After a chance to see Arizona community built by El Rancho San
Benito developer, many believe they will do good things
Hollister – After taking a whirlwind trip to Arizona over the weekend, several San Benito County residents agree: DMB knows how to build an attractive community.
DMB, which plans to build a mini-city on about 4,500 acres in northern San Benito County flew 25 people to Arizona Feb. 4 to tour the Verrado, one of the developer’s newer communities. Built in 2002, Verrado is located in Buckeye, Ariz., 25 miles from downtown Phoenix. The 8,800-acre town has a school, community center and room for more than 14,000 houses. It also has retail businesses as well as space for offices and light industrial businesses. Many were wowed.
“They’re going to raise the bar for development in San Benito County,” said Farm Bureau President Paul Hain, who went on the trip.
While those who went on the trip, which was paid for by DMB, had plenty of suggestions and concerns about relatively minor issues – Verrado was too beige for some and others didn’t like all the architectural designs – several said that they were impressed by Verrado’s open space, school and strong community.
“That exact template couldn’t be used, but that’s minor,” said Kristy Burchard, who went on the trip. “The main emphasis on the style of living would be ideal.”
Though DMB has yet to unveil a plan for El Rancho San Benito, in a report released in November it laid out an outline for the development. It proposes:
– Alternative access to Highway 101 through the project site to ensure the development’s residents don’t add to the traffic burden on Hwy. 25.
– Developer-financed services such as a library and police and fire protection
-Open space with parks, trails and sports facilities
– Diverse housing, including rentals, that will be affordable to a wide range of residents
Steve Breneman, who was part of the Arizona focus group, said that he was impressed by Verrado and now he is convinced that DMB’s planned-community approach is the way to go.
“I think it an intelligent plan for the future of housing development, instead of cookie-cutter houses with no character,” he said. “Things were neat, clean and orderly.”
The variety of housing at Verrado also made an impression on several who went on the trip.
“I was actually quite impressed,” Hain said. “They do have a wide variety of architectural styles, sizes and affordability.”
Bruce Pirl, a teacher at Anzar High School, said he liked the variety of housing in Verrado. He is concerned, however, that many of the people who live at El Rancho San Benito will work in Santa Clara County and spend their money there too so San Benito won’t benefit from increased tax revenue. As a teacher, though, Pirl said he was most impressed with Verrado’s school, which he said was very new and technologically advanced.
“The school built in the development was almost too good to be true,” he said.
Overall, Pirl said he thinks DMB can build a good community in San Benito.
“I think it would be great,” he said. “It’s definitely a good company.”
Even some who are wary of unfettered development in the county said they think DMB can do a good job developing a project in San Benito.
“Basically I’m slow-growth,” said Shannon Grissom. “But if it’s going to happen, I want (DMB) to do it.”
Grissom said that her major concern was open space. Verrado had plenty of it, she said, and she thinks DMB is sincere when it says that it will include open space in a San Benito project.
“If they’re not sincere, they did a good job,” she said. “Because I really, really thought they were.”
The Arizona focus group was just the latest effort to reach out to county residents to gather input about what kind of project that they want to see. For the past year, DMB has also held forums addressing traffic and housing.
Despite the outreach effort, county supervisors have been holding off on developing opinions about El Rancho San Benito until they see more details. While voters will have to approve a zoning change for the land DMB plans to use for El Rancho San Benito, supervisors will ultimately make the decision of whether to waive the county’s 1 percent growth cap.
“I’m certainly remaining non-committal until we have further details specific to the project and even more importantly a financial economic impact report as to what long-term affects of large metropolitan community will have on San Benito County,” Supervisor Don Marcus said.
Ray Becker, DMB’s local representative, said that DMB will likely have a preliminary plan for El Rancho San Benito, including the number of houses in hopes to build, by late March. However, a final plan won’t be ready until late 2006,
Becker said they chose Verrado for the travel forum because it best represents what DMB wants to do in San Benito County. But, he added, any project in San Benito would be developed to fit the county’s characteristics.
“We’re not saying we’re going to pick up Verrado and put it here,” Becker said.
