Project calls for $8.7 million revamp
It is Hollister’s most visible park, yet perhaps its least
visited. With sweeping views of the city and county and its
location just north of downtown, Vista Park Hill has the potential
to be a crown jewel.
Project calls for $8.7 million revamp
It is Hollister’s most visible park, yet perhaps its least visited. With sweeping views of the city and county and its location just north of downtown, Vista Park Hill has the potential to be a crown jewel.
However, a lack of funding, concerns about visitor safety and its general state of disrepair have tarnished the resource.
So, despite having less than $30,000 in its Park Development Fund, the City Council this week approved an ambitious Park Hill Master Plan that calls for $8.7 million in renovations to the 15-acre park – a plan that officials acknowledge may not come to fruition for a the better part of a decade.
“It might be on the shelf for awhile, but at least it’s there and ready to go,” said Community Services Director Clay Lee. “To have a plan in place is a valuable place if grant money does come available. If you can show the funding agency that you do have a plan in place, it gives you a leg up on somebody that doesn’t have plans.”
A report presented this week to the council said that with the current economic climate and lack of residential growth – which drives the collection of park acquisition and development fees – “it is difficult to estimate when the first phase of the project might occur.”
The “best estimate,” according to the report, “is that it would take a minimum of seven to 10 years of solid housing starts and residential growth to collect enough funding to consider design and construction of Phase 1 of the project.
“If we had viable, sustainable residential growth over seven to eight years, we can get to the point of starting Phase 1,” Lee said. “It all comes down to housing starts and those new residences paying their fees.”
Park Hill, which was developed in the 1970s and in recent years had its playground equipment removed because it was not up to code, still is brimming with potential, officials say.
“It literally sits above us all and has great views,” Lee said. “It has been kind of run down over the years so there is a great need to get it built back up.”
The city paid SSA Landscape Architects Inc. of Santa Cruz just more than $50,000 to complete the plan, which culminated seven months of work including community workshops in February, March and May to gather public input on the project.
“The public input process was outstanding for this project, with approximately 20 to 25 citizens attending each community meeting,” Lee wrote in his report to the council. “The consultant … incorporated the public’s desires into the final plan.”
That plan, broken into three phases, calls for the demolition of much of the existing hardscape at the park and the installation of an amphitheater, new play areas, a park kiosk, new tables and barbecue areas, landscaping and basketball hoops. Later stages of the plan also include the installation of a gazebo, a lookout area, a public art mural on the existing city water tank, a wind sculpture and a nine-hole disc golf course.
Asked where the renovation of Park Hill ranks on the city’s park priority list, Lee said it’s “going to be high on that list.”
“When you look at our park system right now, other than a few little things, it’s fairly complete other than some needed upgrades of play equipment here and there,” he said. “There’s not much left to do with our existing park system. The top two [priorities] right now are Park Hill and the Brigantino Park” a 50-acre turf area near the San Benito River.
Lee’s report to the Council said that one key issue during the public input process was the need to improve Hill Street, the only existing public vehicular access to the park. The master plan calls for that primary access to shift to the as-yet-constructed North Street extension north of the hill. Negative public perception about safety issues at the tree-lined park have discouraged some visitors from using Park Hill, Lee said, so improving the area could reverse that.
Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller said he has had reports of drug activity, assaults and graffiti at Park Hill over the years.
“Though we have those concerns at other parks as well. Each park has its own issues, so to say that one is of any more concern than another – I’m not prepared to go that far.”
The plan to upgrade Park Hill – or any other park in Hollister – is welcomed, Miller said.
“I think any time you make parks more accessible to people and provide the means to encourage families to be there, you reduce the incidence of crime,” he said.
