Long-awaited plans to construct a business park at the Santa Maria Public Airport have passed one hurdle with an approval from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.

The specific plan for the Santa Maria Airport Business Park went before SBCAG, which also acts as the local Airport Land Use Commission, on Thursday.

With no discussion, the board approved the project by finding it consistent with the Airport Land Use Plan for Santa Barbara County.

With the approval, the plan now moves to the Santa Maria Planning Commission.

“It's another step in the process that has been completed now,” said airport board president Carl Engel. “Now it goes to the city and then that will be it; we will have a specific plan complete and we can move ahead with public improvements and move to the next step.”

Plans to develop a business park at the airport have been in the works for more than a decade, but have been held up because some of the proposed development lies on land that is home to the federally protected California tiger salamander.

The draft environmental impact report for the project includes mitigation measures to protect the amphibian. Those measures closely resemble requirements that airport officials believe will be released by the federal government in an official biological opinion on the project.

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During the planning process, development officials have been working with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the EIR and the biological opinion match, said airport General Manager Gary Rice.

Federal officials have not released their opinion yet, but Rice said he hopes to have it in hand next month.

The document is being held up while officials with Fish and Wildlife and the Federal Aviation Administration work out specific language for FAA responsibility, Rice said.

However, Rice said he has seen a draft, and the mitigation measures in that document and the EIR are parallel.

“The biological opinion is needed (because it's) the document that spells out the mitigation measures that allow us during construction to have a take of the critters that are there,” Rice said.

With the opinion, the development would be legal because the airport is taking steps to protect the species in the long term.

The specific plan before the Airport Land Use Commission is an update to the 1995 and 1998 proposal.

Taking into account the salamander habitat, the business park and golf course have been scaled back to 740 acres from its original 1,095-acre proposal.

The plan includes 16.3 acres of commercial and professional building, 132 acres of light manufacturing, 262.3 acres of recreational open space, and 105 acres of conservation open space for the salamander habitat.

The development is meant to provide job opportunities to Santa Maria Valley residents other than service and retail, Engel said.

“The end goal is to provide some type of worthwhile employment in this valley so that young couples can raise a family and live here,” he said.

Malia Spencer can be reached at 739-2219 or mspencer@santamariatimes.com.

May 20, 2007