After hearing calls to protect prime agricultural land, the Santa Maria City Council agreed to consider property at the southeast edge of the community — despite warnings about California tiger salamanders and oil wells in the area — for possible future expansion.

The City Council on Tuesday debated about whether to eye prime ag land for expansion while considering land use alternatives for the General Plan Update, a blueprint spelling out future growth in the city through 2045 and beyond. 

Council members voted 3-2, with Mayor Alice Patino, Councilwoman Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez and Councilman Mike Cordero voting in favor. Councilwoman Gloria Soto and Councilman Carlos Escobedo voted against the motion after earlier favoring an option that focused only on infill development.

The panel had three options, including focusing on infill, adding 1,700 acres to the city or a hybrid version that would have included infill plus add roughly 1,000 acres of ag land east of the northern edge of the city.

However, Patino asked about targeting land near the Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center for future annexation to the city, saying some additional property would be needed for future growth but that she wanted to protect as much as prime ag land as possible.

“We don’t have any place to put a school. We have no place to put a school. Period,” Patino said. 

Aguilera-Hernandez made the motion directing staff to consider the non-prime-ag land east of Highway 101 and including the rodeo grounds, or a new Alternative D.

“This is just a study. We’re giving staff direction to look at whether this is even a viable option given that there may be some issues with environmental constraints,” Aguilera-Hernandez said. “I think the goal is to avoid the prime ag land that we’ve had a lot of speakers here today say, ‘We don’t like that option.’”

The study will include all components of the original hybrid option with approximately 985 acres east of Highway 101 plus a southerly expansion area, east of Highway 101, including properties known as Bradley Lands and the Elks Recreation Center making up approximately 1,000 acres, city staff said.

Efforts to update the city general plan began in January 2020. Tuesday night’s decision remained key for the future of moving to the next phase of the General Plan Update.

Nearly 20 years ago, conceptual plans and environmental studies assessed some of the area known as the Bradley Lands identifying California tiger salamanders and oil wells on the property.

Community Development Director Chuen Wu said a previous study identified significant biological constraints with tiger salamanders that would make it very difficult to build.

“As with any environmental concerns, sometimes there are also mitigation measures,” Wu said, adding, “There’s some information that we know, but there’s also additional analysis that we can still perform.”

The proposal to replace ag land in production to build houses and more drew strong opinions from various sectors of the community, including representatives of school districts noting overcrowded campuses.

“Our campuses right now are strained,” said Matt Cameron, student housing technician for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District. “Campuses designed for 400 students now have over 700.” 

Three of the schools — the district serves transitional kindergarten through eighth grade — have more than 1,000 students, he added. The district’s average is more than 800 students, much higher than neighbors. 

“We are at the bursting point, so any growth in the city of Santa Maria is going to require additional schools,” he said.

Claire Wineman from the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties expressed concern about any proposal for the city’s further growth west of Blosser Road because of prime ag land.

“My mentors and predecessors describe these fingers being like daggers in the heart of agriculture because it’s not just the immediate land that’s being converted, it’s everything all around it that’s impacted, too,” she said, noting increased food safety rules faced by growers today and urged the city of focus on infill first. 

Three decades ago, city leaders approved a plan to prep the city for potentially 40,000 new residents, according to Laurie Tamura from Urban Planning Concepts. That led to the annexation of 2,500 acres over time, she said.

“It’s not that LAFCO has not approved annexations in the past. They do approve well-planned, well-executed, well-justified annexations, and that’s what we’re looking for to this City Council giving staff that direction,” Tamura said. 

Ken Hough from the Santa Barbara County Action Network supported the infill only option, saying the plan supports walkability and reducing longer vehicle trip miles.

Several people mentioned Lompoc’s efforts to annex 200 acres west of the city only to encounter repeated denials by the Local Agency Formation Commission.

“Santa Maria would be well advised to not put so many eggs in an annexation basket,” Hough said. “We urge you to go with the infill alternative.” 

“This decision before us today will dictate the trajectory of the city’s development for decades and has far-reaching implications for our residents and the environmental so please accept the infill alternative,” said Alhan Diaz Correa of the Community Environmental Council.