Ballot measure aims to slow development near Silicon Valley

By Jack Rogers

June 4, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

San Benito County's initiative requires voter approval for many new projects.

Voters in San Benito County will have the opportunity to end urban sprawl starting in San Jose, which is about 45 miles to the north.

Activists in this mostly rural county are trying to counter a wave of development driven by Silicon Valley residents seeking cheaper housing than in San Jose and surrounding cities in Santa Clara County, which are among the code most expensive postage in the United States.

They succeeded in introducing a measure on the November ballot that would ban most new development on land zoned for agriculture and ranching in San Benito County without voter approval, said the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Supporters of the measure say they are trying to avoid what happened to Santa Clara County in the 1950s and 1960s, when urban and suburban sprawl devoured orchards and farmland.

From 2020 to 2023, San Benito County's population growth was the fastest growing among California's 58 counties, according to the U.S. Census. The county grew 5.6%, while each of the Bay Area's nine counties each lost between 1% and 7% of its population in the same time.

However, although its land mass is similar in size to Santa Clara County, San Benito County's population of just over 68,000 is only about 3 percent of that of its northern neighbor. north.

“There are forces in Silicon Valley seeking to use our county for housing and dumping their waste. It’s a rural county next to a huge metropolitan area, and we’re paying the consequences,” Andy Hsia-Coron, a retired teacher who is one of the initiative’s organizers, told the newspaper.

The ballot measure, titled Initiative to Empower Voters to Make Land Use Decisions, proposes to amend San Benito County's General Plan and its existing land use diagram to require voter approval for any changes to areas currently zoned with agricultural, rangeland and rural designations.

The initiative cites five goals for this requirement, including “ensuring that land use decisions are made in the best interests of San Benito County and not for developers and other special interests; [to] giving voters greater control over land use decisions within the county; [to] protect the quality of life of county residents; [to] preserve the county's agricultural, biological and cultural resources; And [to] reduce sprawling development in the county.

Exceptions to the proposed voter approval requirement include public facilities such as libraries and schools, as well as housing needed to meet state-mandated housing quotas, which could be built on agricultural land without public vote, the report said.

Opponents say the measure will prevent landowners, including farmers and ranchers, from making improvements to their property.

“Land use measures of this type are quite drastic,” Donald Wirz, president of the San Benito County Farm Bureau, told the newspaper. Mercury News. “This leaves farmers and ranchers stuck on what improvements they can make to their land. This makes it more difficult to obtain bank loans and can limit landlords’ flexibility.”