Courtesy of San Benito County:
Using CARES ACT funding allocation, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and Administration, City of Hollister City Council and Staff, and the City of San Juan Bautista have been able to create a facility readiness program.
It is meant to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and continue offering outdoor dining/retail services for the businesses operating despite the pandemic. This program provided funding to the cities to support local businesses in weatherizing their outdoor dining/retail space and offering safe outdoor options as we navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The County worked with the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Center to provide education and outreach material to the business community and residents regarding the new Downtown redesign and COVID-19 response parklet program and support both cities.
While implementing this COVID-19 response parklet program, the City of Hollister used a portion of its CARES ACT funding to support a downtown beautification program that would support and highlight these parklets created as a response to COVID-19.
The beautification plan for San Benito Street included:
• Resealing the street;
• Restriping the street and transitioning to reverse parking;
• Creating a one-way street running southbound;
• Adding a new southbound bike lane;
• Lowering the speed of traffic & adding in more stop signs; and
• Transitioning old light bulbs to energy efficient LED bulbs.
And still to come are new/larger waste/recycling receptacles and more bike racks.
Seventeen downtown Hollister businesses now have parklets and are set to re-open San Benito Street for the first time since it closed for construction on October 26, 2020. There will be a red ribbon cutting/red carpet roll out on Saturday, November 14, 2020, at 11:00 am-12:00 pm.
The event will be hosted in partnership with the SBC Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Center and the Hollister Downtown Association. Both organizations are pleased to say that so many people were part of making this happen for our local businesses.
All organizations worked together and were able to accomplish this project for the benefit of the whole community.
