Hollister officials are hoping to meet with the state geologist
to clear some downtown properties for development in compliance
with earthquake zoning rules.
A geotechnical engineering firm hired by the city has since 2009
been compiling prior surface fault studies to identify areas where
additional trenching may be needed in compliance with the Alquist
Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act.
Having the various individual studies combined in one place
could also help exempt some areas from further study, clearing a
path for expansion or development when needed.
Hollister officials are hoping to meet with the state geologist to clear some downtown properties for development in compliance with earthquake zoning rules.
A geotechnical engineering firm hired by the city has since 2009 been compiling prior surface fault studies to identify areas where additional trenching may be needed in compliance with the Alquist Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act.
Having the various individual studies combined in one place could also help exempt some areas from further study, clearing a path for expansion or development when needed.
“You start to assemble the information from all the different fault studies and you begin to see a pattern,” said Mary Paxton, Hollister’s redevelopment program manager.
For example, if a fault appears in separate studies on land to the north and south of an un-studied area, and it would be safe to assume that that area also contains a fault.
“Common sense would say that you wouldn’t have to keep trenching in certain areas” if that were the case, she noted.
“We hope one thing it accomplishes is to help clear some other properties and provide a framework for examining a geographic area and getting the most use out of the money and to clear the most property,” she said.
The city council, in its role as the Redevelopment Agency board, recently approved spending an additional $5,500 to have Pacific Geotechnical Engineering continue its collection of fault hazard studies with the goal of having the work approved by the state geologist.
Having the state exempt some properties from further fault studies can save property owners money, Paxton said, noting how the city spent approximately $100,000 on trenching work at the downtown fire station that is in the process of being demolished and rebuilt.
“Once a property is cleared it’s cleared,” she said. “We can’t clear the whole downtown; we know there are gaps in information. We are hoping to clear some areas. Instead of being piecemeal on individual lots, we can look at it as one geographic area.”
The Alquist Priolo Act requires that when development occurs in an earthquake zone a surface fault investigation must be done, a geologist hired by the city must review the scope of work and then the information is sent to state geologists before a property can be cleared for development or listed as non-developable.
The ongoing geologic assessment of already-conducted fault hazard studies could save time and money while encouraging development investment downtown, officials say.
