After the 1990s population boom transformed Hollister from a
rural town into a sprawling bedroom community, Planning
Commissioner David Huboi is hoping a major overhaul of the city’s
general plan will help the city reestablish its small town
character, even as it continues to grow.
Hollister – After the 1990s population boom transformed Hollister from a rural town into a sprawling bedroom community, Planning Commissioner David Huboi is hoping a major overhaul of the city’s general plan will help the city reestablish its small town character, even as it continues to grow.
The city’s general plan revision, which has been in the works for more than two years and is expected to go before the City Council in November, calls for dense, concentric development around the core of the city to preserve the hills surrounding Hollister as open space. Such a development pattern will also make it easier for the city to deliver services to homes.
“What happened in the ’90s, when all the houses built stretched and meandered in all directions, it was hard to develop a sense of place,” said Huboi, who drafted the revision with his colleagues on the planning commission, a steering community of residents and a consultant.
In an effort to create that sense of place, the revision includes the development of small retail centers, which would house coffee shops and corner stores, within walking, or biking, distance from residential neighborhoods. Huboi said he hopes such development will get people out of their cars and entice them to walk around town and really enjoy the city.
“We need to come up with ways to have Hollister kind of come about and evolve into its own identity instead of being a bedroom community,” he said.
In pursuit of that end, the revision includes plans for the revitalization of Hollister’s struggling downtown through mixed-use retail and residential space, unique specialty stores and entertainment venues.
While some in the downtown community are pleased with the plans laid out in the revision, they are concerned about how those plans will be carried out.
“They don’t get very specific. It’s (the revision) all good, but it’s a matter of how it’s going to get implemented,” said Maddux Jewelry owner Rick Maddux, who is also chairman of Hollister Downtown Association’s economic recovery committee.
Maddux was especially impressed by plan for mixed-use space – which combines store fronts with residential space – in downtown, saying that people who lived in downtown would take ownership of the area.
“Downtown, in order to thrive, needs people. It needs a population living in it as well as working in it,” he said.
Maddux said that the HDA wants to work with the city, using HDA resources, to further the revitalization strategy in the general plan revision.
Bill Mifsud of Bill’s Bullpen in downtown said that, until he sees some action on the plan, he’s not going to get his hopes up.
“I’ve been in business 17 years, I’ve always heard talk of revitalization,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of talk, but no action. I won’t believe it until I see something in concrete.”
Mifsud said that he thinks that, rather than mixed-use space, having entertainment and restaurants in downtown will draw people into the area and give them a chance to see what retail stores are there.
“I think we need a destination point,” he said. “Having residential people downtown doesn’t benefit my business. If people want to buy a jersey, they’re going to come to me to get it even if they don’t live downtown.”
Maddux said he would also like to see destination points, such as restaurants and entertainment venues, in downtown. But, he added, aside from making space available there isn’t much that can be done to get those businesses to come into downtown.
“If you could make wishes come true, that would be wonderful,” he said. “But all we can do is make space available, hopefully someone bites on it.”
According to Maddux, the future of downtown Hollister will rely on a variety of unique, specialty shops that offer things that can’t be found at big box retail stores.
In addition to revitalizing downtown, the general plan draft calls for boosting low and moderate income housing – though a target amount of affordable housing has not been determined.
Because of the city’s building moratorium – imposed by a state agency after a 15 million gallon sewer spill in 2002 – and a growth control ordinance passed by voters the same year, the city has not been able to meet state-mandated affordable housing levels. City Planner Susan Heiser has said that the state has acknowledged that those two factors are beyond the control of the city, and it is willing to work with the city to achieve affordable housing targets.
Changing the city’s growth control ordinance – which allows 244 houses per year, 40 of which must be affordable – would take a vote. So rather than that, the general plan suggests that the way the ordinance is implemented be changed and more houses be dedicated as affordable units.
The public comment period for the plan’s environmental report ends today. After that, a final environmental report needs to be drafted and the planning commission will hold a public hearing on the plan. Also, the commission needs to make a recommendation to the council on whether to accept the plan. City Planner Susan Heiser said she anticipates the plan going to the city council for a vote sometime in November.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com.
