When Lompoc City Council members consider a request Tuesday night to initiate an application to annex all or parts of 270 acres located west of city limits, they will add their votes to a battle over land use and growth that has lasted more than 20 years.
Located in the unincorporated county, the area known as the Bailey Avenue Corridor is made up of farmland that abuts residential neighborhoods, separated in some areas only by a narrow alley. Five individuals own portions of the land.
The corridor stretches north to south from West North to West Olive Avenues, and east to west between Bailey Avenue and the western city limit line that hopscotches from Bailey Avenue to North Z Street, to North V Street and back to Bailey Avenue.
Two of the five land owners have asked the city to seek approval from the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to annex their properties — a combined total of 148 acres — into the city. Their properties are located at the northernmost and southernmost ends of the 270-acre corridor.
City staff have also proposed the option of moving forward with a request to annex the entire Bailey Avenue Corridor, an option the two property owners oppose.
The property owners have submitted development plans that would include a total of 624 low-density residential housing units, business parks, open space and an agricultural buffer between their developments and farmland to the west.
Detailed review of the proposed developments, including approval by the city’s Planning Commission, would occur only if LAFCO approved the annexation.
The staff report does not indicate whether the other three land owners in the Bailey Avenue Corridor support or oppose the annexation request and possible future development.
Since the adoption of the city’s 1997 General Plan, the Bailey Avenue Corridor has been included in the city’s Urban Limit Line, a statement of the city’s intent to expand its urban boundary to the west.
The recently-adopted 2030 General Plan also includes the Bailey Avenue Corridor within the city’s Urban Limit Line.
But development to the west has remained controversial, opposed by many who believe the inclusion of the Bailey Avenue Corridor into the city will encroach on prime agricultural land under production outside city limits.
In 1999, LAFCO denied the city’s request to extend its Sphere of Influence line to Bailey Avenue, a required precursor to annexation applications.
In 2007, three Bailey landowners asked the city to initiate an annexation application and proposed a “Bailey Avenue Specific Plan” to ensure a coordinated approach to infrastructure, housing, commercial uses and agricultural buffers in the Bailey corridor.
That plan, however, was never approved and no request to LAFCO was made.
In 2010, three council members voted to move the urban limit line to the east to coincide with the city limit, effectively removing the possibility of development in the Bailey Avenue Corridor area.
But three weeks later, the action was reversed when then-Councilman Tony Durham changed his vote, and the urban limit line was kept at Bailey Avenue.
One of the property owners who requested the previous and current annexation application, Jack Bodger, owns agriculturally-zoned land now surrounded by an elementary school and residential neighborhoods on three sides of his property, limiting its agricultural use.
In a letter to council members in 2010, Bodger said a refusal to allow non-agricultural development on his land “is effectively an eminent domain action by the city.”
City Manager Patrick Wiemiller said he’s hopeful the council will reach a decision Tuesday night.
“There’s no doubt that a healthy future for Lompoc necessarily includes growth. Growth is inevitable. It’s organic,” Wiemiller said.
“Growth to the south is not reasonable due to the topography. Growth to the east has been battled with great vigor by many parties by many years. Growth to the north has at times been encouraged, but it’s met with considerable resistance and delays that leave me uncertain as to our ability to rely on north movement. That leaves the west.”
The council will also discuss the status of a $2 million Economic Uncertainty Fund established in 1994.
The discussion was requested by Councilman Jim Mosby after his questions to city staff about a new $29.8-million fire station revealed the city would need to dip into the emergency fund for several years to pay for the construction and financing costs of the new station over a period of 30 years.
“I’d think if you’re going to have an economic uncertainty fund, it needs to be treated accordingly and set aside,” Mosby said. “We should either preserve it, add to it or delete it.”
The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Plaza.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Carol Benham is a longtime local journalist who lives in Lompoc. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
