Plans move forward for El Rancho San Benito project
Real estate developers for the DMB El Rancho San Benito
development
– a 6,800-unit development which will be located north of
Hollister, between Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 25 – are still meeting with
residents for input on the project. A spokesperson for DMB said
they are still on track to present a full application to the San
Benito County Board of Supervisors by the en
d of September.
Plans move forward for El Rancho San Benito project
Real estate developers for the DMB El Rancho San Benito development – a 6,800-unit development which will be located north of Hollister, between Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 25 – are still meeting with residents for input on the project. A spokesperson for DMB said they are still on track to present a full application to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors by the end of September.
“It will be almost three years by the time we submit this project to the Board of Supervisors,” said DMB Developer Ray Becker. “It doesn’t seem possible, but it will have been.”
At the most recent public planning session held in Hollister last week, more than 30 residents came out to discuss land use options and potential development tools with the developers of the project. The tenor of the event was extremely positive based on feedback organizers received, according to Becker.
DMB took a second delegation of residents to Arizona. This was the second group of residents that DMB has taken to their Verado Hills project in Arizona, but this delegation was comprised of people who were not able to attend the first trip. The group had a better ethnic mix and a broader range of ages, Becker said.
The parcels comprising the nearly 12,000-acre would-be project are mapped, outlining areas likely to flood once every 100 and once every 200 years. Much of this land known as “floodplains,” is tentatively earmarked to remain in agricultural production.
In addition to the 4,500 acres on the valley floor that would contain development, project backers last year acquired 7,000 acres in the adjacent hills that they say will remain largely undeveloped.
Developers say 20 percent of housing will be below-market rate, which is one-third less than the county’s current requirement for projects of its size.
In addition, there will be 2 million square feet of industrial space and 500,000 square feet of retail and office space.
One of the things they’ve discovered is the project will need a four-lane expressway connecting Hwy. 25 to Hwy. 101, Becker said. Initially developers had planned a road along the hillsides for their residents to use, set away from the main roadway into Hollister.
Since last fall, some residents felt DMB had kept a low profile while the other large developer Del Webb was trying to push for a ballot initiative that would have created a 4,100-unit senior community near the airport. Voters soundly rejected it in Nov. 2006.
DMB has been actively engaged in the community since it first arrived, but during the time that Del Webb was pushing their ballot initiative they were working quietly, Becker said. No public meetings about El Rancho San Benito took place during the months leading up to the November vote.
“I’m not as sure it’s that we’re getting more public as it is that the pace is picking up,” Becker said. “There are more things in the toolkit. We’re getting to the point where there are more detailed plans coming about. So it may seem like we were less present, but that is not the case.”
Discussions at a recent meeting were about what types of structures DMB shouldinclude as well as ideas for businesses.
Once the developers have had a chance to write up all the suggestions and plug those into their map, they will meet with the public again in March. Then they will present the finished plans to the San Benito Board of Supervisors in September.
If people tell the developers they missed something, they will go back at that time and make adjustments. The word they are hearing from people is that it is time to move forward, Becker said.
“So far we have steered the course we said we were going to,” Becker said. “I think some [residents] are getting impatient but I prefer this pace so that we don’t miss anything.”
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at po*******@pi**********.com.
