Updated appraisals and new offers were not enough to satisfy
property owners who own land needed for the Highway 25 bypass
project
Hollister – In an effort to plow forward with the long-awaited Highway 25 bypass, local transportation officials voted this week to start the process of taking more than two dozen private parcels needed for the project despite strong opposition from property owners who say they haven’t been offered a fair deal.
During a meeting Thursday, the San Benito Council of Governments Board of Directors voted to start eminent domain proceedings – taking private land for public use – on 13 parcels needed for the bypass project.
“I think we have to move forward with this process this evening,” COG Director Anthony Botelho said shortly before the vote.
Many are eager to see the $24-million bypass project finally completed. Once the new road is finished, Caltrans will cede San Benito Street – which is actually a portion of state Hwy. 25 – to the City of Hollister, which has plans to make downtown a more pedestrian-friendly area in hopes it will help revitalize the area.
“It’s important,” Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter said. “It allows us the opportunity to make physical changes to the street.”
For example, he said, the city could install crosswalks on San Benito Street so getting across it won’t entail the harrowing dash now required to get from one side to the other.
Director Pat Loe said she thinks the latest COG offers – which are confidential – are solid.
“I think they’re very fair,” she said.
Despite COG’s efforts, however, property owners are not satisfied with the new appraisals, though, and say that COG’s offers are still too low.
“I’m hoping we can work this out, but I want just compensation,” landowner Harold Cerrato said to the COG board.
Over and over during Thursday’s meeting, landowners or their representatives told COG directors that the offers made to them for their property did not reflect the value of the property. Many asked that the board hold off on starting eminent domain and continue negotiations.
“We just think it’s early to go ahead and start this eminent domain,” property owner Frank Casillas said during the meeting.
Larry Castellanos, appraisal manager with Associated Right of Way Services, inc., said that even with the eminent domain process started, negotiations will continue.
Ann Arnold, an attorney representing David Panchal, who owns the Best Western on San Felipe Road, said that the bypass design would eliminate the hotel’s entrance and exit from Highway 25, which she said will cause a drastic decrease in business for the house of lodging. Arnold also echoed the other property owners, saying COG’s offer was too low.
“We find the offer to be a very cursory, quick-and-dirty assessment,” she said.
While it the bulk of the property owners represented at the meeting are open to continued negotiation, at least two are set against selling their land for the project under any circumstances.
Aptos attorney Dennis Kehoe, who represents the Righetti family, which owns property needed for the bypass, said that his clients will lose a home and out buildings that have been in the family for 40 years if the bypass goes through their land.
“The Righettis do not want to sell their property,” he said. But, he added, the Righettis will give COG a counter offer.
Despite the vehement outcry from property owners, the COG board voted to initiate eminent domain on 13 out of the 14 parcels up for consideration Thursday. Director George Dias cast a dissenting vote for all 14 eminent domain resolutions. With a dissenting vote from both Dias and Botelho, the resolution to initiate eminent domain on the Best Western property did not pass. To initiate eminent domain, the board needs at least a 4-5 vote, according to county attorney Shirley Murphy.
“I voted ‘no’ because I just didn’t feel sure that all alternatives were looked at,” Botelho said after the meeting. “Before I vote yes on it, I need reassurance that there is no other alternative for that business.”
