Have we heard the last of Pulte?
It ain’t over ’til it’s over. Unless it ain’t.
After last week’s resounding defeat of Measure S might have been
perceived as the rebuke that would send Pulte Homes packing.
Well, perceive again.
Have we heard the last of Pulte?
It ain’t over ’til it’s over. Unless it ain’t.
Last week’s resounding defeat of Measure S might have been perceived as the rebuke that would send Pulte Homes packing.
Well, perceive again.
Measure S was placed before Hollister voters on Nov. 7. To distill more than 50 pages of small-type legalese, it would have accomplished two things: first, a parcel north of the Hollister Airport would have a green light for a new zoning designation that allows higher density homes, and second, that parcel would have been exempt from the growth restrictions mandated by 2002’s Measure U.
Four years ago, Hollister voters approved Measure U, which among other things, limits growth to 244 homes per year.
That’s been a moot point since shortly after it passed, because the city’s sewer treatment plant failed, spilled 15 million gallons of dirty water into the San Benito River and set the stage for the state to step in, slap our hands and order a halt to new construction.
Measure U was clearly a reaction to the disastrous decisions of the prior decade, when developers re-enacted the Oklahoma Land Rush in Hollister. Blocks of houses were quickly erected. Billboards lured commuters to their new homes, and Hollister residents were left a lifetime’s supply of headaches.
It’s our opinion that ballot box planning is almost always a bad idea. Saddled with a flat 244-unit-per-year limit, city planners no longer have the wherewithal to say yes to a good idea when it comes along.
At the same time, the 650-unit annual allotment that Measure S would have given to Pulte Homes was a bad idea too.
Pulte’s proposal was to build a community of 4,100 homes for old folks, and when Pulte’s bean counters ran the numbers, they figured they couldn’t do it and still wait in line like the rest of the development community.
If Measure U was a bad idea, let’s challenge voters to discard it, and come up with a better approach. And if Hollister is the right place for a senior community, let’s look at how best to approach that idea, rather than settling for a take-it-or-leave-it gambit.
Frankly, the right approach to a senior community, at the right location and with the right mix of amenities for city residents seems like a great idea. And Pulte, the parent company of Del Webb, has earned a reputation for doing right by its customers and communities.
This monologue would be moot had Pulte done what its employees promised and taken the defeat of Measure S as a clear message to get out of Dodge.
But that may not be the case. Days after the election, pollsters were calling Hollister voters, trying to smoke out the sticking points that led to Measure S’ stinging defeat.
That sounds like Pulte isn’t done with Hollister yet.
Note to political strategists: If you’re trying to keep your research on the downlow, don’t keep a newspaper publisher’s name on your call list.
Oh no! More on the election
Metropolitan papers once again reported that San Benito County is the crystal ball for the rest of California, and that we’re so gosh darned average that the rest of the state hardly needs to vote. As goes Paicines, so goes the rest of the state.
That’s mostly true, and for good reason. Our income and educational profiles pretty closely mirror the state’s. Ditto the ethnic makeup. We’re people who work hard, worry about the bills and dote on our kids, just like everybody else.
But the attention paid to our votes lately is a little unsettling. And it ignores the real significance of the way the minority of us who bothered voted on Nov. 7.
We handily elected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and then packed the U.S. Senate, Congress and state Legislature with Democrats. We passed state bond measures and rejected a local sales tax. We unseated some local incumbents and returned others to office.
At the end of it all, we think a few things are clear: we think things are running pretty well now, and we’re nervous about change. We don’t like negative campaigning, and we’re not fooled by it. We want our government to leave us alone.
Sounds like a plan.
Notebook is assembled by Pinnacle publisher Mark Paxton, with occasional contributions as noted by other members of the staff. If you would like to submit items for consideration, e-mail him at mp*****@pi**********.com.
