Annexing an Orcutt site into the city of Santa Maria would create a peninsula and a host of other problems, a top Santa Barbara County staff member said Thursday.

The Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission, known as LAFCO, held a workshop that spanned more than three hours on the Richards Ranch annexation plan. 

Richards Ranch developer Michael Stoltey applied to build residences and businesses on 44 acres south and north of Union Valley Parkway, east of Highway 135.

He proposed 400 apartments, 95 townhomes and several businesses, including a specialty grocery store and a mini-storage facility. 

However, County Planning & Development Director Lisa Plowman contended that the city and the applicant did not demonstrate a sufficient need for annexation of the land, known as Key Site 26 in the Orcutt Community Plan.

“Importantly, this is not infill development for the city,” Plowman said. “It would cause a peninsula surrounded by the unincorporated county on three sides, and the only contiguous boundary to the city is divided by Highway 135.”

She added the city could provide water to the development without annexing the land in Santa Maria and noted the number of county-owned and maintained roads surrounding the site. 

“Annexation would create a circulation and maintenance island essentially,” she added. 

Project Looks to City for Water 

Stoltey said he applied for the project’s annexation into Santa Maria since Santa Barbara County couldn’t provide a water source for the development. 

He also said the county would require the development to restart the lengthy environmental process and other aspects if he did apply to the county, adding more years and costs to the project.

He acquired the site in 2021 after Walmart struggled for nearly two decades to complete its development plan because of a lack of water rights.

“We purchased this site to try to solve a problem,” Stoltey said. “It’s a problem that, frankly, should have been solved a long time ago. This site has always been planned to be a resource to the community.

“It’s not urban sprawl. It’s not cutting down thousands of oaks. This is an urban infill site that this community has visioned to see for 40 years.”

‘Predatory Annexation’ Attracts Crowd

Approximately 60 people filled the audience at the Betteravia Government Center for Thursday’s meeting of LAFCO, for which audiences typically are sparse. Commissioners also received roughly 140 written comments about what one dubbed a “predatory annexation.”

Orcutt residents said they oppose the annexation, not necessarily the development. A few speakers urged support for the annexation. Others pushed for a suitable solution to solve the water problem without annexation.

“It just doesn’t seem like that’s an insurmountable task, and it would benefit everyone in so many ways,” said Molly Peters, an Orcutt resident for 40 years. 

When the Santa Maria City Council agreed to move forward with the annexation proposal, it asked staff to meet with county representatives within 25 days to discuss the proposal and try to reach some agreement. Those talks weren’t fruitful.

“There were really no changes made to the proposal that came out of the those meetings, so the annexation application continued to move forward,” Santa Maria Planning Division Manager Dana Eady said. 

Conflict of Interest Questions

Before the study session started, LAFCO members debated whether they wanted to postpone the item after receiving a letter from the developer’s attorney challenging whether Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson, who also serves on the commission, should participate.

Ultimately, commissioners decide to press forward, noting the lack of action, a large crowd of community members intending to speak about the item, and other factors.

In a letter to LAFCO, Richards Ranch attorney Beth Collins contended that Nelson had shown “disqualifying bias towards the annexation application for the project and should not be allowed to continue to violate my client’s constitutional due process rights.”

Nelson said he wouldn’t recuse himself from participating in the item and didn’t believe he had a conflict, adding, “The accusations of impropriety are troubling” and felt like “an act of desperation.”

Agency Aims at Orderly Growth 

LAFCO, which is made up of elected officials and public members, approves or denies boundary changes for cities and districts to ensure orderly growth and avoid hopscotch developments. 

Once LAFCO holds formal hearings on an annexation request, members must balance a number of factors, including community sentiment, services and more, Executive Director Michael Prater told commissioners at the start of the study sessions.

Some terms such as urban sprawl or peninsula may be up to the individual members’ interpretations since they are not defined.

“Those are individual decisions that you have to weigh about whether you think they meet that or not,” Prater said, adding that commissioners have broad discretion in making their decisions on the complex project.

While Richards Ranch would fill 44 acres, the modified annexation proposal actually would encompass 58 acres to ensure the site is adjacent to the existing city boundary west of Highway 135.

Before an application can be deemed complete so that LAFCO’s formal hearings can occur, the county and city still must hash out a financial deal to account for the loss of future revenue related to the project.