Hollister
– Mark Zuniga loves Fremont Elementary School.
Hollister – Mark Zuniga loves Fremont Elementary School.
Zuniga, 24, said he attended Fremont from kindergarten through sixth grade, and he still takes his pit bull Tigger to its fields almost every day. He hoped his nephews would attend Fremont, but the school closed its doors in the mid-1990s, and it’s been sitting unused ever since.
“It hurts to see it,” Zuniga said.
The windows were recently boarded because of vandalism, graffiti is on the walls and Zuniga said he often sees homeless people camping out on the school grounds.
“You can see a blanket there right now,” Zuniga said, pointing toward the school courtyard.
Zuniga isn’t the only one who is unhappy with the property’s dilapidated state. At Monday’s City Council meeting, Hollister resident Robin Pollard, who also takes her dog to the fields, said the school “looks like a scene out of that scary movie.”
Last summer, the council committed the property – which is owned by the Hollister Redevelopment Agency – as a new site for the San Benito Superior Courthouse. Court officials have said the existing courthouse, which has only two courtrooms and is nearly 50 years old, has become too small for the thousands of cases it hears every year.
In 2006, San Benito was named one of six candidates for state funding to build a new courthouse. Court Executive Director Gil Solorio said the county will know for certain if it’s getting the funding when the revision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget is released in May.
“My current expectation is that if we do not receive funding for 2007-2008, we will be immediately resubmitted for the very next year,” Solorio said.
Solorio gave a “very, very rough estimate” that the new courthouse could be completed in four to five years after it is approved.
The property lies in Mayor Brad Pike’s district. Pike has heard complaints from his constituents about what he calls “an eyesore,” but he’s hopeful the new courthouse will be approved. If it is, Pike said, he’d like to see most or all of the city’s offices move into the existing court building, which could become a “one-stop shop” for city business.
“We’re just waiting,” Pike said. “This is all part of the process.”
If the project is approved, according to Redevelopment Director Bill Avera, the city will transfer the land to the county, which will then transfer the land to the state. If the courthouse project isn’t approved, the city will start considering “Plan B.” Avera said he can’t offer any details on alternatives, but he noted that the city’s general plan designates the Fremont property as part of its mixed-use downtown area.
A previous plan called for an elaborate civic center to be built on the property, but the project was axed during the city’s budget crisis in 2004.
In the meantime, Hollisterites have found their own uses for the property.
Despite the wet weather on Wednesday, several residents could be seen letting their dogs roll around in the grass.
The field has also served as the site of the Independence Day Motorcycle Rally’s beer garden. Rally promoter Seth Doulton said that although his plans are still preliminary, the field is likely to be cleaned up and mowed this summer so that it can host vendors and a stage at this year’s rally.
Captain Bob Brooks of the Hollister Police Department said that since 2003, the police have received reports of 14 incidents on the Fremont property. The complaints have concerned vandalism, burglary and homeless people.
“We’re not seeing anything unusual (for this kind of property),” Brooks said.
Zuniga said his feelings are mixed about the proposed courthouse. After all, he said, there are children who play on the fields and basketball courts, and he still wishes the school would reopen.
“But a courthouse will probably make things better,” Zuniga said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
