08/07/2025
Iโm deeply saddened to hear that ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ โ a visionary development that would have supported agritourism, generated significant gas tax and transient occupancy tax (TOT) dollars for the County, and honored the memory of a young man lost to cancer โ is officially dead after 10 long years of struggle.
For over a decade, the projectโs owners faced opposition by Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki as well as ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ฒ๐๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฝ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ๐/๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ผ, an anti-growth group closely aligned with both Supervisors Kosmicki and Velazquez. This group has repeatedly sued both the County and local businesses to block progress. Unfortunately, their efforts have now succeeded in killing yet another job-creating, revenue-generating project in our community.
With the passage of ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ โ which this same political group championed โ it will effectively ๐๐ต๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ in San Benito County. We have seen both the cities and the county in financial turmoil this year, and with Measure A it is going to get worse. This Measure basically puts out a clear message that new business is not welcome here.
What makes this loss even more tragic is the ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐'๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: the owners had committed to donating profits to pediatric cancer research in honor of their late son, who passed away from brain cancer at 18. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ. And instead of celebrating a project that would have served both economic and humanitarian goals, weโre left with nothing.
After losing substantial time and money,and enduring years of obstruction, it seems they have given up and the owners have turned to ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ'๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ โ not by choice, but because it's their only pathway forward to use the land that they have invested huge amounts of money into.
As a result, weโre ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ด-๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ โ not the agritourism/commercial site we planned for โ a direct outcome of ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ถ๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐๐ฟ๐ฒ by the County.
๐๐๐ง'๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ โ ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐๐๐๐.
๐๐ช๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ซ๐๐จ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ค๐จ๐ข๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐จ: ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฃ๐ก๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ค๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ข๐ข๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐ฎ, ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐พ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ฎโ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ, ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐-๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ.
This ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป triggered Builders Remedy law provisionsโwhich has stripped the County of local control and ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ-๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐. We now have 7 Builderโs Remedy projects in San Benito County.
Frankly it is frustrating to hear Kosmicki claim to be this great slow-growth leader when he has ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ and is accountable for these Builders Remedy housing projects.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ด๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ โ lost economic opportunity, lost charitable impact, and a project that could have been ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ โ leaders who will act responsibly, take care of business and defend local control, while supporting balanced, sustainable growth and especially, promoting and supporting business growth and jobs for our community.
San Juan Planning Commission hears about new county projects