With possible adoption weeks away, a multi-year effort to craft a long-range plan guiding Santa Maria’s growth through 2045 might need to slow down, some speakers told city leaders recently.

During a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission Monday, members of both panels reviewed the draft General Plan update and environmental documents.

The General Plan envisions the city’s future through 2045, providing a blueprint for handling as many as 40,000 additional residents.

Along with projects already approved plus infill development or building on land within Santa Maria, the city has proposed annexing 1,000 acres east of Highway 101 to accommodate future growth.

But members of the public who commented during Monday’s meeting questioned the completeness of the report and pushed for the city to slow down.

“I’m very, very concerned that this plan is flawed and we need a lot more work before it can be adopted by the Planning Commission or the City Council,” said land-use planner Laurie Tamura from Urban Planning Concepts.

“If feels like this is a bit rushed at the end,” added Glenn Morris. “We’ve done a lot of work, and now we’re rushing to the end. A lot of the policies and goals in this feel very generic to me.”

Mayor Alice Patino later said she agreed with Morris.

“I think this is going a little too fast for many of us, and we all have areas that we would like to see given more time to,” she said. 

Morris noted the lack of pre-zoning work for the land to be annexed into the city to spell out likely future uses.

“I think that could have been done in parallel with this plan and it would give all us more confidence in the future growth of the city and where that would look,” Morris said, adding it would provide answers about placement of a grocery store east of Highway 101 or how, or if, the land would be added in phases. 

The draft plan’s completion culminates efforts that began five years ago and involved community meetings, surveys and workshops. 

Any expansion of the city’s boundaries would need the approval of the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation. Annexation requests in recent years have encountered objections at LAFCO. 

The mayor said the city needs to get this right before formally submitting the request to LAFCO.

While some object to annexing any land, the mayor questioned if the proposed addition to the city would be enough to accommodate schools, parks, housing and businesses.

“We may not have another bite at the apple,” Patino added.

Commissioner Tim Seifert said the document lacked details he would expect in a General Plan. 

“It’s a lot of recommendations. It should be a Santa Maria Recommendations Update,” Seifert added. 

City staff said those details would be included in specific plans created for various areas or projects such as the land to be annexed or the Santa Maria Public Airport. 

“The way that this works is this is overall umbrella,” Planning Division Manager Dana Eady said. 

A General Plan is designed to be a guidepost rather than the law of the land, Community Development Director Chenin Dow added. 

The General Plan has multiple chapters or elements assessing topics such as land use, traffic circulation, noise, safety, conservation and open space, recreation and parks, health and environmental justice, economic development, and public safety and facilities, with some sections required by the state and others added to meet the city’s needs. 

The schedule calls for the Planning Commission to consider approving the updated plan and environmental document in November and the City Council in December. 

Due to an end-of-the-year deadline related to the $335,000 grant helping fund the update, city staff hesitated to delay the schedule.

Councilmembers and planning commissioners agreed to hold another joint meeting before the panels formally consider adopting the documents.

“I think the one thing I would say is this document is going to last us the next quarter century or more — you want to get it right,” Planning Commission Chair Robert Dickerson said. 

The General Plan Update and other details are available at www.imaginesantamaria.com.