Before You Begin
- General Plan: A General Plan is a city or county’s long-term blueprint for how it will grow and develop. It outlines where housing, businesses, roads, and public spaces should go, and sets policies for land use, transportation, safety, and conservation. In simple terms, it guides future decisions to ensure development happens in a coordinated and planned way.
- Housing Element: A Housing Element is one of 7 required “elements” (think chapters) that the state of California requires in a city’s general plan. We dived into the deeper specifics of a housing element here.
Hollister Adopts 2040 General Plan
On April 20th, 2026, the Hollister City Council unanimously adopted the city’s 2040 General Plan, bringing to an end a years-long battle over the city’s future. The adoption came with little fanfare and did not include a presentation or staff report to the council. The document highlights how Hollister will continue to grow over the next 1.5 decades.
Notable areas of growth include expansion from Meridian Street towards Fairview Road, and from south of Ladd Lane towards Enterprise Road. These areas of expansion would require a specific plan (or plan for the entire area before any parcel within that area is developed.
The General Plan also includes policies that the city will work towards implementing, such as a Downtown Parking District, retaining existing commercial land, and determining where future roads or infrastructure will go.
The new general plan went through many iterations and included an initial adoption and public referendum. The adoption on the 20th also marks the end of a project moratorium that existed for new projects until the plan was adopted.
The draft that was adopted can be viewed here. For more information on the new general plan, you can visit hollister2040.org
Hollister Adopts 6th Cycle Housing Element and Initiates High-Density Rezoning
Also on the 20th, under pressure from further state consequences, the City of Hollister adopted its 6th cycle housing element and held its first reading for the rezones necessary to attain compliance with the state.
Hollister, being several years late to attain certification, was recently the target of enforcement action from the Attorney General and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Hollister will remain under state oversight for all housing projects until 2031 and must contribute $300,000 towards local affordable housing within the next five years or pay that money to the state’s affordable housing fund.
Hollister was tasked with planning for over 4,000 homes, and due to the nature of HCD calculation methods, has planned for the maximum potential of over 8,000. The new housing element also includes a new “High Density Residential” zoning designation, which would allow for up to 65 units per acre for the rezoned sites. Rezoning is required for state certification.
The presumed rezone would avoid further fines from the state of California. The full housing element can be viewed here.
Stay tuned for more.
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