First District Commissioner C. Michael Cooney speaks about the Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development during the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission missing.
First District Commissioner C. Michael Cooney speaks about the Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development during Wednesday's Santa Barbara County Planning Commission meeting. “It’s really special to ... come away with the feeling that it’s not only needed for the good of the valley and its residents, but it’s well done,” Cooney says. Credit: Santa Barbara County photo

The first significant housing project planned in decades for New Cuyama, involving a mixed-use development with 33 residential units, has received approval and praise from the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission.     

The Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development for Perkins Road on the western edge of the community will provide 33 residential units in a pair of two-story buildings divided by a parking lot, with other project features being a conference room, a community kitchen, a laundry room and a restroom. 

A one-story, 964-square-foot commercial building facing Perkins Road could be used as one or two units.

After an hour on the topic, the commissioners voted 4-0 on Wednesday to approve several items related the project. Chair Vincent Martinez, who represents the Fifth District, was absent.

First District Commissioner C. Michael Cooney said he can’t remember a similar-sized project proposed for the Cuyama Valley.

“It’s really special to be able to look at this and come away with the feeling that it’s not only needed for the good of the valley and its residents, but it’s well done,” Cooney said. 

Initially proposed to have three-story buildings, the project lost a level amid community complaints and before the project went to the Planning Commission.

Cooney said it was meaningful to hear from several Cuyama Valley residents speaking about high rents and limited housing.

“It’s hard to imagine a project more right for this time and place,” Cooney added.

The Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development would include 33 residential units plus the space for businesess in three building on the western edge of New Cuyama. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission recently approved the project.
The Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development would include 33 residential units plus the space for businesess in three building on the western edge of New Cuyama. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission recently approved the project. Credit: Santa Barbara County rendering

Fourth District Commissioner Roy Reed noted New Cuyama’s roots as a company town built by an oil firm decades ago. Aerial photos show the town essentially unchanged from 1954 to 2016.

“Looking at the project, I think it’s very architecturally pleasing and design appropriate,” Reed added.

Third District Commissioner John Parke agreed that additional housing is needed in the Cuyama Valley, but said economics won’t support single-family residences on quarter-acre lots. He also praised the design, saying the architect “did a hell of a job.”

“It looks more appropriate to the neighborhood than the existing housing does, frankly, although it looks a lot like the housing out on the ranches,” Parke said. “It’s a model of how we can have multifamily units, but put them in the smallest of towns and make them fit.”

The project applicant, Thompson Housing LLC, has developed a number of affordable housing projects throughout Santa Barbara County. 

At Perkins Place, the units will vary in size from studios to one-bedroom to three-bedroom options, each with a full bathroom, an oven, a stove, a microwave, a kitchen sink and a refrigerator. 

Other on-site amenities will include a community garden, indoor bicycle storage, a gated toddler play area, a playground, picnic areas, an orchard and a community garden.

Under the state’s Housing Accountability Act, the project is available for concessions and waivers of some development standards to make the project more economically feasible.

The Santa Barbara County Housing Authority will manage the farmworker-family development. A similar project, Creekside Village, exists in Los Alamos. 

A map shows the location for the proposed Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development planned for the western edge of New Cuyama.
A map shows the location for the proposed Perkins Place Mixed-Use Development planned for the western edge of New Cuyama. Credit: Santa Barbara County map

Of the 33 units, 32 will be for those making below 80% of the area’s median income. One unit will be for an on-site property manager. Seventeen units will house farmworkers, necessary since it will receive funding from a grant. 

As rental rates continue to rise, some workers have been forced to move away from the Cuyama Valley, which also has meant a loss of students for schools.

“My personal experience is the Cuyama Valley and the families that are really needing the housing would benefit from this project,” said Martha Yepez, program manager for the Cuyama Valley Family Resource Center. 

Frank Thompson, with Thompson Housing LLC, said he believed communities need a range of housing choices, which the Perkins Place project will provide especially since the community lacks one-bedroom units.

Due to the county’s high median income, almost every job, including teachers, in the Cuyama Valley would qualify as low-income employees eligible for the project. 

For the Cuyama project, the developer intends to use modular buildings built elsewhere with completely finished interiors before being moved into place in Cuyama. 

“I love the efficiency of the modular units to lower costs,” Second District Commissioner Laura Bridley said. “I think it’s a great project.”

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.