Speak up for the future
San Benito County is at a crossroads but you would hardly know
it given the deafening silence of apathy.
The state, ignoring a local blue ribbon committee, the legal
fraternity and business interests, is poised to begin construction
of a new courthouse in a now vacant field near Hollister Airport.
Gavilan College is moving toward construction of a local campus
east of Fairview Road, near Airline Highway.
Speak up for the future
San Benito County is at a crossroads but you would hardly know it given the deafening silence of apathy.
The state, ignoring a local blue ribbon committee, the legal fraternity and business interests, is poised to begin construction of a new courthouse in a now vacant field near Hollister Airport. Gavilan College is moving toward construction of a local campus east of Fairview Road, near Airline Highway.
In both cases, we can do better.
It’s easy to see the folly in the state’s preferred courthouse site. While it’s convenient to the jail, it is isolated, a burden to court staff, litigants, jurors, attorneys or anyone else conducting business with the court. The move from the court’s historic downtown Hollister presence would further challenge a struggling downtown business community.
There are ample opportunities for construction of a court near the core of downtown. The local committee recommended the disused site of Fremont School, at Fourth and Monterey streets. Such a move would not only best accommodate the court’s users while affording continued vitality to the downtown area, it would eliminate a structure that, while historic, has grown blighted since its closure. The building now is a magnet for transients and trouble.
The challenge of locating a local college campus is perhaps more subtle, but certainly no less important.
After originally identifying a site near Hollister Airport, public outcry led college trustees to reconsider, and the Fairview Road site was identified. Even as maps of the campus are circulated and the Gavilan district moves toward finalizing its decision, several important questions remain unanswered – or even unasked.
If the role of a community college is to extend opportunity for lifelong learning, how is that best served within the community it serves? To its credit, the college has sought exactly that kind of feedback with limited response.
Does it make sense for a district stretching from Coyote Valley through most of San Benito County to develop three campuses, all with full athletic facilities? Without disputing the merits of physical activity for all of us, is it even appropriate for community colleges to underwrite money-losing intercollegiate athletic programs?
Why is the site chosen by Gavilan mapped to include urban density residential development? The area now carries a general plan designation of “agricultural productive,” which mandates a minimum lot size of five acres.
What are the traffic impacts? The campus would sit near the intersection of two two-lane roads.
More than 40 years ago, Gavilan College opened in a bucolic setting southwest of Gilroy. The campus nestles among native oaks. But the community still has yet to reach the campus. The opportunity for the community college campus to become fully part of a community has never been realized.
We should not repeat that mistake in Hollister. Since the Fairview site was announced, other sites closer to the population center have been identified. Landowners of those sites indicate they would like to cooperate with the district for the good of the community.
In both the case of the courthouse and the college campus location, what the community must battle is momentum. Even a bad idea, given time and the lack of coordinated public opposition, is difficult to shed. The state promises to give the courthouse a second look, given enough public outcry.
Given involvement – your involvement – we can control our destiny, keeping courts downtown and bringing a campus into a growing, vital community.
