The proposed San Juan Oaks development of 186 housing lots and a
200-room hotel and golf course resort has one foot in the door. And
the other foot, after a critical approval Tuesday, should soon
follow.
The proposed San Juan Oaks development of 186 housing lots and a 200-room hotel and golf course resort has one foot in the door. And the other foot, after a critical approval Tuesday, should soon follow.
After several delays, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the project’s environmental report and necessary zoning changes – which by normal procedure would precede a final approval. The action came after the board sent the project back to planners several times for further dissection.
The 4-1 approval means the long-planned sale of 186 lots, and construction of a hotel and two new golf courses, should happen, according to officials. As it stands, the project includes a mandate for San Juan Oaks to build and equip a new fire station, which Supervisor Richard Scagliotti lobbied for at a Board meeting April 13.
Supervisor Ruth Kesler voted against the project, she said, because she believes it will worsen traffic on Union Road and Highway 156.
“Look at Union Road,” Kesler said. “You can’t even get out, and you’re going to throw a couple hundred people in there?”
Next, the project goes to the Planning Commission for consideration of a final map, which is usually the last approval before a development project can break ground.
But, in a move deviating from the norm, the board asked to take one last look at that map – after the Planning Commission sees it – before giving the county’s final blessing. Supervisor Pat Loe asked for it because of the “very technical” conditions the board wants the developer follow.
Loe wants to make sure the development adheres to the California Environmental Quality Act and can provide adequate water, she said.
Regardless, county officials acknowledged that San Juan Oaks’ development and resort cleared a major hurdle Tuesday and is now on its way to eventually breaking ground.
Assistant Planning Director Fred Goodrich said the approval Tuesday means the only conceivable obstacle to the project would be a lawsuit of some kind. He’s coordinating the county Planning Department’s efforts on the project.
“I would say it looks like the project’s on track to get approval and be developed at some point in the future,” Goodrich said.
The project, located on the property of the San Juan Oaks Golf and Country Club, was conceived more than a decade ago. Though its scope has been diminished because of tightening growth restrictions.
It would include the sale of the lots along the current private golf course. San Juan Oaks would sell 25 lots a year – with the first 30 designated as affordable housing. The total project area would encompass more than 2,000 acres, including a 60-acre park.
The ordinance also contain the added provisions to the deal.
San Juan Oaks must:
– Build a secondary access road to Highway 156
– Dedicate land for the fire station and pay for a station’s construction
– Assist the county in setting up “funding mechanisms” such as County Service Area 26, which was never activated after being established in 1987 to pay for fire services
San Juan Oaks General Manager Scott Fuller was pleased with the approval. He believes the map will gain final approval, which must happen within 50 days of Tuesday.
He plans to work with planners in the coming weeks to negotiate the size of the fire station and the details of traffic-related issues.
“I think it can be worked out as long as everybody is reasonable,” Fuller said.
Fuller wants to pull the first batch of permits in July 2005, he said. From there, the hotel construction would start about three to four years later.
At the meeting, the board certified a textbook-thick environmental impact report through a resolution. And in a separate ordinance, it approved a general plan amendment to exempt the property’s agricultural rangeland zoning, which normally allows a single housing unit per 40 acres.
The San Juan Oaks development also had been endangered by Measure G, which was defeated by a 69 percent to 31 percent vote on the March ballot. Measure G would have changed the property to 160-acre zoning, and left virtually no chance for its fruition.
