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More than 40 Marguerite Maze Middle School students walked from campus along with teachers and parents to two downtown Hollister bookstores, eventually settling at Mountain Mike’s Pizza for lunch and some arcade games on April 8.
That might appear to be a treat, but it was more of a consolation prize after the district “cancelled” the group’s field trip to UC Merced, according to the teachers and parents chaperoning the students.
School district officials said permission documents for the trip were not finalized on time while acknowledging staff failed to do so in a timely manner.
Seventh grade teacher Angela Hagins said the required permission documentation for the field trip had been submitted to the district in January. School staff had lined up 15 parent chaperones and the district had secured substitute teachers for the day.
But Hagins said it wasn’t until 15 minutes before the school group was scheduled to leave that the district called to inform them there wasn’t any transportation available.
Hagins said the district uses an online platform to process field trip requests and that school staff attempted to get updates on their request from the transportation department but were unsuccessful, despite reaching out multiple times, including during the week of the field trip.
“Had we gotten a response that it was not approved, we would’ve been able to do something about it, but at that point we didn’t know it got stuck in the pipeline,” Hagins said. “There was no reason for us to assume it got denied.”
Hollister School District Superintendent Erika Sanchez said there is a multi-step process that requires details such as clearing students with medical needs, coordinating transportation, lunch and chaperone clearances.
“In this particular case the form spent weeks in the inbox of staff and unfortunately the form did not progress to the step required to secure transportation with the district office,” Sanchez said.
She added the transportation form “never reached the finalization [stage] until after the close of business” on April 7, the day before the field trip was to take place, and she acknowledged the request was submitted “well in advance” of the required four weeks before the trip date.
Sanchez said district staff attempted to secure buses in the hours leading up to the field trip but was unsuccessful.
Sixth grade teacher Candace Ledesma said the trip was particularly special for this group of students because they are part of the Advancement Via Individual Determination program and the majority are seeking to be first generation college students.
“These are students who choose to take a harder elective in order to get better skills and pave the road to college,” Hagins said. “They’ve already decided this is what they want to do. They’re first generation, lower economic status. So they don’t get the opportunity to travel, to go on field trips and see college campuses.”
Eighth grade student Mayra Lopez Villegas, 13, said she was disappointed because she was looking to tour the college campus and added that she felt the district didn’t care about some students.
“It just says sometimes other schools or students from Maze or Rancho don’t really matter,” she said.
Parent Celeste Rodriguez, who had an eighth grade student taking part in the field trip, said she was frustrated because it was the eighth graders’ last field trip of the school year.
‘I think it’s something that is not right,” she said.
Sanchez said the district understands how important field trips are for students.
“I also can appreciate how disappointing this may have been for all students, families and staff,” she said.
Ledesma said that, rather than give up, teachers involved in the field trip began making calls trying to find a way to get the kids to UC Merced.
She said Hollister High School informed them they had nothing available. The group also called a charter bus company, which she said would charge about $1,200. But, Ledesma added, the charter’s call to the district to obtain approval went unanswered anyway.
Ledesma said the teachers also considered taking the students to the new Gavilan Hollister Campus instead, but the college students were out on spring break.
Other activities they considered included taking the kids to the movies, but they were informed there wasn’t enough staff at the theater to accommodate the students.
“There is nothing for the kids to do,” Ledesma said. “ There are no hands-on activities for them.”
Ledesma said this was the second time the district cancelled a field trip at the last minute this school year. The first was in October when the district “forgot” to arrange for substitute teachers, she said.
The district’s focus “isn’t on the students, it seems,” she told BenitoLink, adding that about 70 students were part of the excursion.
But Sanchez said in the October case, substitutes were not secured because the field trip date fell on a “blackout date” when no field trips were allowed.
“Staff knew of this issue by Oct. 24,” she said, noting that the field trip was planned for Oct. 29, five days later.
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MENDOCINO CO., 4/17/26 — Drive south on Highway 101 toward Hopland, and you’ll pass a turnoff for McNab Ranch Road. Most people zip by without noticing. But that little road is the namesake of something Mendocino County can claim that few other counties in America can: a working dog breed that originated here in the late 1800s and is still riding shotgun in ranch trucks up and down the North Coast. Meet the McNab.
Did you know
…the McNab is one of the only dog breeds developed in California, and the only one tied to Mendocino County?
The breed traces to Alexander McNab, a Scottish sheep rancher who emigrated from Glasgow in 1866 and settled on a 10,000-acre spread in the valley south of Ukiah. In 1885 he returned to Scotland and brought back two Scotch Collies, Peter and Fred, who became the patriarchs of the breed. The Collies were brilliant in the Scottish highlands and underbuilt for the Mendocino summer — soft feet on the rocks, too much coat, no real answer to half-wild range cattle.
So McNab crossbred. He bred Peter and Fred to local dogs of Basque Spanish and English working stock — leaner dogs that already knew how to work in heat. He selected hard for stamina, smarts and tough feet, and he favored smoother coats for the California climate. Within a generation he had a dog that belonged here.
… there’s a Mendocino winery named after the breed?
McNab Valley itself is named after Alexander McNab. McNab Ridge Winery, purchased by John Parducci in 1999 and now run by his grandson Rich, takes its name from the same ground. The labels carry a McNab dog silhouette. The Petite Sirah is a good place to start.
… McNabs have what ranchers call cat feet?
Tight, compact paws with no rear dewclaws, built for rough country. It’s one of the breed’s signatures, along with the lean 35- to 50-pound build, the typically black-and-white coat and ears that can go either prick or floppy. Serious McNab people don’t care which.
… they herd differently than border collies?
This is the detail working ranchers love. Border collies are eye-stalkers. They crouch low, lock eyes with the sheep and move them with intensity. McNabs work loose-eyed and upright. They trot wide, work the heads of the herd and use body pressure rather than stare. The reason is practical: cattle don’t respond to a stare, and you can’t whistle a dog through a stand of manzanita. McNabs were bred to think for themselves in country where the rancher couldn’t see them half the time.
… they’re as smart as a border collie, just smart in a different way?
Border collies top every dog intelligence ranking ever published — they sit at No. 1 in psychologist Stanley Coren’s well-known list. McNabs aren’t on those lists because they aren’t recognized by the American Kennel Club, and most McNab breeders prefer it that way. Once a working breed enters the show ring, the work tends to leak out of it within a few generations.
Ask any North Coast rancher and they’ll tell you a good McNab is right there with a border collie. The difference is in style. Border collies are virtuoso instruction-followers. McNabs are independent problem-solvers. Drop one in a brushy canyon with 30 scattered cows and no commands, and a good McNab will bring them home on its own.
… one McNab can do the work of two or three other dogs?
Range. They cover ground. On a 5,000-acre ranch — and Mendocino has plenty of those — that adds up. They also handle heat better than border collies and work cattle more readily than most Australian shepherds, which is part of why they’ve held on in working ranch culture even as flashier breeds cycled through.
… you can’t really buy one online?
There’s no breed club marketing puppies, no AKC paperwork, no glossy operation. Working McNabs change hands rancher to rancher up and down the North Coast, mostly through people who already know each other. A lot of breeders won’t sell you a pup unless they’ve talked to you first. That’s how the breed has stayed a real working dog for roughly 140 years.
The McNab is a Mendocino County artifact: half Scotland, half California, all local. Built by a stubborn immigrant who took one look at this country and decided to engineer a dog that belonged here.
Spot a lean black-and-white dog riding in the bed of a ranch truck on the way to the Boonville feed store. Give it a nod. You’re looking at 140 years of Mendocino history with cat feet.
Got a McNab story or a working-dog tip for the Voice? Send it our way.
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On a heat-wavy late winter’s day, a farmer drives a tractor churning chopped wheat and barley into the earth, preparing the fields for yet another season. That land in southern San Benito County once hosted garlic. In just two months, it will have cannabis planted there and become one of the first in the county to do so.
Jordan Blancarte, whose family owns the property, watches from a nearby hill. Formerly a physicist who studied plasma and the magnetic field at the University of California, Berkeley, he switched paths in 2019 and now directs an organic cannabis and hemp farm on the Central Coast called Orso Farms. He spent his first years in the county growing hemp, a variety of cannabis without its main psychoactive compound, and is now growing cannabis for the first time.
“San Benito is a fantastic environment for cannabis to grow naturally,” Blancarte says. “We’ve got nice warm summers, which the plants love, and not as much moisture as some of the other counties have.”
Though San Benito County first allowed cannabis cultivation and sales in 2018, six years passed without a single legal farmer growing cannabis. Blancarte, county officials, and supervisors say this was the result of a cost-prohibitive tax structure that set an annual rate of $3 to $17 per square foot, one of the highest in California.
To address this, the Board of Supervisors approved, in late 2024, a tax exemption that runs through the end of 2026. But the supervisors’ bigger bet is Measure D, the only initiative county voters will decide on June 2, which aims to overhaul the tax structure to attract more growers.
If Measure D passes, the board will replace the current per-square-foot rate in the unincorporated county with a per-acre rate ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. The board would then set the exact rate within that range.
At a Feb. 24 meeting, Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki suggested a rate of $2,000 per acre had been discussed with industry stakeholders, which would give San Benito County one of the lowest cannabis cultivation tax rates in the state. Other cannabis businesses—such as distribution, manufacturing, laboratory testing, and retail—are taxed differently and would not be modified.
“The previous tax structure was not really set up for outdoor cultivation,” Blancarte says. “It was really set for indoor cultivation in mind. Outdoor cultivation is on a much larger scale, and the tax structure needs to understand the difference between indoor and outdoor cultivation. Square footage is not how farmers work.”
In the ballot argument in favor of the measure, the Board of Supervisors argues the new tax structure will attract more growers and increase county revenue to fund essential services.
“This new tax structure would collect much-needed revenue for county services like law enforcement, fire protection, road improvements, and other essential community needs,” reads the ballot argument signed by Board Chair Dom Zanger.
The measure has no known opponents, and no one has filed arguments against it. The only dissenting voice has been Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, who voted against placing the measure on the ballot. Though he supported lowering the tax rate, he said the proposed rates were too low and was worried they would not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of increased enforcement and that the county could end up subsidizing cannabis.
A fiscal analysis by County Auditor-Controller Joe Paul Gonzalez estimated that by 2028 the county could earn as much as $20 million with the new rates. Though he said the county may face higher administrative and regulatory costs, those are expected to be “partially or fully offset” by tax revenues and permitting fees. He also warned that the projections depend on market conditions that have proven volatile.
“The California cannabis market has experienced significant price volatility and competition among producing regions, which may affect the number of operators willing to establish cultivation operations in San Benito County,” Gonzalez wrote. “As a result, actual revenue may vary significantly from estimates.”
A local cannabis farm
Like any other businessperson, Blancarte closely monitors the policies affecting his sector across California. As counties have been lowering the tax rates they set after legalization in 2016, he saw the county’s 2025 exemption as an opening into a place where he had always wanted to grow. Since the exemption took effect, four growers have set down roots in the county, including Blancarte, and one more grow is pending approval.
With 30 full-time employees, Blancarte is currently preparing about 85 acres in south county to grow about 60 varieties of cannabis. Cannabis cultivation, whether indoor or outdoor, is permitted in agricultural and industrial areas of the county. It is not allowed in residential or rural zones; and in the airport district, it requires special approval.
Unlike indoor cultivation, outdoor cannabis is subject to the cycles of the earth, just like any other crop.
“We get only one shot,” Blancarte says. “Indoor cultivation can do multiple cycles per year. We have one season.”
During the winter, his crew planted wheat, barley, and other cover crops to enrich the soil with nutrients before the cannabis goes in. Meanwhile, Orso Farms grows its starter plants in nurseries in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
In June, when the seedlings reach about six inches tall, they will be transported to San Benito County and planted.
California has very strict rules for growing cannabis. Every plant must be individually tagged and tracked through a state system from the moment it is planted until it reaches the consumer. Growers must also keep security cameras running around the clock across their entire property.
Harvest comes in October. Orso Farms will bring in up to 400 seasonal workers to cut the plants and pack them into large freezers on site, where hundreds of pounds of cannabis are stored until they are sold to manufacturers who turn them into the products Californians can find at dispensaries.
Blancarte is considering planting about 100 more acres next year on other fields in his property, but that hope depends, among other things, on what voters decide on Measure D.
Cannabis, he argues, is a great opportunity for farmers in San Benito County. Unlike garlic, which requires rotation to prevent disease, cannabis can be grown on the same land and fits naturally into crop rotation cycles. That flexibility, he says, makes it an attractive option for farmland that might otherwise sit idle.
“There are less and less opportunities for farmers to keep their land active,” he says. “We’re seeing more farmland in this part of the county turn into other things than agriculture, like home developments. This is an opportunity for farmers to have a profitable crop.”
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Recent outcry from community members and business owners regarding the city’s difficulties in the building permit and inspection processes has led the Hollister City Council to dissolve the Community Development Department and eliminate three positions.
While several community members voiced their support for the move, affected employees spoke against the move at the April 6 Hollister City Council meeting.
City Manager Ana Cortez, who took over the top administrator position in February, said the department’s reorganization would bring $936,000 in annual savings to the city.
“I’m confident that as we move forward we will begin to see improvements in customer service, improvement in timelines, improvement in being able to deliver and being able to deliver consistent information,” Cortez said.
Cortez said a “vacuum of leadership” and “use of poor practices” led to a loss in trust in the department.
“The community has spoken very clearly on what is expected,” she said.
The positions being eliminated are the community development director/assistant city manager Rod Powell, building official Gabriel Martinez and the cannabis affairs manager Maria Mendez.
The positions being eliminated are the community development director/assistant city manager, a building official position and the cannabis affairs manager. These were held, respectively, by Rod Powell, Gabriel Martinez and Maria Mendez.
The three employees will be placed on a re-employment list and receive a 30-day notice, according to the staff report in the agenda.
Since November, BenitoLink has reported community members’ accusations that staff were obstructing or delaying projects in the permitting process and adding requirements after each inspection.
With the elimination of the department, the city will move its planning services under the supervision of the parks and recreation department; cannabis under the police department; the permitting desk under finance; and building inspections under public works.
To address employees’ concerns over the city’s vision, Cortez said she began holding meetings with departments in April, the same approach she took when she held a town hall with community members to express their concerns about the city’s services.
“Yes, there will be an angry table because employees will be angry,” she said. “I know that, but that comes with the job.”
Among the employees who spoke out against the plan was Mendez, who questioned whether the decision was budget-driven or a reaction to political pressure, referencing the staff report which states that the city faces “crisis of public opinion.”
Mendez, who has been with the city for 20 years, said that at the recent workshop the city hosted, community members did not bring up complaints about the cannabis affairs department.
However, Ashley McPhail, CEO of Faultline Manufacturing, accused the cannabis department of losing her documentation and being a “ghost town department” because it was difficult getting information.
Mendez said she learned the city was considering eliminating her position when the agenda was published on April 3 and that she was concerned about the lack of communication with staff.
“Decisions like these are more [than] decisions, they are about trust, integrity and most importantly the values we hold as a community,” she said.
A community member identified as “Andres” questioned Cortez’s process of eliminating the positions and said it could lead to lawsuits and severances, referencing Cortez’s employment history in Carnation, Washington, in which the Snoqualmie Valley Record reported she resigned months after a third-party arbitrator ordered the city to reinstate four unionized employees with full back pay in a wrongful termination case.
The newspaper also reported she left with a $120,000 severance package.
Before that, Cortez had resigned as the city manager for Helena, Montana, weeks after she was placed on administrative leave following staff complaints involving harassment. Although she was cleared of the allegations, an outside investigation recommended the city work on improving communications between Cortez and staff.
Community member John Coulter said he supported Cortez’s reorganization.
“It’s what has to be done. We’ve all suffered,” he said. “You hear about the employees saying ‘what about the employee,’ but they are the ones who caused the suffering that is going on and it’s through incompetence.”
Two other community members raised concerns about the qualifications of current parks and recreation and public works department directors to oversee planning and building.
Former Hollister city councilmember and planning commissioner Carol Lenoir said she had expected the city to hire new people at the embattled departments rather than shifting them to other departments.
“That’s a lot of stuff you have to know and a lot of agencies you have to work with,” she said.
Other council actions
The Hollister City Council also rescinded resolutions that named a street and park after Cesar Chavez. Both are located in the southeast area of the city.
The move followed previous discussions the council members held after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct by the farmworker civil rights leader.
The city will conduct outreach in the community for potential replacement names before the City Council acts to remove the Avenida Cesar Chavez signs.
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Alfonso Inestroza, who was arrested in Hollister on March 5 in connection with a fatal shooting in Sunnyvale, was already wanted for a 2025 homicide in Trenton, New Jersey, and entered the U.S. illegally multiple times, according to a March 30 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) news release.
The release also criticized Santa Clara County officials for not honoring federal immigration detainer warrants involving Inestroza.
Also known as Franquin Inestroza-Martinez, Inestroza is the primary suspect in the murder of 24-year-old single mother Kembery Chirinos-Flores, as reported in BenitoLink on March 23.
According to a Sunnyvale Police news release, officers responded to reports of a shooting in Sunnyvale on Jan. 7, 2025. Upon arriving at the scene, law enforcement found Chirinos-Flores bleeding in her car with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene and left behind a five-year-old son, whose father, 32-year-old Gerzon Chirinos-Munguia, is the second suspect.
Also, a criminal complaint later revealed a third man not initially identified at a March 9 news conference —30-year-old Jorge Bolaños Guerra—was accused of aiding and abetting in the killing. All three men were charged with murder and conspiracy. A warrant was sought for Bolaños, who was not listed in jail custody as of the time of the filing. As of April 3, there was no record that Bolaños had been apprehended.
According to the DHS press release, “On June 12, 2013, Inestroza-Martinez, a Honduran national, was caught illegally entering the United States by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. He was arrested and removed. On Feb. 1, 2018, he was caught illegally re-entering the United States—a felony—and removed a second time. He illegally entered the United States a third time at an unknown date and time.”
Furthermore, according to the press release: “Inestroza-Martinez also had an outstanding arrest warrant from New Jersey for the homicide of 55-year-old Esteban Vicente Sacalxot, who was found dead in his Trenton home from gunshot wounds on March 17, 2025.”
The release also stated: “On May 18, 2015, Chirinos-Munguia, a Honduran national, was caught illegally entering the country by CBP agents and was later removed. At an unknown place and time, he illegally re-entered the United States—a felony—and has been illegally living in the country. On Sept. 20, 2019, Chirinos-Munguia was arrested in Santa Clara County for domestic battery and threatening crime with the intent of terrorizing. He has an additional arrest in April 2018 for battery and false imprisonment. He shares a child with his victim Kembery Chirinos-Flores.”
DHS claimed local policies prevented cooperation with immigration enforcement that allowed both suspects to remain in the community despite their immigration status. DHS officials argued that the lack of coordination hindered federal efforts, placing responsibility in part on so-called sanctuary policies in Santa Clara County.
Sunnyvale authorities allege Inestroza-Martinez was the “triggerman” who fired a shotgun twice into the car window killing Chirinos-Flores. Inestroza had apparently been living in the Hollister area prior to his arrest. The investigation into the Sunnyvale homicide led officers to San Benito County, where he was taken into custody without incident.
At the time of his arrest, authorities confirmed Inestroza-Martinez was wanted in connection with the March 2025 killing in Trenton, New Jersey.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an arrest detainer asking Santa Clara officials to not release Chirinos-Munguia following his arrests for domestic battery and false imprisonment. Instead of turning him over to ICE, he was released.
The DHS statement placed particular emphasis on Santa Clara County policies, asserting that local officials declined to cooperate fully with ICE.
According to the agency, detainer requests were not honored, a factor DHS said contributed to the suspects remaining at large prior to their eventual arrests.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office has not responded to BenitoLink’s requests for a response to DHS claims or the likely prosecution of the three men.
Meanwhile, the Trenton homicide remains an open case awaiting prosecution. Authorities there identified Inestroza as the primary suspect shortly after the 2025 killing and issued a warrant for his arrest. His apprehension in California came nearly a year later.
As both cases move forward—one in California and another pending in New Jersey—additional details are expected to emerge through court filings, extradition proceedings, and potential federal involvement.
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“This project saves lives,” said marriage and family therapist Sandra Wilson during a March 24 county board meeting, as she presented to supervisors on her Redding-based nonprofit Family Dynamics Resource Center.
The board provisionally agreed to provide Family Dynamics with almost $2 million in funding from Shasta County’s opioid litigation settlement. The funds will serve as a community match to draw in another $25 million in state Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) funds. Together, the funding will be used to build a 60-bed behavioral health campus in Anderson, focused on care for youth in crisis including those with substance use disorders as well as other mental and behavioral health needs.
Wilson’s presentation indicated that of the 60 beds in the facility, 20 would go toward a children’s crisis residential program, 30 toward an adolescent substance use treatment center, and 10 towards what is described as “stabilization and transitional care.”
A staff report provided to supervisors said the new campus will “establish a comprehensive continuum of care for youth experiencing substance use and mental health challenges.” But Wilson’s presentation did not detail the types of substance use treatment — medical or nonmedical — that youths would be receiving while housed at the facility.
The presentation also lacked both a capital and operational budget for the project, information about licensure requirements, and a data-based assessment of the need for such a facility. It’s also unclear at this point how youth will be referred to the center. Wilson could not be reached by phone and did not respond to questions sent by email after the meeting.
Family Dynamics, which was founded in 2010, lists its mission as being to “reduce incidences of child maltreatment through positive parent education and interventions; to help strengthen the bonds between parents and children.” The nonprofit does not currently list substance use disorder treatment among its therapy and counseling services.
After Wilson’s presentation, the board discussed the nonprofit’s viability to facilitate this type of treatment for youths. Supervisor Allen Long — who declined to join other supervisors in voting to approve allocating the $2 million in opioid settlement funds — probed Wilson on her nonprofit’s credentials and relevant experience. Wilson described the youth behavioral health campus as an unlocked facility, prompting Long to ask how the organization would deal with runaways.
“We have the power of over 300 mentors to help children regulate and control their emotions,” she said. “We are not forcing treatment,” Wilson added, saying that both the youth clients and parents will have signed an agreement before they are admitted to the program.
During his questions, Long referenced his experience as a former police officer, having frequently responded to runaway calls from similar facilities in the past. He said Wilson’s presentation left him with “a lot of unanswered questions for this project.”
Other supervisors took a very different stance. To refute Long’s point that clients could leave an unlocked opioid treatment facility, Supervisor Kevin Crye asked Wilson how many youths have run away from the one-week camp her organization has been operating for 10 years. Wilson’s answer was zero.
Crye was also optimistic about the involvement of Les Baugh with the project. The former county supervisor and Anderson pastor also spoke briefly to the board, noting that he had donated a parcel of land assessed at $550,000 for the new facility, and that several of his church’s volunteers are ready to help out.
“I think the government needs to get out of more mental health, and churches need to start stepping up,” Crye said, to which several people in the audience booed. “Sorry, all you guys hate church,” he retorted.
Crye, who opposed another recently proposed behavioral health facility because it would have drawn clients from outside the county, took no issue with Family Dynamics proposal to do the same. It’s unknown at this point how many of the 60 beds are needed to serve Shasta youth, both Wilson and Health and Human Services Director Christy Coleman said.
Supervisor Corkey Harmon also expressed his unfettered support for this facility saying he’s known the folks behind it for years.
“It’s kind of scary, but I love the idea that it’s not a lockdown,” he said, adding that locking children in a facility is not the right approach to helping the vulnerable. He urged other supervisors not to politicize the issue, and vote unanimously in support.
Supervisor Matt Plummer asked hard questions about the project’s past 990 tax filings and pushed Wilson on why she hadn’t yet gotten a letter of support from the Anderson Police Department for the project. He ultimately voted to support designating the $2 million in opioid funds to the project, but not before convincing other supervisors to compel Wilson to attain a letter of support from both law enforcement and probation to gain the funds.
While Plummer expressed mixed feelings about the proposal, he said his concerns weren’t enough to hold him back from designating funds to support youth in crisis.
“I think that oftentimes we don’t have an option where we’re like, yes, this checks all the boxes and we feel 100% comfortable with it,” Plummer said, “but is it better than what we currently have?”
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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A year after the Hollister City Council rescinded its newly adopted General Plan following a successful referendum by the local activist group Hollister Guardians, an updated document is heading to the Planning Commission for consideration on March 26.
The General Plan serves as a jurisdiction’s blue print for growth for the next 20 years.
Among the major changes in the new draft document is a reduction in the area defined as the sphere of influence, from 4,068 acres to 1,645 acres. Along with that reduction is an increase in acreage within the city itself.
One of the focal points of the referendum to rescind the General Plan was the city’s expanded sphere of influence—a planning boundary that defines the city’s probable future boundary and service area. The 2040 General Plan approved by the city in December 2024 and rescinded in March 2025, expanded the sphere of influence by adding 3,000 acres, compared to the 2005 General Plan.
While the new draft plan reduces the sphere of influence, it increases the city’s size by 166 acres and planning areas by 3,131 acres, as shown in the General Plan Land Use Designation table included in the two versions of the document. The majority of the planning areas are located within the city limit.
The increase in inter-city acreage in the planning areas are primarily in the residential estate and low density residential land use designations totalling 2,630 acres.
According to the General Plan, the residential estate category is intended for single-family units on large lots and the low density residential category is intended for single-family detached and attached units and duplexes.
The new document also changes areas identified as special planning areas by reducing the areas previously known as the Buena Vista Specific Plan Area and removing the Southwest Specific Plan Area (located along San Juan-Hollister Road) and the East Side Specific Plan Area A and B, both located east of Fairview Road.
Though all the areas were identified for residential and mixed-use development, some included options for commercial and industrial uses.
The draft General Plan adds Hollister downtown “Old Town” residential, West Gateway, North Gateway and Meridian Street Extension planning areas. The majority of the downtown and “Old Town” areas are developed.
Other major changes include the addition of planning areas for the Union Road and Buena Vista Road areas and the removal of a chapter titled “Specific Plan Areas in the Land Use and Community Design Element.”
The Buena Vista Road chapter states that the city encourages residential uses along the road but also has a goal to preserve existing agricultural uses to the north and west of that area.
According to the policies included in the draft General Plan, the city’s goal for this area is to incorporate bicycle lanes into new developments, have access to new developments be limited to Buena Vista Road, have a mix of residential unit types and conduct a study to design and implement traffic-calming measures.
For the Union Road area that is located near the San Benito Street intersection, the city’s goal is to create a mix of medium-to high-density residential units. The document adds the city wants to preserve elements of the existing orchard landscaping and have areas conducive to retail sales and community gatherings.
The Planning Commission meeting, where officials may consider changes or recommend the document move for approval as-is to the City Council, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 26 at City Hall, 375 Fifth Street. The agenda is here.
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