A proposal to annex more than 60 acres to the southeastern edge of Santa Maria is scheduled for one more City Council action Tuesday before the application is sent on to a state agency for final approval.

A portion of the proposed annexation is the 22-acre site owned by the Adam family and eyed for the controversial Orcutt Plaza development.

City staff members are recommending the council adopt a resolution approving the property tax exchange between Santa Barbara County and the city. The county is expected to see a similar resolution at its Tuesday meeting.

In the property tax exchange proposal, the city would receive 12.1 percent of the overall property tax generated on the land, according to the council staff report. Last year, the property with a total assessed value of $3.5 million generated $367,487 in property tax.

The city's share would be the same as the amount allocated to the County Fire Protection District.

The Santa Maria City Council meets Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 110 E. Cook St.

The annexation of the 62.86 acres was initiated as a way for the Adam family to develop a vacant site at Santa Maria Way and College Drive.

Advertisement

For the 22-acre Orcutt Plaza site to be annexed, it had to be made contiguous to the city limits, according to state law. To connect the land, the Adams are linking it with another five-acre property owned on South College Drive, adjacent to the city border.

However, sandwiched between the two Adam family parcels are the 115-unit Quail Meadows West development, the 88-unit Quail Meadows Condominiums, a 3.9-acre drainage basin and a Chevron gas station.

City staff members along with the consultant, Fletcher-Cross and Associates, hired by the family, have met with residents within the Quail Meadows developments to talk about what annexation would mean.

Santa Maria would provide municipal services to the annexation property including police, fire, solid waste disposal and water.

Water is at the heart of the annexation application since the original Orcutt Plaza project was indefinitely stalled when the developer could not find a water source for the proposed 225,000-square-foot retail center.

City officials refused to supply supplemental water needed to develop the shopping center because it would compete with city businesses and divert sales tax money that could go into city coffers.

Though officials have met with residents in the proposed annexation area not everybody favors becoming part of the city.

Four residents spoke against the plan when the council first authorized staff to begin the annexation process in November 2006. They also presented the council with a petition signed by 37 people who oppose the proposal.

One of those residents, Evelyn Truck, said she is against the annexation because of the traffic that will be generated by the development of Orcutt Plaza.

“The traffic is terrible,” she said Friday. “I can't imagine putting anything else in there.”

Truck has attended the meetings city officials and the developer but she still doesn't see why her property should have to be annexed to build the shopping center.

“The water situation is silly, if they (the city) can't give them water, why can they give it to Nipomo?” she asked.

If the council approves the tax exchange Tuesday, then the proposal is slated for the Sept. 6 Local Agency Formation Commission for another hearing.

The Local Agency Formation Commission, a state-created agency, is responsible for boundaries of government agencies within Santa Barbara County. The 11-member board is made up of officials from cities, the county, special districts and the public.

If LAFCO approves the annexation application then the proposal will have a second hearing before that board called a protest hearing. If LAFCO denies the application then the annexation is killed, said Bob Braitman, LAFCO executive officer.

Malia Spencer can be reached at 739-2219 or mspencer@santa

mariatimes.com.

July 16, 2007