Lea este articulo en español aquí.
Local activist Andy Hsia-Coron told BenitoLink he expects to start collecting signatures for his latest slow-growth initiative as soon as March 29. The initiative aims to change the process in which some land use decisions are made in the unincorporated parts of San Benito County.
Titled Empower Voters to Make Land Use Decisions Initiative, the initiative requires at least 1,985 signatures from registered voters within a 180-day circulation period. If the initiative meets all requirements, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors can adopt the ordinance as is or place it on the November ballot.
Hsia-Coron said this initiative differs from a previous attempt in that it impacts fewer areas identified in the county’s 2035 General Plan as commercial. The plan, which was adopted in 2015, serves as the blueprint for growth for the next 10 years.
The 2022 slow-growth initiative was titled Let Voters Decide and later placed on the ballot as measure Q. It was rejected by 56% of voters.
While Measure Q targeted nine nodes, the Empower Voters initiative focuses on the four areas designated as commercial regional land use along Hwy 101 known as San Juan Road (Rocks Ranch), Betabel Road, Hwy 129 and Livestock 101.
The initiative seeks to change their General Plan designation to agricultural or rangeland.
“We actually think that the whole 101 corridor is a really foolish place to be doing a lot of development,” Hsia-Coron said.
The current land use designations, which set the guidelines for development and differ from the General Plan’s designations, are:
- Rocks Ranch: agricultural rangeland and agricultural productive (2,613 acres of the ranch was acquired by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz for habitat preservation and management)
- Betabel Road: agriculture rangeland, commercial thoroughfare
- Searle Road/Hwy 129: commercial throughfare
- Livestock 101: neighborhood commercial
“The other nodes around the county, we don’t really have to act on them at all,” Hsia-Coron said. “They are currently zoned in agricultural or range or other designations that are covered by our initiative.”
Another difference in the new initiative is that it doesn’t address the New Community Study Areas, which were recently removed from the General Plan by the Board of Supervisors. Hsia-Coron said he believed the attention they brought to the study areas led the supervisors to remove them.
However, in August 2022, then-supervisor Bob Tiffany pushed to eliminate the study areas as a way to refute claims that housing was going to be built as part of the proposed Strada Verde Innovation Park commercial development close to the Santa Clara-San Benito county line.
As with Measure Q, the Empower Voters initiative also attempts to change the process by which rural, agricultural and rangeland properties are rezoned to commercial. Rather than the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors deciding, it would be up to voters.
Hsia-Coron and his cohorts in Preserve Our Rural Community and later the Campaign to Protect San Benito, along with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, have opposed numerous proposed commercial developments throughout the county including the Betabel project, which is currently in an appellate court. They’ve cited environmental and traffic concerns and said the area is sacred land to the indigenous people.
Hsia-Coron also led the efforts to block the rezoning of four Hwy 101 nodes to commercial regional in 2020 through Measure K.
Former San Benito County Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who opposed measured Q, said the initiative does not benefit the community.
“I just hope people wake up and see the long-term effects of such ill-advised initiatives like these do to a community,” Botelho said.
Opponents of Measure Q, which included the San Benito County Business Council, the San Benito County Farm Bureau and Sheriff Eric Taylor, argued the measure did not address housing sprawl, that it would hurt the agricultural economy and divert tax revenues for road improvement and public safety.
However, Hsia-Coron said the initiative allows voters to decide projects on a case-by-case basis.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
