Tod DuBois, a San Juan Bautista-based architect, is hoping his
plans to use an innovative approach to build a new neighborhood on
Vista Park Hill will provide residences for people who work locally
while furthering efforts to revitalize downtown.
Hollister – Tod DuBois, a San Juan Bautista-based architect, is hoping his plans to use an innovative approach to build a new neighborhood on Vista Park Hill will provide residences for people who work locally while furthering efforts to revitalize downtown.
Though plans are preliminary, DuBois wants to build between 15 and 30 condominiums on nearly three acres bordering the Northeast corner of Hollister’s panoramic Vista Hill Park. There’s a twist, though.
He doesn’t want to design it – at least not by himself.
DuBois wants the neighborhood on the hill to be Hollister’s first cohousing development. And the primary tenant of cohousing – a Danish concept introduced to the U.S. in 1988 – is having future residents participate in the actual design of their community.
“It’s an old fashioned neighborhood,” DuBois said, adding that because neighbors participate in the design of the neighborhood they form a tight-knit community.
Cohousing developments typically have a common house and outdoor areas aimed at getting residents out of their homes and interacting with one another, according to the Cohousing Association of the United States. Though they have private kitchens in their homes, residents at many cohousing neighborhoods often cook and eat meals together, according to the association.
There are cohousing communities in rural, suburban and urban areas throughout the nation, with at least six in California. Last year, residents, ranging from young families to retirees, started moving into a 36-home cohousing development in Paso Robles called Oak Creek Commons. Many cohousing communities have on a theme or philosophy. Marsh Commons in Humboldt County is based on respect for individuals and for the land, according to that neighborhood’s Web site.
DuBois’ project will focus on providing homes for local workers, but, he said, if there are not enough locals interested, the homes may be sold to people from other areas. Homes will range in price from $250,000 to $500,000, depending on what features – such as a common house, swimming pool and size of homes – are desired by the community members who help design the project.
DuBois said he will start advertising his concept for Vista Park Hill on Dec. 1 and hopes to have a core group of people serious about being part of the community a month or so after that. About a year from now, he plans to have a design of the project for the city to review, he said. And if all goes well along the way, the community will be built within three to five years.
In addition to providing local workers with a place to reside, DuBois said a cohousing community will help in efforts to bring new life to the city’s struggling downtown.
“I see it as an important part of downtown revitalization,” he said. “The kind of people who are attracted to cohousing are the same people who make a vibrant downtown. They’re active in government, active in downtown.”
DuBois isn’t alone in his belief that people living in the downtown area is crucial to making it a success. The city’s new general plan, which City Council members are set to adopt next month, calls for more upper floor apartments over ground floor retail businesses in downtown – a concept called mixed-use. The Hollister Downtown Association, also supports having people live downtown.
“Downtown, in order to thrive, needs people. It needs a population living in it as well as working in it,” Maddux Jewelry owner Rick Maddux, who is also chairman of the HDA’s economic recovery committee, said recently.
Despite eagerness to get people living downtown, DuBois does face obstacles to building a new community on Vista Park Hill. Chief among them is the state-imposed sewer moratorium that Hollister got slapped with in 2002 after 15 million gallons of treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River. As long as the moratorium remains – which, according to city officials, will be at least until late 2007 – there can be no new construction that would require sewer hook-ups.
For the time being, DuBois said he plans to get everything in order so he can start construction as soon as the moratorium is lifted.
Also, DuBois said that he doesn’t know whether the cohousing concept will even fly in Hollister.
“I’m a little worried with Hollister being such a conservative area,” he said. “I’m not 100 percent sure about people coming out of the woodwork to join-up.”
Vista Park Hill isn’t DuBois’ only project in Hollister. In 2004, the city granted him exclusive rights to develop the vacant lot on the corner of San Benito and Fourth streets in downtown. His plans for that spot include a five-story commercial building, which might include a small hotel or condominiums. As with the vista Park Hill project, DuBois can’t start any construction until the moratorium is lifted.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
