Kudos for the Hollister City Council, which earlier this week
approved the use of temporary sewage holding tanks to expand local
businesses.
Kudos for the Hollister City Council, which earlier this week approved the use of temporary sewage holding tanks to expand local businesses.
While it might sound like dry bureaucratic business that makes people’s eyes glaze over, the vote was a move needed to spark Hollister’s moribund economy. The holding tanks – tanks businesses can use for their sewer needs then empty outside of town – are a kind of stop-gap fix to Hollister’s ongoing building moratorium, which has throttled the local economy.
In 2002, there was a 15-million gallon sewer spill. As a result, the state slapped a building moratorium on housing, commercial and industrial development because the sewer system was overburdened. Since then, there has been no chance to build a new businesses that would expand the city’s tax base and create local jobs. And any local businesses wanting to expand have had to consider relocating.
As a result of Hollister’s economic torpor, many residents have to commute to find good-paying work. That means they spend their lunch money in another town, fill up their cars in another town and shop in another town. The moratorium has stifled Hollister economically.
So when the council signed off on a resolution to allow holding tanks earlier this week – an idea developer Ken Lindsay brought to the city – it was not just about the sewer. It was about improving Hollister’s business climate until a new sewer plant can be completed, which could be as late as 2007.
Now, new businesses that were looking to build before the moratorium hit or existing businesses that were looking to expand, have the opportunity to do so. The end result, we hope, is that local businesses will be able to grow and local dollars will stay home.
The City Council’s vote on holding tanks – as dry a subject as it may seem – has a chance to be a true shot on the arm for our business community.
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