Public workshops used to gather input on housing, commuting
goals
A dozen residents turned out for the first of two 2035 Monterey
Bay Area Regional Blueprint meetings to be hosted in San Benito
County. The public workshops are being sponsored by local
government agencies such as the city and county planning
departments, the Council of Governments and the Association of
Monterey Bay Area Governments.
The workshops have been hosted in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San
Benito counties, with one more scheduled in Hollister on June 26.
They are being used to gather input from residents on how they
travel, what type of housing they have and what their ideal vision
of the future would be.
Public workshops used to gather input on housing, commuting goals
A dozen residents turned out for the first of two 2035 Monterey Bay Area Regional Blueprint meetings to be hosted in San Benito County. The public workshops are being sponsored by local government agencies such as the city and county planning departments, the Council of Governments and the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments.
The workshops have been hosted in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, with one more scheduled in Hollister on June 26. They are being used to gather input from residents on how they travel, what type of housing they have and what their ideal vision of the future would be.
“We are working with partner agencies to create a vision of the future,” said Randy Deshazo, a principal planner with AMBAG, “taking account of how the state is changing demographically, and we do anticipate a lot of changes.”
Deshazo said that population projections suggest that the inland populations of the three counties will continue to grow, while the coastal population is expected to stabilize.
“Along the Route 1 corridor, it is not growing, but the population is getting older,” he said.
The workshops are the first step for AMBAG in creating a Sustainable Communities Strategies for the region, a requirement of State Senate Bill 375. The bill is an attempt to help the state meet the objectives laid out in Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
For the first part of the meeting, the AMBAG staff members guided residents through a computerized survey.
“We want to get your input as we look ahead,” Deshazo said. “On where you live, where you would like to live and, as local governments, how can we meet the challenges with shrinking resources.”
The survey included questions about what type of housing people live in – large rural plots, large suburban plots, small single-family homes, townhomes or apartments – and what type of housing they would like to live in. It also included questions on how far people commute for work and whether they use public transportation for work, errands or other activities.
The survey is online at www.ambag.org, under a link for Blueprint 2010 Workshop Survey. Residents who cannot attend the June 26 workshop can take the survey online through July 16 at 11:45 p.m.
The key part of the survey may have been in asking people in what instances they would use public transportation in the future and what type of housing they’d like to live in down the road.
“What we want to do is expand your choices,” Deshazo said. “It is less about congested roads but more about complete streets, less low-density housing and more urban living. It leads to more vibrant downtowns.”
At the end of the survey, Steph Nelson, an AMBAG planner, summarized the findings.
“Based on the responses, what does a typical day look like?” Nelson said. “Residents probably live in a single-family, detached home with two to four people and they spend less than 10 minutes getting to work.”
The responses of the people at the meeting, however, may not be typical of the average resident. Maps presented at the meeting showed that only 29 percent of the Hollister residents work in the city and only 9 percent of San Juan Bautista residents work in Hollister. Other people commute to Monterey, Santa Cruz or Santa Clara counties for work.
After the survey, the participants broke up into two groups with AMBAG staff working as moderators to discuss what sorts of issues and obstacles are in the way of their ideal vision.
They also discussed what their ideal vision of the future would be, in terms of housing and transportation, as well as some ways to mitigate the issues and obstacles to get to that vision.
Most of the participants agreed that one of the biggest challenges in San Benito County is a lack of local jobs, which leads to people commuting out of the area for work. Other issues mentioned included maintaining the rural and agricultural identity in San Benito County, a lack of downtown retail and the spread of big box stores, as well as sprawl development.
Some of the solutions the participants suggested were based on best management practices that the AMBAG staff shared and others were ideas they came up with on their own. Most mentioned using infill development to reduce sprawl and to create more vibrant downtown spaces. They also mentioned promoting tourism, increasing transit opportunities and encouraging telecommuting.
The ultimate vision for the future in 2035 included more industry and quality jobs in San Benito County, rail service, pedestrian-friendly streets, more activities for youth and a better quality of life.
Upcoming Workshop
The 2035 Regional Blueprint workshop
June 26, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Veterans Memorial Building, Rm. 218, in Hollister
For more information, visit www.ambag.org or call 883-3750. Residents can also find the survey online at www.ambag.org, where they can click on the Blueprint 2010 Workshop Survey. The survey will be available July 16 until 11:45 p.m.
