrounded by open space.
The idea is to give executives from Silicon Valley a place where they can escape, McClintock said. The hotel will have conference rooms where executives can meet.
The developer plans to leave more than 300 acres as permanent open space, McClintock said. The open space would also serve as a buffer for Old Stagecoach Road, a linear parkway.
“Goodness knows we need more hotel rooms in San Juan Bautista,” McClintock said. “Most people end up staying in Gilroy.”
The developer could legally build the hotel without annexation, but it would be on county property, McClintock said. The developer wants to build within San Juan, according to McClintock.
San Juan city officials also want the hotel built in San Juan. The hotel would bring money into San Juan.
“It’s an enormous revenue generator,” McClintock said. “City taxes are added onto county taxes. If the city wants to get any of it, it is important that it be developed inside the city’s sphere of influence.”
If the hotel is going to be built within San Juan, city officials must apply to amend the city’s sphere of influence.
“If there’s an issue it certainly has not been brought to our attention with supporting documentation,” Johnson said.
Supporting documentation includes an Environmental Impact Report. An EIR describes a project and its impact on the environment, with ways to mitigate that impact. LAFCO is required by California law to consider an EIR in its decision, Johnson said.
McClintock said that San Juan has not submitted an application.
“We’ve haven’t submitted anything because we don’t know what to submit,” McClintock said, referring to the EIR.
There are different levels of an EIR. A full EIR is the most expensive.
Instead of a full EIR, LAFCO could allow a negative declaration of impact. A negative declaration of impact means that the project has no impact on the environment, said Harry Morse, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Game.
San Juan officials could submit an application with a declaration of negative impact. However, if LAFCO requires a full EIR then Johnson would send the application back as incomplete.
San Juan city officials have been trying to find out since the spring of 2007 what level of EIR the executive director of LAFCO will require for the hotel property, McClintock said.
San Juan officials met with Johnson’s predecessor several times. They met with the LAFCO commission once.
McClintock has also discussed the issue with Johnson informally, several times.
If LAFCO changes San Juan’s sphere of influence to include the 490-acre parcel, San Juan city officials must then apply to annex the plot, McClintock said. The annexation application also includes an EIR.
The money to be gained from a hotel is important, but local control of development is also at stake.
“We want it in our sphere of influence,” McClintock said. “We want to control what it’s going to look like, the density.”
Reyna would like the issue resolved for more personal reasons.
“I’m healthy right now, but I’m a practical woman,” Reyna said. “I learned a lot from my mother. She had everything resolved in her small, tiny estate. I thought how nice she made that for me as her executrix.”
But now future development is in question.
“I would like to be sure the property is resolved,” Reyna said, “so that my grown children won’t have to deal with any legalities of the property if they want to build another home.”
Reyna is also the caregiver for her adult son. Particularly for his sake she would like the issue resolved, she said.
“I’d like to keep things simple,” Reyna said, “and live on my simple little property and not have to deal with paperwork. I hope the powers that be will simplify the process.”
