Residents protest the City Council's decision to cut affordable housing from 20% to 15%
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Thousands More (Unaffordable) Houses!
Hollister Guardians and our supporters attended Planning Commission and City Council meetings to oppose major changes in the new Hollister General Plan that would let developers build thousands more houses in the next 17 years, with less affordable housing. In fact, the Mayor & City Council majority have cut the affordable housing requirement and increased the number of expensive houses that will be built.
See proposed General Plan changes below.
General Plan Changes
Developers and their lobbyists have been attending the Hollister Planning Commission and City Council meetings to push for major changes to Hollister's 2040 General Plan:
(1) Expand the sphere of influence to allow thousands of houses to be built on Fairview, Union & Buena Vista Roads
(2) Reduce the affordable housing requirement from 20% to 15%. (Developers asked to cut affordable housing because it's not as profitable for them.)
(3) Reduce housing density in parts of Hollister to allow more single-family homes
On December 3, 2024. The Mayor and City Council majority voted 4 to 1 to approve this terrible General Plan.
Map of Changes to Hollister General Plan
The areas of the map shown in purple can be housing developments. This is the expanded "sphere of influence" that developers have asked to be included in the Hollister General Plan. Mayor Mia Casey and the City Council majority have been eager to accommodate the developers' request.
A citizens' committee worked for three years on the General Plan and was nearly done. When the new Mayor & City Council majority took office in 2023, they began rewriting the General Plan to accommodate developers. They expanded the "sphere of influence" to allow the development of 3,000 acres of agricultural land outside of city limits. This revision allows up to 30,000 more houses to be built all around Hollister's city limits. It will cost Hollister taxpayers $762,822 to rewrite the General Plan. The Placeworks consultant working on the General Plan suggested that developers bear this cost by amending the General Plan later, but the Mayor and City Council majority ignored this advice and voted to have taxpayers pay the $762,822 expense now. (See Nov. 6, 2023 City Council Minutes & Video, Agenda item F3.)
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