A coalition of citizens is challenging the Board of Supervisors’
approval of a growth control measure that would preserve open space
and limit the ability to subdivide land.
A coalition of citizens is challenging the Board of Supervisors’ approval of a growth control measure that would preserve open space and limit the ability to subdivide land.
Member of the Farmers and Citizens to Protect our Agricultural Heritage said they will work toward a referendum that would bring the new ordinance to a vote of the people.
The San Benito County Growth Control Initiative was adopted outright last week by the Board by a 4-1 vote.
Supervisors had the option of either adopting the measure without alteration or placing it on the March ballot.
“Many people didn’t think it was right that the Board of Supervisors took their vote away from them,” said Tom Tobias, president of the San Benito County Farm Bureau. “Many of them have joined us in our fight to get this back on the ballot and to get our story out.”
The ordinance’s re-zoning aspect is different from the county’s existing provisions in that it takes much of the land currently in agricultural productive designation and reduces it from a five-acre designation to a 20-acre designation. The ordinance also designates agricultural rangeland area from a 40-acre designation to a 160-acre designation.
Proponents said the new measure will strengthen agricultural policies of the county’s General Plan and help preserve open space and conservation measures of the land’s resources.
The ordinance could go into effective within less than 30 days.
Farm bureau members said the Board’s decision was a preemptive strike against the farm bureau’s plan.
“We had planned to do an informational campaign, but now that they adopted it, we have to do a referendum to rescind their decision,” Tobias said. “It (referendum) will force them to send it to the people.”
A minimum of 1,271 signatures of registered voters is required for the possible action, but the group hoped to collect at least 2,000 signatures.
“This adoption by the supervisors is just a bump in the road for us,” said Tobias, who also heads the coalition’s committee.
The coalition is made up of members from the farm bureau, the Cattlemen’s Association, the Business Council, citizens and property owners.
“Most of the citizens are property owners who don’t feel the initiative is treating them fairly,” Tobias said.
Proponents of the referendum have consulted with an elections attorney and are being advise on how to move forward.
The referendum to overturn last week’s decision will be circulating throughout the county within the next few weeks, Tobias said. People who want to sign the petition or contribute their time or money may contact Farmers and Citizens to Protect our Agricultural Heritage at 530 San Benito St., Suite 201, Hollister, CA 95023 or call (831) 637-4929.
Tables will be set up at the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, the Hollister Post Office, three major shopping centers in Hollister and also at the Windmill Market Plaza in San Juan Bautista.
“We have numerous citizens who have volunteered to walk the neighborhoods,” Tobias said. “It is nice to see people take an interest in the politics that affect them.”
