City Council members passed a resolution Monday to begin the
annexation process of eight acres of county land into Hollister so
local developers can move forward with plans to build a
161-dwelling senior community between Airline Highway and Valley
View Road.
Hollister – City Council members passed a resolution Monday to begin the annexation process of eight acres of county land into Hollister so local developers can move forward with plans to build a 161-dwelling senior community between Airline Highway and Valley View Road.
The resolution requests that the Local Agency Formation Commission – the agency charged with approving boundary changes in the county – annex the property into the city. LAFCo will decide whether to approve the annexation during a hearing Thursday in the Board of Supervisors chambers.
The bulk of the 24 acres for the project – about 16 acres – was previously annexed into the city. But in 2003 LAFCo denied a request to annex a final eight acres into the city because of concerns about availability of city services.
In September, the City Council approved the project’s plan for services – including police, fire, water and sewer that will be paid for with developer fees. Marty Miller, who owns the property with local Realtor Marilyn Ferreira and her husband Richard, hopes that the plan for services will satisfy LAFCo and the property will be annexed.
Although the city has already allocated 161 dwellings for the project, the property owners can’t hammer out the specific details for the senior community – such as what infrastructure will be required and how many homes per year they can build – until the remainder of the land is brought into Hollister, according to Miller.
“It’s essential,” he said. “The city has said it will not talk to us about the application itself until the property has been completely annexed into the city.”
The idea for the Annotti Senior Housing Project, as it is tentatively being called, stretches back nearly a decade to when Miller and the Ferreiras purchased an option to buy 24.4 acres located between Airline Highway and Valley View Road near Union Road. Miller said he and his partners saw a need for senior housing in the city.
In 1998, they bought the property with the intention of creating a community for adults over 55. Plans for the project include more than 100 houses and nearly 70 attached units – including affordable housing – as well as private streets, a community center, gardens and outdoor recreation areas.
All of that depends on whether LAFCo approves the annexation of the remaining property. If it does, Miller said that he and the Ferreiras will begin serious discussions with the city about what will be required to make the project a reality.
The developers hope to have those details worked out by the time the sewer moratorium – imposed by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board after a 15 million sewage spill in 2002 – is lifted. City Manager Clint Quilter has said that, barring some hang-up with environmental studies, the city will have a new sewer plant by late 2007, which would result in the moratorium being lifted.
