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At its last meeting of the year, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to postpone voting on amendments to the rules governing the county Planning Commission. The proposal modifies the commission’s duties and scope of authority, which has been the source of tensions between planners and supervisors in recent months. The supervisors pulled the proposal from its Dec. 10 meeting agenda, deciding it should be discussed next year when former Hollister mayor Ignacio Velazquez replaces Supervisor Bea Gonzalez on the board.
The project to amend the commission’s rules has been in the works for the last three years and was approved by its members in April 2024.
The proposal would give commissioners the power to make recommendations to other county agencies on affordable housing, property map subdivisions, impact fees and projects or properties investigated for code violations.
“The project is trying to expand our ability to function better,” said Commissioner Robert Gibson during a March meeting.
The proposal also gives the commission the authority to negotiate development agreements—contracts between a local jurisdiction and a property owner which set the conditions for development.
During the Dec. 10 meeting, Supervisor Angela Curro said that such a significant change should not be discussed “at the end of a board year” and should be tabled until the new board convenes.
Supervisor Bea Gonzalez, whose last day on the board was Dec. 10, agreed. “This should be heard by all five supervisors sitting here in January,” she said.
.Development agreements have been at the center of the county’s land use discussions over the last three months.
On Nov. 12, the supervisors rejected a development agreement that had been approved by the Planning Commission for the property destined to be Ag Center, a major project at the intersection of Highways 101 and 129.
The agreement, which would have maintained the current land designation in one of the “nodes” slated for development in the county’s General Plan, was denied because supervisors concurred it was a way to bypass Measure A, the recently approved initiative which makes changes in land use designations contingent on a popular vote.
During discussion, supervisors criticized the specific development agreements—Curro said they were “flawed” and “do not protect” the county— and the planners’ authority to negotiate them without the supervisors’ authorization.
“The Planning Commission has no business negotiating high-level development agreements or getting involved in policy-making matters,” Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki wrote on Facebook.
The supervisors didn’t set a date for the proposed amendments to be brought back. But they will be discussed by the new board which includes Velazquez, who has said in prior interviews that he does not support developments in the county’s rural areas.
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