Hollister – El Rancho San Benito Developer DMB Associates has offered to give about 11 acres of land it owns along Highway 25 to the San Benito Council of Governments to be used for planned safety improvements on the busiest road in the county.
Local DMB representative Ray Becker said that COG was willing to pay for the property, which runs along the front of the 4,500 acres DMB owns just south of the Santa Clara County line. The development company, however, decided to offer to donate the land, which he said is worth about $80,000, when it was announced that COG had to find more than $6.3 million to fund the Highway 25 bypass project. The transfer has not been finalized, according to Becker, but COG discussed the offer last night after press time.
Highway 25 safety improvement project includes widening the road between Hollister and Santa Clara County just south of Gilroy, installing a center barrier and consolidating private driveways on the road so that there are fewer entrances onto the highway. It has $12 million budget, according to COG staff.
One option under consideration for making up the shortfall for the bypass project is to pull funds from the safety improvement project. As of now, COG anticipates that the safety improvements will start in August or September, but that might be delayed if COG has to use safety improvement funds for the bypass.
In February it was revealed that the budget for the bypass project, which will create a new leg of Highway 25 that will bypass downtown Hollister, was short $15.5 million. Since then, COG staff has been scrambling to figure out a way to close the funding gap so that the long-awaited project can begin construction this year. The bulk of the shortfall can be made up with $9.2 million in traffic impact fees, leaving the $6.3-million deficit.
Despite the funding hurdle, COG staff still say that construction on the bypass will begin this August and end in late 2007. Many in Hollister are eager to see the project finished. Once the bypass is built, Caltrans will cede control of San Benito Street to the city, which plans on making the road more pedestrian friendly as part of downtown revitalization efforts.
