Orcutt residents have rallied against a proposal to annex nearly 44 acres into the city of Santa of Maria to develop 400 apartments, 95 townhomes and 106,800 square feet of retail space along Union Valley Parkway.
A draft environmental impact report on the Richards Ranch Annexation was released in December. The applicant is Richards Ranch LLC, led by Michael Stoltey of MD3 Investments in San Luis Obispo.
The public comment period, originally set to end Feb. 6, has been extended to March 7, Planning Division Manager Dana Eady said Friday.
A Tuesday afternoon meeting on the draft environmental report draw multiple comments along with complaints that residents had only just learned about the development and that the meeting occurred at an inconvenient time.
The land, known as Key Site 26 in the Orcutt Community Plan, is east of Highway 135 and north and south of Union Valley Parkway in Orcutt. The area also is part of Santa Maria’s Sphere or Influence, or area potentially to be annexed into the city.
The Key Site 26 land first was acquired by Walmart from the Richards family in September 2006 but has since been sold to the developer.
In addition to the residential units, the conceptual plan also includes a retail center, a gas station, drive-through restaurants and a mini-storage facility.
“If people in this room don’t want it there, how do we stop it? That’s what I want to know because I don’t want it there,” one man said, referring to downtown Santa Maria and saying, “We don’t want that in Orcutt.”
Residents raised a number of concerns about neighborhood compatibility, airport flight path and water availability, but traffic drew the most comments.
Many residents noted the heavy traffic at Union Valley Parkway along with the number of crashes at the intersection with Highway 135.
City staff said plans call for adding a traffic signal at the intersection of UVP and Hummel Drive plus the eventual widening of UVP.
Tim Rogers said high-density housing “doesn’t make sense here” and critiqued the environmental analysis.
“One of my main issues is traffic. When I look at the traffic study, it is so completely flawed,” he said. “Are we really gong to build high-density housing in the flight path of a major airport? It just doesn’t seem very realistic.”
The draft document analyzed potential impacts on air quality, noise, greenhouse gas emissions, biological resources and more.
“In this particular case, for all of the environmental issues where impacts were identified, there are feasible mitigation measures,” said Bobbette Biddulph, project manager with SWCA Environmental Consultants.
As required, the report also looked at other options, deeming Alternative 2 with tree preservation and fewer housing units as the environmentally superior alternative.
Specifically, Alternative 2 would allow for 134,096 square feet of commercial uses and accommodate 312 housing units, a reduction of 183 units.
“There are many mature trees and other natural features on the project site that are aesthetically desirable and provide important shade relief and biological resource benefit,” the draft EIR said.
Orcutt residents launched an online petition, available here, opposing the annexation proposal.
“The roads are already busy with dangerous intersections — the added traffic, noise, and pollution will significantly decrease the quality of life for those living in Orcutt. … Keep Orcutt small,” the petition states.
The proposal has a long road toward approval.
“There’s quite a bit of process left, and there will be a chance to comment on the project,” Eady said.
After addressing concerns raised in the environmental report, the document will go to the Santa Maria Planning Commission and City Council.
If the City Council approves the proposal, the annexation request would go to the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission, a regional agency that rules on boundary changes. The city and Santa Barbara County also must iron out an agreement for splitting tax revenue and providing services.
LAFCO can be a huge hurdle. Lompoc has waited years for the city’s request to annex prime ag land west of the sitting for future housing.
The Richards Ranch Annexation draft environmental documents can be found by clicking here.
Comments about the draft EIR must be submitted by 5 p.m. March 7 via regular mail sent to Dana Eady, Planning Division Manager, City of Santa Maria Community Development Department, 110 S. Pine St., Room 101, Santa Maria, CA 93458 or via email at deady@cityofsantamaria.org.