Controversial Highway 129 truck stop proposal denied by by San Benito Board of Supervisors
The proposed development deal would have seen the rural land become a destination for passerbys, but after heated discussions, that idea is now gone.
Plans for a new truck stop along Highway 129 in San Benito County are denied again, but not without some concerns being shared for how county supervisors got to this point. Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki making claims planning commissioner Robert Gibson formed an Ad Hoc committee to take a closer look at the project.
"In the very same meeting the planning commission had proposed bylaws that would essentially give the planning commission chair the authority to negotiate development agreements," Kosmicki said. "He didn't have that authority when he did it, so he was looking for retroactive authority to do what he had already done, which was wrong.”
Planning Commissioner Gibson denied these claims publicly.
"That language that was not quite correct. It wasn’t an ad hoc, even though that’s what I stated at a meeting. I don’t even know what they call it at this point," Gibson said. "I met with staff and supervisor Sotelo met with staff to review the draft document.”
Supervisor mindy sotelo also clarified what happened.
"Just to clear the air, I was not appointed to be an Ad Hoc member. I was emailed by staff to attend a meeting and that’s what I did," Sotelo said. "My comment was 'well, this isn’t a enough for the county.' I think it’s unfortunate how this turned into a whole conspiracy theory.”
As for the deal itself, that deal had yet to undergo review for environmental impacts nor did it have a fully realized project set in stone yet.
Supervisor Angela Curro said the deal even making it to the board was all apart of a flawed process within approving.
"We have a flawed system. The system is flawed because we don’t have a policy in place to ensure that, one, the order of events are best practices, knowing how it's going to impact the environment and that a development agreement is negotiated. I don’t see that that’s what happened at all,” Curro said.
When asked about what happens, Commissioner Gibson stated that court maybe a possibility.
"Lawsuits. There’s no right to a development agreement. It’s an agreement between the applicant and the county. Because the board of supervisors chose to not approve it, it just goes away. If the applicant doesn’t like it, they can take the county to court," Gibson said.
The Planning Commission will be having a join meeting to discuss best practices when it comes to reviewing future development deals.
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The planning commission, like the board, will also be having a joint meeting to discuss best practices to reviewing development deals.
