Organization enters talks with city to develop three-acre
site
The San Benito County YMCA has scaled back its original plans
for an 85,000-square-foot facility on Union Road and is now in
talks with the city of Hollister to instead develop a smaller
project on the southern three acres of the former Leatherback
property.
Organization enters talks with city to develop three-acre site
The San Benito County YMCA has scaled back its original plans for an 85,000-square-foot facility on Union Road and is now in talks with the city of Hollister to instead develop a smaller project on the southern three acres of the former Leatherback property.
The Hollister City Council, in its dual role as the Redevelopment Agency board, on Monday authorized city staff to discuss development opportunities for the YMCA on land owned by the RDA.
“There is no timeline” for the discussions, said YMCA Executive Director Rochelle Callis. “We’re going to get them some information, they’ll get us some information, and we’ll open up some conversations.”
The proposal, which Hollister Development Services Director William Avera said was met “pretty positively” by the council, said talks between the YMCA and the city will continue as the Leatherback facility is demolished over the next year.
A city report said a YMCA facility at the location along Prospect Road, from Bulldog Boxing Gym northward, “has a number of benefits. First and foremost, the location – geographically – is almost in the center of town, providing easy access to the entire community they serve.”
The YMCA, the report noted, could “provide a nice buffer to the existing high-density residential units to the west” and would be located not far from the Rancho San Justo Sports Complex.
The RDA purchased Leatherback’s two vacant plants – encompassing seven acres at 111 Hillcrest Road and 901 Prospect Ave. – for $4 million. Hollister’s General Plan designates the sites as mixed-use commercial, meaning further industrial development is not an option. Residential development has also been touted as an option for the area.
In 2006, the Hollister School district voted to sell 7.5 acres of land south of Ladd Lane Elementary School to the YMCA to build a nearly $13 million facility that would include basketball and racquetball courts, at least two swimming pools, fitness equipment and other spaces for children and adults. At the time, the school district said it would give the YMCA up to three years to come up with the expected $1,050,000 needed to purchase the property.
Last summer, that agreement was extended so the YMCA would have until July 2010 to come up with the purchase amount.
“We are currently in escrow with the school district, but we’re going to do our due diligence with this other property,” said Callis. “What’s appealing [about the new site under consideration] is it would be a partnership with the city and the location is very central to town.”
Callis said the YMCA has raised half of the more than $1 million needed to purchase the Union Road site still owned by the school district, but “if all goes well” in negotiations with the city, the “Y” could pursue building a scaled back 30,000-square-foot facility on the former Leatherback property.
Hollister School District Superintendent Ron Crates said he understands why the YMCA would pursue the opportunity to build a facility closer to the heart of Hollister, rather than on the Union Road property.
“We give them our blessing for this to occur,” he said. “I think it’s a good location for our community. We have strong feelings positively about the Y. They do a lot of good things for the community. We just want to make sure a Y is built.”
Still, if the Leatherback site proves not to be the right fit, Crates said, the school district would be amenable to having the YMCA revisit the idea of building near Ladd Lane School.
“We want to be helpful to the YMCA in every way we can,” he said. “We’re really pleased they have this opportunity with the RDA. If that falls through, we’d still work with them.”
If the YMCA chooses the former Leatherback site over the Union Road location, Crates said the school district would re-evaluate potential uses for the land it offered the Y.
“We would wait to see what our needs are at that time,” he said, noting that the district is undergoing a review of its facility needs.
The YMCA has reduced the scope of its original plans for a facility by nearly a third, square-footage-wise, but Callis said future expansion will still remain an option.
“Once we have the property we’ll find out what the community wants,” she said. “We’ll have community meetings to help decide our direction. Hopefully it would have the potential to grow in the future.”
The demolition of the Leatherback sites will be done with care, Avera said, to ensure that any environmental issues are addressed.
“We don’t expect any problems, but based on the fact that it’s been an industrial property for a long time, we want to verify there is not one single problem,” he said, adding that initial environmental studies have not indicated significant problems. “We have a good, solid year for the whole demolition process to occur. Once we clean the site, we can enter into a negotiating agreement with the YMCA in good faith.”
Avera said the city “absolutely” plans to sell the former Leatherback land, rather than leasing it out. However, he indicated that the RDA could extend the term of a mortgage or otherwise make payment terms attractive to benefit the nonprofit YMCA.
“They’re providing the community with the benefit,” Avera said, so it makes sense for the city offer an attractive purchase agreement.
The search for a YMCA location began in 2002, when negotiations for a 23-acre site near Marguerite Maze Middle School fell through. That plan – called the Community Square Project – involved building a large YMCA along with a new library and center for the arts.
Four years later, the YMCA reached agreement with the school district to acquire the vacant Union Road property, with district officials talking about extending the purchase option timeline to accommodate the Y’s need to raise money.
Home base for the YMCA is a building on Fifth Street in downtown Hollister, which houses its offices and hosts health and wellness programs. The YMCA, which employs between 15 and 40 people on a seasonal basis, uses local parks and schools to offer other programs, such as sports and after-school events.
Nearly 50 volunteers are working with the YMCA in its community support campaign that kicked off during the first week of February, Callis said.
“Last year we had $101,000 in pledges over a six-week period,” she said. “Out of the money raised, 95 percent is given back to the community” through the funding of programs and other services.
