Planning commission OKs Los Olivos project

 

The planning commission on Jan. 23 OK’d the proposal of a mixed-used project that includes condominiums and store offices on three acres at the northern entry to Los Olivos, citing community benefit as its reason.

In a 3-2 decision, with newly-appointed 3rd District Commissioner C.J. Jackson casting the determining vote, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission voted to recommend the approval of Stage Stop Plaza to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Stage Stop Plaza would be in Jackson’s district, which includes the area encompassing the project at Highway 154 and Grand Avenue.

 

“I have been wavering here because I think, too, that this is a good project,” Jackson said. “I accept that there are benefits to this project now … The draft [Plan] is going to be completed in June and I think we really put the fear of God in [county staff], and I really think it’s moving.”

In a meeting lasting more than three hours, the planning commission discussed and heard public comment on the project. The discussion did not cover many details of the project itself, but instead whether or not it should be considered for recommendation to the board before the Santa Ynez Valley Community Draft Plan is finalized — a process that has been in the works for more than eight years.

Because the county adopted an ordinance in 2005 that requires all projects applying for rezones to be deferred until after the new community plan is implemented with the exception of those that present “significant community benefits,” Stage Stop Plaza has stirred a heated debate. Moving the project forward would require Harvey Saarloos and family, the owners of the project site, to apply for a rezone.

 

Barry Berkus, a member of the project’s planning team, said, “It is the ideal project for an urban planner to look at in how to complete a town.”

Keith Saarloos also contended that the project has significant “community benefit.”

“We’ve listened to the community …We have a good track record with the community. They know what we’re trying to accomplish and they said ‘this is what we need…’” he said. “Our project will solve the major and basic concerns of finishing our town.”

Supporters of the project and the commission agreed that the project presented community benefit because it would include a nine-stall public restroom, an open public gathering plaza, a community meeting and conference room and public walkways. County staff contended that the project also presented off-site community benefit because it will include a new 800-foot storm drain near Alamo Pintado Creek and new street pavement, including the installation of sidewalks and curbs on Nojoqui, Jonata and Railway avenues.

 

Though 4th District commission member Joe Valencia, 5th District member Daniel Blough, and Jackson agreed that the project would fit the exception rule, the majority of the small audience at the meeting disagreed and contended that the community plan process was being disregarded and undermined.

“I’m not here as an opponent of this project, but I am very alarmed by the precedent you’re setting by considering it; I don’t happen to believe that the ends justify the means,” said Lancing Duncan, former Santa Ynez Valley General Plan Advisory Committee chair. “I urge the commission not to confuse the merits or the demerits of this project with the long-standing county process and adopted policy that precludes your ability to process this application separately from the community plan.”  

Santa Ynez resident Bob Field shared Duncan’s sentiment.

 

“Now here we are at the planning commission being asked to bend or break the original intent of the policy about community benefit,” he said, while urging that the project be brought back when the draft plan is complete.

 Sam Cohen, representing the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, also opposed the project’s initiation before the draft plan is finalized, and warned that initiating the project without holding consultation with the tribe would infringe on state law SB-18, which requires tribal consultation on projects that could have potential impacts to any cultural and archeological resources.

“The real question is, does the planning commission desire and value tribal consultation prior to making their decision,” Cohen said.

 

In response, county staff sent a letter to the tribe requesting a tribal consultation but has not yet received a response. March 17 will mark the end of the 90-day period in which consultation between the tribe and the planning staff is required to occur.

Commissioners Cecilia Brown of the 2nd District and Michael Cooney of the 1st District voted against the project.

“I think that this is a great project … but I think this is just a standard commercial project with public amenities,” Brown said. “It seems to me that these, what we’re calling public benefits, are not something unusual or rare or significant.”

 

The planning commission has said ‘no’ to other projects on the basis of process, Cooney said, adding that he didn’t feel it fit the exceptional case that provides for rezones to occur before the draft plan is finalized.

The county board of supervisors will hold a hearing on general plan amendments and rezones in relation to the draft plan at its Feb. 19 board meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. For more information and county meetings agenda, visit www.syvjournal.com.