50-acre grassy plot on Hollister’s west side may be open by
July
The planned spring opening of the grassy riverside park at
Hollister’s west end has been pushed back by rain, meaning the
public may be able to gain access to the 50-acre site by July.
50-acre grassy plot on Hollister’s west side may be open by July
The planned spring opening of the grassy riverside park at Hollister’s west end has been pushed back by rain, meaning the public may be able to gain access to the 50-acre site by July.
“We’ve been thrown back by the late rains,” said Clay Lee, the city’s community services director. “We’ve had some grading done for an access road, tree trimming done and we have a full-time staff person assigned out there mowing on a regular basis. We’re hoping in the next couple of weeks to get gravel down for an access road and I’m hoping for a July opening of the park for the general public.”
The park, located on the west end of the San Juan Highway bridge, was created primarily so the city could put its treated water from its new sewage plant to use. Although the water is treated to a point where it is essentially clean enough to drink, the state does not allow Hollister to pour it into the San Benito River.
So the city paid $5 million for the parcel and now irrigates the turf area with the treated wastewater using a high-tech system that monitors wind speed and weather conditions.
In addition to seeding the ground and making sure the grass took hold, the city has graded the site to eliminate standing water and added fencing to keep people away from the riverbank as well as poison oak near the park, which is bordered by hills on its south and west sides.
When the park opens, it will be available for “drop-in types of informal use,” Lee said.
“We’ll allow groups to go out there, but there will be no set areas for activities or ownership of fields,” he said. “We’ll do it more on an informal basis. There’s plenty of land for everybody to go out there, such as football or soccer groups.”
A master plan for the park, which will be open from dawn to dusk, will be created in the future, Lee said, but budget constraints likely mean that plan is years away.
The city is expecting that PG & E will move overhead wires that currently run through the park underground on the perimeter of the park, which might call for temporary closure of the facility.
Hollister’s Parks and Recreation Commission is expected to discuss the naming of the park, which alternately has been called the Brigantino Park and the Riverside Park during its formative stages.
