For the full story on this court ruling and its effect on growth
in San Juan Bautista and potentially beyond, see The Weekend
Pinnacle that comes out Friday or go to www.pinnaclenews.com.
ADAM BREEN
HOLLISTER
A judge has ruled that San Juan Bautista’s growth management ordinance, a voter-approved measure that limited growth to 1 percent per year, violates state housing law and is therefore “unlawful and unenforceable.”
City officials said they will now revert to the 3 percent growth cap approved in 2000.
The January ruling by San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders also said that the growth ordinance, which required that all proposed residential developments greater than four units must be approved by a vote of the public, contradicts the city’s general plan. Sanders also said the ordinance directed the city to amend its general plan to conform to the growth restrictions, but “no such amendments were ever enacted.”
What’s more, “The approval of such [residential] projects is not a legislative act, and so cannot property be the subject of a referendum vote,” Sanders’ judgment read. “Thus, the GMO improperly delegates the City Council’s approval powers to the electorate.”
The issue reached the courts last year when developer Lance McAlpine called into question the validity of the city’s growth ordinance after he submitted plans for a 50-lot residential subdivision on five acres at the western end of Third Street near the city cemetery.
The court sided with McAlpine, ordering San Juan to set aside its original denial of his project and to process a revised application if and when it is submitted. McAlpine was also awarded court costs by the judge.
See the full version Friday.
