Two planning commissions issue approvals

 

New chair positions were selected and approvals for development of a racquet club in Buellton and a street name change in Solvang were given during planning meetings for Buellton City and Solvang City, respectively.

Chair Gerald Witcher, Buellton City Planning Commissioner, was re-elected to serve as chair for 2008 with Leah Hickey selected as vice-chair. Chair Aaron Petersen was re-elected to serve for 2008 on the Solvang City Planning Commission, with Jim Hickling selected as vice chair.

During the Buellton meeting on Jan. 3, a resolution passed with a 3-1 vote, with Witcher absent, to approve a general plan amendment and a zoning ordinance amendment for the development of Santa Ynez Valley Inn and Racquet Club, a facility planned on 11 acres behind Builders Hardware, Inc., 82 Industrial Way, Buellton.

 

The project, which has an easement through 82 Industrial Way, includes four hard tennis courts and four clay courts, two swimming pools, a spa, a clubhouse, a river trail connection and a jogging path, and an inn with 120 units that will be sold as partial-use condominiums.

Club memberships will be available to local residents as well as to condominium owners and inn guests.

The clubhouse will include a lobby, a full exercise and fitness center with men’s and women’s luxury locker rooms, an aerobics studio, child care services, a pro shop and a sports bar with a restaurant.

 

Buellton inn described

Several open houses will be held throughout the year for the public to use the courts and pools at no charge. The Buellton Parks and Recreation Department will facilitate the open houses.

The finished club is expected to employ 60 persons.The site is located near the Santa Ynez River with open space proposed on the southern portion of the property.

The units at the inn will feature one and two bedrooms and will be available to owners approximately six months of the year. The remainder of the year the units will be rented to inn guests with the fee split between the unit owner and the Club. Because the units are not classified as residential, Buellton City Planning Commission staff recommended that the in-lieu fee is not appropriate.

 

The project is owned by Buellton Tennis Villa Development LLC, with Karl Pope and Peter Hauber listed as partners.

Hauber also owns Builders Hardware, Inc. Pope is the former owner of the Ojai Valley Racquet Club, which features tennis and swimming in a similar luxury spa setting.

During the discussion by commissioners before the approval was made, Greg Scaduto asked that a serious consideration be made to not allow the Santa Ynez Chumash Tribe to monitor excavation of the site. The current agreement calls for an archeologist as well as a member of the tribe, at a total cost of approximately $1,000 a day, to be present during excavation to make sure no archeological finds are destroyed, should they be discovered during the digging.

 

 

Objection to tribal site monitor

Scaduto insisted that numerous studies have shown there to be no artifacts on the site and that the tribe technically “has no jurisdiction in which they need to monitor this site, which is paid for by the developer.”

He added that allowing the tribe to monitor construction projects in Buellton “sets a dangerous precedent for future development and takes away our control. I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s an arduous requirement.”

Marc Bierdzinski, Buellton City Planning Director, said that the condition could be removed, but that if it were, the tribe was sure to protest, which would delay the project further.

John Knight of RRM Design Group in San Luis Obispo, principal planner for the project, said the developer’s archeologist would have the ultimate say as to how long the monitoring continued and that the cost of the monitoring had been built into the price of the project. He added that they would prefer to have the monitoring if it could move the project forward. The motion carried with only Scaduto voting no, “as a matter of principle,” he insisted.

 

 

Solvang private road renamed

During the Solvang Planning Commission meeting Jan. 7, commissioners approved, with a 3-0 vote, the name change for a private road, which is now listed as part of Ranch Road. The private road, located in the High Meadow area, is approximately 200 feet south of the junction of Ranch Road and High Meadow Road. Day Yeager was absent and Melissa DeLeon was present as the recently appointed planning commissioner, replacing Stuart Gildred Jr., who has moved.

The new street name, recommended by staff, will be Olive Grove Lane. The property is owned by Aaron Petersen and Gary Riches, both of Solvang. Petersen, just selected as chair for 2008, recused himself from the session because of his personal interest in the matter, leaving vice chair Hickling to handle the motion and approval.