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On Oct. 25, the Hollister Planning Commission unanimously approved recommending that the City Council adopt the 2040 general plan and certify its environmental impact report. The City Council is scheduled to consider the plan on Nov. 19. The Planning Commision also approved recommending the adoption of a Climate Action Plan and an Agricultural Land Preservation Program.
The general plan is required by the state and serves as the city’s blueprint for growth. It was last updated in 2005. The 2040 draft plan includes 10 elements:
- Land Use and Community Design
- Circulation
- Housing
- Natural Resources and Conservation
- Open Space and Agriculture
- Health and Safety
- Community Services and Facilities
- Arts
- Economic Development
- Environmental Justice
The environmental impact report, which was published on Oct. 18, analyzes 18 topics, 11 of which are listed as “less than significant.” According to David Early with the consultants Placeworks, three additional topics would be in the same category after mitigation measures.
Air quality, agricultural resources, noise and transportation are are categorized as “significant and unavoidable impacts”
Early said the changes to the draft plan include an expanded sphere of influence, a boundary outside the city limits that identifies how the city expects to grow.
He said the City Council also directed his office to adjust the draft agricultural land preservation policy that would require two acres of agricultural land be preserved for every one acre developed. The updated draft general plan reduces that to a 1:1 ratio. He said the land that is to be preserved needs to be within Hollister’s defined planning area (see map below), be in active agricultural use, or be put in agricultural use within a year, and be served by a water supply adequate to support its use.
Early said the city had considered requiring the preserved lands to be located anywhere in San Benito County, but opted to stay within the planning area “in order to ensure the preservation is having a direct effect on Hollister’s environs.” He said preserving ag land farther south in the county would “make no real impact on things in Hollister.”
The City Council also directed Placeworks to include four Specific Plan areas —Buena Vista, east of Fairview Road, Southwest and Union Road.
Early addressed public comments in the general plan that ranged from opinions that some policies violated state law to concerns over residential unit density. He said all policies meet state laws and that the City Council had concluded that density designations in the draft general plan were appropriate.
During the public comment section of the meeting, seven community members brought up concerns about traffic, residential development growth and zoning designations.
Lee Shahinian said he owned a vacant lot on San Felipe Road between Maple Street and Santa Ana Road, and that increased density led an interested buyer to walk from a project with $350,000 deposit. He added developers believe a density of 30 units per acre is not financially viable in Hollister.
“While I fully agree with the city of Hollister that high density is needed, the high density zoning must work for developers as well,” he said. “All the evidence I’ve cited indicates that a minimum density of 30 dwelling units per acre creates a barrier.”
He proposed a minimum of 20 units per acre. The density under that current land use designation is between 12 and 35 units per acre. The proposed density is 30 to 65 units per acre.
Jennifer Churchill said her family owns a property at the intersection of Hillcrest and Fairview that they have tried to develop it for 10 years.
“The idea to change our property to commercial feels extremely forced and almost bullied,” she said.
She said the plan was not worthy of adopting and called the climate plan shallow.
Former Hollister City Councilman Karson Klauer with K2 solutions, a real estate consulting firm, said the draft was not a perfect document but supported moving it forward to the City Council.
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