Santa Maria’s vision for the future has sparked a debate about how much land, if any, the city should add for new homes and businesses in the next 25 years. 

The City Council is scheduled to decide the land-use issue related to the General Plan Update during the meeting set to start at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 110 E. Cook St. 

The General Plan serves as a blueprint for the city’s future into 2045 with efforts to update the document underway for a couple of years.

“This is a very important step in the process,” Planning Division Manager Dana Eady told the Planning Commission as it considered land-use alternatives in September. 

Calculating projects in the pipeline, or already approved but not developed yet, along with numbers needed based on the Regional Housing Needs Allocation led to the decision that the city should plan for a minimum of 9,400 residential units in the updated General Plan.

“It’s important to note the residential growth is going to need to be supported by parks and other public services, so there needs to be room or a plan to accommodate that additional growth,” Eady said. 

In early September, a divided Planning Commission decided to recommend a modified hybrid alternative that would focus on infill development along with annexation of 925 acres. 

Alternative A proposed annexing 1,770 acres, while Alternative B focused on infill development with intensified housing and job growth on major corridors and opportunity sites within the existing city limits. 

Land targeted for annexation sits east of Highway 101 and recently has been used for agriculture. The sites also are located adjacent to the city limits to avoid hopscotch development.

Commissioners Esau Blanco, Tom Lopez and Yasameen Mohajer supported the hybrid option. 

Blanco said he preferred the mixed approach to avoid focusing on one option or the other. 

“It does seem like a balance. I think we need a little bit of both,” he said. “I would have a hard time if we had to choose A or B.”

Chairman Tim Seifert and Commissioner Robert Dickerson backed the option that would expand the city by 1,770 acres.

“I think we need the land. I think we have the lan,d and I think it’s important to maintain the level of life that we’ve established here in Santa Maria,” Seifert said. 

Supporters of infill development, or projects within the existing city limits, say it would protect prime agricultural land while also improving walkability and benefiting other aspects of Santa Maria. 

Critics of infill development refer to it as “stack them and pack them” because development would be denser and include taller buildings.

The Santa Barbara County Action Network and the Community Environmental Council backed the infill-only option.

“The city should not base its plan on the idea that it will annex and build on 1,000 acres of valuable farmland. These lands are some of the most productive anywhere and are essential to Santa Maria’s economy,” the two groups’ leaders wrote.

However, the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association urged to council to follow the Planning Commission’s recommendation.  

“In our judgment, the choice which best meets the objectives of Santa Maria’s current and potential residents, as well as the agricultural community which surrounds it, is Modified Alternative C- Hybrid,” association president Roy Reed said.

Any option involving annexing land will face a huge hurdle — getting through the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission process. The panel had balked at a much smaller annexation proposed by Lompoc.

The land use item is one of several on a busy Tuesday night agenda for the City Council.

The agenda also includes a report from the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce plus public hearings on a Santa Maria Cemetery expansion and a proposal to install solar photovoltaic systems at eight city facilities on the roofs or parking lots, including at the Civic Center, the Police Department, Minami Park and the Hagerman Sports Center.