Hollister
– Plans for a 44-room hotel in Tres Pinos will go before the
county Planning Commission tonight.
Hollister – Plans for a 44-room hotel in Tres Pinos will go before the county Planning Commission tonight.
According to county senior planner Chuck Ortwein, the meeting will be the first time the Planning Commission has addressed the proposed Spur Hotel. The hotel has drawn fierce supporters and opponents, with anti-hotel activists saying the Spur’s size and location would ruin the 510-person community, and supporters saying it could be a boon to the local economy.
Susan Calleri was one of 27 residents who wrote to the county with concerns about the project. Calleri, who has lived in Tres Pinos since 1986, said the location is just wrong for a development of that size, which could lead to traffic congestion and accidents.
The project will generate approximately 242 trips per day, mainly on Highway 25, according to the planning department’s staff report.
“It’s too big a project to go in that area,” Calleri said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Tres Pinos Inn owner Mike Howard said hotel opponents are just a vocal minority. Most people can’t wait for the hotel to open, he said.
“It’s not only for Tres Pinos; it’s for the county,” Howard said.
He added that the real struggle isn’t between business owners and Tres Pinos residents, but rather between hotel supporters and the Tres Pinos Water District, because the Tres Pinos Water District won’t allow the developers to hook into the water system.
As currently planned, the hotel would sit west of the intersection of Southside Road and Highway 25 and include 36 standard rooms, eight suites, a banquet room and a meeting room.
Howard said the hotel will provide a great opportunity for local businesses.
“It represents the type of class we all strive for,” he said. “It would expose the county to not just drive-thrus. … We need to have them stay here and spend their money overnight.”
Others have said offering more overnight lodging in San Benito could also benefit local wineries, but Calleri isn’t swayed by the economic arguments.
“Some people are just listening to the dollar figure,” she said.
Ortwein said the Planning Commission will be making two decisions about the project tonight: whether to change the zoning of the property from “single-family residential” to “commercial thoroughfare,” and whether to approve a commercial district review that declares the hotel an appropriate use for the property.
The Board of Supervisors will have final approval on the zoning change, Ortwein said.
