Balancing needs to create affordable housing

By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

Santa Barbara County has been facing a serious shortage of affordable housing for its middle- and low-income residents for quite some time now.

The collapse of the national housing market has been especially hard on families living in the northern part of our county. Families seeking the American dream of home ownership have outreached their financial means because so little housing here is truly affordable for them.

State law requires that each county conduct a regional housing needs assessment every five years to ensure that enough land is zoned for all income levels. SB CAN advocates creating sustainable communities by building housing in urban areas within walking distance of basic needs and services, while also preserving open space and recreational areas.

The county largely mismanaged its obligation to rezone for high-density housing during the 2003-08 process, by not balancing the real needs of the community.

The county went from trying to put all the affordable housing rezones in the semi-rural Orcutt area, to putting all of them in Isla Vista, a tiny densely-populated community that serves a large university — hardly what you’d call fair-share housing that would meet the real needs of low-income families across the county.

The state ended up certifying most of the rezones in Isla Vista, but the county must still account for an additional 370 units, and is considering key sites (KS) 3, 16, and 30 in Orcutt.

In November, the county Planning Commission recommended rezoning KS 3 and 16. We agree with the Planning Commission that 16 is preferable to 30 for affordable housing.

KS 16, located at the gateway of Old Town Orcutt, is within walking distance of basic needs and services. Rezoning this site for high-density housing would create a more vibrant, compact Old Town, helping to support current and future businesses.

An underground parking garage could easily be incorporated into a multi-story residential facility, and thus meet the needs of local businesses. While onsite underground oil sumps would need to be removed and the site restored environmentally, the high-density rezone would create an incentive for developers to clean up the site.

KS 30, on the other hand, is located along Bradley Road in the heart of Orcutt, and is zoned for open space and recreation. This site has long been envisioned by the community as the place for a community center, walking and biking trails.

It is also located at the edge of the no-build flight path for the Santa Maria airport, and this reason alone makes it unsuitable for high-density housing.

Just a few years ago, a light aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing just north of this site. The recent airplane crash in Lompoc and jet crash in San Diego should remind the county to err on the side of caution when approving housing near flight paths.

Unfortunately, the state’s Housing and Planning Department, which certifies the county’s Housing Element rezones, has recently intervened with a last-minute phone call to the county stating its preference for KS 30, because it already has a project in the works.

SB CAN believes state government should not attempt to micromanage local land-use decisions or refuse to certify a site that is appropriate in every way, except that it lacks a current project application. The state’s preference for KS 30 contradicts other state policies and guidelines promoting the creation of sustainable communities — placing housing within walkable communities in urban areas near basic services.

All of this will come back to the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 27. Let’s hope good planning policies prevail, and sustainability trumps expediency in planning for affordable housing.

Deborah is executive director of SB CAN. She can be reached at Deborah@sbcan.org, or 722-5094. Looking Forward runs every Friday, providing a progressive viewpoint on local issues.