Hollister
– As Pulte Homes began yesterday gathering the signatures it
will need to place on the November ballot an initiative to amend
Hollister’s general plan to accommodate a proposed senior community
near the airport, one City Council member announced his opposition
to the project.
Hollister – As Pulte Homes began yesterday gathering the signatures it will need to place on the November ballot an initiative to amend Hollister’s general plan to accommodate a proposed senior community near the airport, one City Council member announced his opposition to the project.
In February, Pulte subsidiary Del Webb announced intention to build a community – including up to 4,400 homes, a golf course and hiking trails – for people aged 55 or older on about 1,300 acres just north of Highway 156 and the Hollister Municipal Airport. Last month, Pulte announced that it would put an initiative seeking a new a new general plan designation for the project as well as exemption from voter-approved Measure U, which limits housing allocations given by the city to 244 a year. Pulte began gathering the approximately 2,000 signatures from local voters Thursday that it will need to get the initiative on the ballot.
In an e-mail sent to his constituents Thursday, Councilman Douglas Emerson cautioned voters who may be asked to sign Pulte’s petition: “Make sure you know what you are signing when asked to sign this petition, and if it goes to a vote, make sure you understand all the implications,” he wrote.
Emerson said that he opposed the project because he does not believe that an initiative is the proper way to change the city’s new general plan – a plan adopted last year after two years of discussion between the city and local residents.
“I just don’t believe that this is the process we should use to change the general plan,” he said in an interview. “I just don’t like that idea.”
Emerson said he fears that, if Pulte wins its new general plan designation, the whole philosophy of the general plan will change. Hollister’s general plan – a state-mandated document that guides long-range land planning – calls for tight, concentric growth around the core of the city and seeks to avoid the sprawl that occurred during the 1990s, which ultimately led to many of the infrastructure problems the city has now. The community that Pulte has in mind for Hollister would build its own wastewater treatment plant, allowing the proposed development to circumvent the city’s building moratorium.
Pulte spokeswoman Wendy Elliott said that the company took the ballot route out of respect for the city’s wishes.
“The reason we did it this way is because when we first entered into discussion with the city, it was undergoing the process of revising the general plan, and they asked us not to get involved, so we didn’t,” she said.
Elliott said that Emerson shouldn’t be concerned about substantial changes to the general plan resulting from the initiative.
“Basically we’re just asking for a land -use designation adjustment. It’s a minor adjustment,” she said. “I’m sorry (Emerson) feels that way.”
Aside from laying the foundation for the Pulte project, Elliott said that the ballot measure is aimed at determining whether locals will support the plan before Pulte sinks too much time and money into the planning process. Even if the initiative is successful, the Pulte project will have to undergo state-mandated environmental studies and have the property – currently part of the county – annexed into the Hollister.
Councilwoman Monica Johnson said that she does have concerns about the size of the development, which would build more than 600 homes per year during the seven year build-out of the project.
“That’s a big number to me,” she said.
Johnson, however, said that she wants to let the people decide the future of the project. It will be the council’s job to respect the community’s wishes and make sure things are done right.
“I as an elected official on (voters’) behalf would need to support it,” she said.
Councilman Brad Pike has said that he sees potential in Pulte’s proposal, and its checkbook, but wants more details before he makes up his mind.
A second concern Emerson raised regarding the Pulte initiative is that it does not specify that the new land-use designation would be for those 55 and older exclusively. That was specified in the original initiative, which called for a “mixed-use senior community” designation but the language was later changed to “mixed-use residential growth community.”
Though Emerson said he thinks Pulte builds nice communities and believes that its intent is to build a senior community in Hollister, he is uncomfortable that the general plan designation wouldn’t be specific to a senior community.
The change in the initiative language was based on advice from an attorney, Elliot said. Though private parties are allowed to put age restrictions on the sale of a house, a government entity can not, she said.
“We didn’t want to put the city in that position,” she said.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
