Measure S comes at a high price

Guest ViewThe Opinion of Marty Richman
Unfortunately, very little discussion has taken place concerning
the details of Measure S (the Sun City, Del Webb or Pulte Homes
initiative) since the developer proposed it. This can be
confusing
– even the laundry list of names can be confusing. Measure S is
the ballot initiative that covers all the above. A measure is like
a proposition, it’s a direct appeal to the voters and if there is
anything that Californians have learned over the years it is to be
very, very, careful about adopti
ng propositions, because the devil in is the details and the
details are in the fine print.
Guest ViewThe Opinion of Marty Richman

Unfortunately, very little discussion has taken place concerning the details of Measure S (the Sun City, Del Webb or Pulte Homes initiative) since the developer proposed it.  This can be confusing – even the laundry list of names can be confusing.  Measure S is the ballot initiative that covers all the above.  A measure is like a proposition, it’s a direct appeal to the voters and if there is anything that Californians have learned over the years it is to be very, very, careful about adopting propositions, because the devil in is the details and the details are in the fine print.

By going directly to the voters, the developer bypasses the usual process, the Planning Commission, the City Council and all the up-front checks and balances (including the plan change environmental impact report) that are in place to protect the citizens.  The citizens may give up those rights at the ballot box if they choose to do so, but why would they?

You won’t find Measure S details in the slick full-color mailers distributed by the developer.  They say that Measure S doesn’t really do anything.  That’s an interesting position because they consider Measure S to be so important that they have made it a take it or leave it deal; a harsh stance for a “do nothing” measure. 

Logically, it does something.  Measure S is a 55 page long change to Hollister’s General Plan.  I doubt if most local supporters have read it completely.

Measure S rezones property at the end of the airport for mixed residential use, allows up to 4,400 homes and some commercial development (stores), and establishes a mandatory minimum building permit rate of 650 units a year.  If the developer decides not to build 650 homes in any year, their allocation rolls over and they get 1,300 homes in the next year and so on.  If they build 650-homes each year the project would take six years and nine months to complete.  Meanwhile, the rest of the city, under the limited growth measure of 2002, can add 244 homes a year.  The “do nothing” initiative exempts this specific development from the growth limits adopted only two years ago.  The total for the city is then 894 homes a year for about seven years.

Hollister’s population was to increase about 805 a year; however, with Measure S the population growth would be 1,975 a year, but only IF this becomes an all-senior community.  If not, the population increase would be more than 2,800 a year!  How could this happen?  Very easily, read on.

Pulte trumpets this development as an all-senior community, but they fail to reveal that this provision is unenforceable.  That’s one problem with using an initiative; it can’t be restricted to one developer.  No matter what their good intentions, the proposed changes do not belong to Del Webb-Pulte Homes, but to the property, a property they do not even own at this time.  If Measure S passes and Pulte pulls out for any one of a hundred reasons, another developer or the current owner could develop that property under Measure S and designate less than 50 units of the 4,400 as senior homes.  That’s perfectly legal and Pulte would be long gone.  The independent 9212 Report estimates the result of this scenario would be a city population of 70,000 in 2023!

The June fiscal impact report commissioned by Pulte Homes said that when complete (when the city gets maximum income) the proposed development will generate an operating deficit to Hollister’s General Fund of approximately $650,000 a year.  The 9212 independent report commissioned by the city was much more pessimistic.  It estimated that the total operating deficit to the city taxpayers will actually be between $1.3 million and $2.7 million per year!

Because Pulte took the initiative route there is no water plan or wastewater plan to evaluate before the number of homes and build rate are approved.  It’s the cart before the horse.  Pulte has advertised that they will give Hollister $20 million to help with wastewater treatment.  That looks generous until you realize that if they were required to hook those 4,400 homes to the new plant they would owe the city an estimated $110 million, plus someone would have to pay for the piping to the project.  This project alone would use up 75 percent of the plant’s 15-year expansion capacity in just seven years!

Additionally, the Measure S location has many problems; the most significant are the proximity to the airport and the traffic.  The measure results in substantial reductions in the size of the Airport Safety Zones and allows residential development to be located much closer to the Hollister Municipal Airport than previously authorized.  The primary reason for general aviation airport closings is encroachment (housing close to the airport). Pulte has proposed disclosure statements, but these are pointless. An airport is a dynamic operation, disclosure statements are not dynamic, they are static; therefore, they only protect Pulte.  Residents will soon be campaigning about the noise and they will declare the airport a nuisance.  In the worst scenario, there will be an aircraft accident that injures or kills residents, then they will vote to close the airport. It’s inevitable.

The most serious location problem relates to traffic.  Per the independent report, “The initiative does not explain how Hollister’s street system could accommodate the 16,000 to 50,000 trips per day generated by 4,400 homes.  These new vehicle trips would significantly impact the level of service on virtually every major street that serves the … property or provides access to commercial businesses in Hollister.”

It goes on, “During the peak travel hours, even with a senior project, approximately 1,000 vehicles would be added to San Felipe Road, State Highways 25 and 156, and Flynn Road, many of which are already at capacity.  More vehicles would be added if non-senior housing were built.”  As I pointed out, if the alternate non-senior project comes in, as it could under Measure S, those residents will be commuting.

This development is too big, in the wrong location, and worst of all, it does an end-run around the General Plan.  I urge all voters to put down the color brochures, pick up Measure S, skip the opening sales pitch, and read the proposed changes in detail. Then decide.

Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.