A plan to rezone one Orcutt site has prompted strong opposition from neighbors who say it’s the worst location for new housing.
Meanwhile, developers for a different site in Orcutt have pushed to get their land included on the list, saying it’s the best to be rezoned for homes.
As it wrangles with the sites suitable for future housing Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors must balance multiple factors while weighing rezoning proposals and hearing passionate pleas in working to complete the Housing Element Update.
To meet the 2023-31 Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the state has required the county to designate sites for 5,664 units — 1,522 units for the North County and 4,142 units for the South Coast with a goal of adding various types of affordable housing.
The county Planning Commission previously approved a number of proposed sites for rezoning in the Santa Maria Valley and locations across the rest of the county.
However, what’s on the list might be as important as what’s not.
Key Site 11, south of Clark Avenue and east of Orcutt Road, has been proposed for 100 residential units and 57 mixed-use units to make up Orcutt Creek Villas.
But Tree Amigos, a nonprofit organization that includes neighbors of the site eyed for rezoning, argued it should remain recreational open space and not become home multi-story buildings.
“The site is incompatible for building because it is a creekbed with much of the site in a flood zone and home to potentially protected plant and animal species,” Ryan and Teri Schwab wrote to the board seeking that the land be dropped from the rezoning list.
Meanwhile, Key Site 26, along Union Valley Parkway east of Highway 135, has remained off the list so far, despite a push by the developers of what’s been dubbed Richards Ranch.
To Michael Stoltey of MD3 Investments, rezoning the site poses “a golden opportunity.”
“It’s really the first step to be able to keep this site in the county,” he said.
Richards Ranch developers have applied to have the property annexed into the city of Santa Maria, drawing fierce opposition from Orcutt residents. The developer submitted the project application to the city a few years ago.
If neither county rezoning nor the city annexation doesn’t go through, Richards Ranch has another, likely less palatable option — builders remedy, or a state process to allow housing projects to move forward without all of the usual government red tape. In exchange, a development must designate 20% of units for low-income residents.
As proposed now, Richards Ranch would have 386 apartments plus 100 townhomes in addition to a commercial area.
As a builder’s remedy project, Richards Ranch would have 750 residential units with 20% affordable housing and no businesses.
The Richards Ranch land needs to be rezoned because it once belonged to Walmart, which purchased the property in 2003 with huge plans yet faced huge hurdles that prevented any development of a big-box store.
“They could not get water in despite all of their financial resources and capability,” Stoltey said, adding that the commercial zoning and lack of commercial water essentially make it a dead site.
“Those two things have locked it up,” Stoltey said.
He acquired the land with a vision of residences and businesses, including a high-end grocery store and more to serve new residents and their neighbors.
Instead of including Richards Ranch rezoning under the broader effort, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson said he intends to work toward a development agreement that outlines various aspects of the proposed project.
Nelson said Key Site 26 still could end up on the list of rezoned sites by the end of the process planned for meetings Tuesday in the Betteravia Government Center in Santa Maria and Friday at the county Administration Building in Santa Barbara. The meetings are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with agendas available here.
“Stay tuned,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of moving parts.”