Parking changes near San Benito High School for student safety

Back to school also means back to the traffic headaches for homeowners near some Central Coast schools. Hollister City Council hopes to alleviate some of that stress just in time as school starts next week.

“Obviously you see there’s cars everywhere and we’re already having issues and school hasn’t even started yet,” resident Amy Colla said.

Colla’s has lived across from San Benito High School for about a year and says she didn’t realize how much of a pain parking would be for her and her family when they moved in.

“We’re not able to park let alone in driveway sometimes let alone in front of our house. My daughter comes. I watch my grandson. Sometimes I have to get in the street to get him because she can’t get in and that’s a safety issue,” Colla said.

Residents said parking can be so bad they’ve even had to put out these cones to save a spot in front of their home. But Monday night, city leaders voted unanimously to create a three hour time limit for parking in areas next to San Benito High School.

“We want to make sure there is parking available for people who need to do business at the school and not necessarily park in the residential neighborhood to go do business at the school,” City Manager Bill Avera said.

“I think it’s a great idea shorter time would be cool too,” resident Briana Diaz said.

Colla and her family said it’s mostly parents picking up their kids who park in front of their house and block their driveway. She can’t wait for these parking signs to go up come the new school year next week.

“I’m looking forward to it absolutely yeah, because I don’t want to get into conflicts with people because I’m asking them to move off my property… you know it’s just common courtesy,” Colla said.

The city may not make that deadline. But it plans to have the three hour parking signs up within the next couple of weeks. Hollister city leaders said they hope tickets won’t be written. But the city’s parking enforcement will be the one to monitor the new time limits.