Santa Maria city planners are gathering public comments on what should be studied as part of the development process for some 550 acres on the western edge of town.

An environmental impact report is being created as part of the development of a huge swath of industrial land - between Black Road and A Street, north of Betteravia Road and south of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad - called Area 9A, and officials are mapping out what needs to be studied in the process.

A public “scoping meeting” for the draft EIR of the Area 9A Specific Plan is scheduled Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 110 E. Cook Street.

The property is being

studied is part of a larger

annexation area of 890 acres that was brought into the

city in November 2004. However, the larger area has at least 15 landowners, all with various ideas about what should be developed and when, so to make planning easier, the property was

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split into two planning areas - Area 9A and Area 9B.

The environmental document being created directly

includes Area 9A, but is expected to also take into account how items such as circulation and infrastructure can be extended when Area 9B develops.

Comments on what should

be studied in the draft EIR must be received by the Community Development Department by Aug. 8.

Development of Area 9A is expected to include 134 acres

of heavy manufacturing,

124 acres of light industrial, 105 acres of commercial

professional office, 76 acres

of general industrial,

12 acres of community commercial and 96 acres of drainage basins and road right-of-way, according to the EIR notice of preparation.

It typically takes between a year and 18 months to create an EIR such as this, said Brian Smith, advance planner for the city.

Smith predicted that

traffic and new air quality

regulations would be cited

as public concerns. Addition-ally, he said, more than

100 acres of the property

are within an agricultural

preserve through 2011, so

no development can occur

before that time.

In April, the City Council agreed to help fund the cost

of creating the EIR, in the

form of a loan to the property owners. The money will have to be repaid with interest.

City officials have long

seen the Area 9 property as key to Santa Maria's future

industrial development and job creation.

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

July 22, 2008