After more than 40 years on the drawing board, a significant component of a proposed roadway extension/interchange in Orcutt is a step closer to coming before the Santa Maria City Council for possible approval early next year.

The final environmental impact report on the Union Valley Parkway project, envisioned since the 1960s to connect Highway 101 and Highway 1 through Orcutt, is expected to reach the City Council in January or February 2009.

On Wednesday, the city Planning Commission unanimously recommended City Council approval of the EIR, a study of the plan’s environmental and physical impacts, and a General Plan amendment to the circulation element to delete a portion of Blosser Road to Highway 1 from the Union Valley Parkway plans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concerns about habitats for the California tiger salamander and California red-legged frog, both endangered species.

Most of the project area — 29.3 acres of 56 acres — is under the jurisdiction of Santa Maria, the lead agency on the project. The remainder is in the Orcutt community under county jurisdiction.

The project, which calls to extend the east-west two-lane street south of Foster Road west across Highway 135 to connect with Blosser Road south of the Santa Maria Public Airport, expand the road by two lanes and add a new freeway interchange at Union Valley Parkway and Highway 101, is meant to create a major artery through the Santa Maria/Orcutt area, and to relieve traffic on Clark Avenue, Santa Maria Way, Lakeview Road and other nearby roads.

While the project would improve traffic circulation, air quality and emergency access, it would also result in more noise, disturbance of habitats and species, and lost views, according to the EIR.

The estimated $36 million project, a joint effort of Caltrans, the city of Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County, would be funded in part by state gas tax funds and Measure A, a countywide, half-cent sales tax for transportation.

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The first phase of the project — an extension from Highway 135 to Blosser Road — could begin as soon as summer 2009, according to Dave Whitehead, public works director and city engineer for Santa Maria.

The EIR includes three proposed designs for the interchange and five extension alignment alternatives. The city’s preferred alignment, alternative one, is a two-through-lane extension of Union Valley Parkway between Hummel Drive and Blosser Road, with the interchange at Highway 101 and connections at Highway 135, Orcutt Road, Foxenwood Lane and Hummel Drive. Additionally, a portion of Orcutt Road would be realigned to connect with Union Valley Parkway.

The planning panel heard from 11 speakers in public comment, some of whom urged the panel to consider not making any recommendation on the EIR, or to recommend another alternative alignment to the council — one different than the city’s preferred alignment.

David Stockdale, representing more than 300 members of the Foxenwood Tennis and Swim Club, said alternative one is based on an optimism of a full buildout of the Santa Maria Airport Business Park plan. He asked the panel to consider recommending alternative four, which proposes a roadway extension that ends at Highway 135 instead of going west to Blosser Road.

The Highway 135 to Blosser Road extension, at a cost of $15 million, would be an example of “government at its worst” and money spent on a road that has no current need, Stockdale said.

Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration, not the city, will approve and implement the interchange project.

Before the project can begin, Caltrans, as assigned by the Federal Highway Administration, needs to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Caltrans is the lead agency for the environmental assessment tied to the EIR and for the project areas inside their jurisdiction.

November 20, 2008