In your article on Hollister’s new General Plan (March 8), your
reporter wrote:
”
The 100-plus page update is the first since 1995, when the city
was in pro-growth mode … the policy document reflects altered
priorities such as commercial development and residential growth
only when matched by adequate infrastructure.
”
In your article on Hollister’s new General Plan (March 8), your reporter wrote: “The 100-plus page update is the first since 1995, when the city was in pro-growth mode … the policy document reflects altered priorities such as commercial development and residential growth only when matched by adequate infrastructure.” In fact, these “new” priorities were exactly what we thought we were adopting with the 1995 plan.
The problem with the old plan wasn’t so much that it was slanted toward residential growth. It wasn’t. The problem was that its slow-growth or smart-growth policies were never carried out.
The 1995 plan set a series of performance standards for new development. These standards were to insure that development didn’t come faster than our infrastructure could handle it. They covered 24 areas, including traffic, water, sewer, fire, police, parks and recreation, garbage, utilities, air pollution, noise, earthquakes, scenic values and schools (see pp. 19-21 of the 1995 plan). The standards were to be implemented by adoption of a performance standards ordinance (p. 29 of the 1995 plan).
That ordinance was never adopted. To my knowledge, no proposals for it were ever put forth. No public hearings were ever held.
There are no such performance standards in the new General Plan.
Maybe the whole idea of standards turned out to be unworkable. Who knows? But ten years ago and more, other cities and counties had adopted such standards. For whatever reason, we didn’t. The policy wasn’t dropped from the plan. It wasn’t voted out. It was just quietly ignored.
Whatever the values of the new General Plan, they will be worthless if they are not carried out. There is no way to make that automatic. Watchful citizens are still the best enforcement mechanism.
