Designating more parking availability downtown for a future
market of urbanites would make sense if the demand for such housing
was strong, or growing.
Designating more parking availability downtown for a future market of urbanites would make sense if the demand for such housing was strong, or growing.
But that is not the case, so it’s unfortunate timing for the City of Hollister in updating the housing element document – which opens doors for outside funding – that officials likely must include such accommodations for a better chance of state approval.
The state in its guidelines for these planning documents requires that cities remove impediments to low-cost housing. For Hollister, one of those impediments happens to be a lack of available parking if a developer or developers add more living space downtown, most likely, if it occurs, above the many storefronts in the district.
So hand-tied city officials now must plan how they would cater to this future market, even if the likelihood remains slim that apartment or condo space will expand downtown anytime soon. City council members and planners have started discussions on how to best prepare the document and have noted such ideas as allocating parking stickers – for downtown dwellers – for use in certain lots.
For now, such a program is simply unnecessary, showing the state’s inflexibility in protocol has potential to negatively taint certain municipalities’ – Hollister being a prime example – planning processes.
Why should city officials be forced to spend time acting out plans for a market with no visible growth on the horizon? They shouldn’t be.
For one, as a survey done by local college students showed about a year ago, it would be tremendously expensive – and too costly for most – to renovate many of the unoccupied building levels. That nearly flattens the chance for such projects anytime soon, especially in a down economy.
Even more important, the once envisioned urban condo boom was a hoax to begin with, and now buyers are finding they have every reason – prices are low, and it’s a more solidified investment – to take that small step up and buy a house. That probably won’t change much for a few years at least. Condo developers in all likelihood won’t be touching downtown Hollister for quite a while.
After all, look what happened down the road in Gilroy when the Garlic Festival Association followed through on its outside-the-boundary ambitions to build condominiums in downtown there.
The project flopped and the idea was outdated, just like the state’s planning requirements.
