The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) is forecasting that North County will grow by 22,000 jobs and 50,000 people by 2050. 
          Last spring, Soltra Communities CA submitted a proposal to Santa Barbara County to develop a community of up to 4,000homes and a commercial center in the Solomon Hills, just south of Orcutt Ridge. The project, which is being analyzed by the Santa Barbara County Planning Department, would address the housing shortage anticipated by the growth in population without using prime agricultural land.
          “We are in a housing crisis,” says Ben Humphrey, Development Director for Solomon Hills. “Growth needs to be thoughtful and smart. We feel the transition from fossil fuel production supplying homes powered by renewable energy is the best use of this land. With its climate, northern Santa Barbara County is ideal for such a development.”
          For much of the last 125 years, the Solomon Hills was a major production area for oil and gas. Solstra’s Solomon Hills proposal will transition the land proposed for development out of oil and gas and used to create a community to serve the growing northern Santa Barbara County workforce.  Homes, from affordable and single-family to executive level, would be scattered in. villages on about 700 acres. The balance of the 1903-acre parcel, about 1100 acres, would be dedicated to open space and trails. Fifty acres, including the Newlove Picnic Grounds, would be set aside for public parks.
          Within the rolling Solomon Hills, the project would create homes in several different neighborhoods, along with a retail center, a TK-8 school, post office and dedicated parks, trails and open space. According to Humphrey, “our vision is to meet future housing needs in the North County with the goal of creating attainable homes for working families in a sustainable, connected community.”
Most of the housing, 70 percent, would be a mix of single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and apartments. These homes and the commercial center with public services would be located in the southwestern section of the development with coffee shops and restaurants, grocery and drug stores, a campus for school children through eighth-grade 8, a fire station, daycare, and medical services. The remaining 30 percent of homes would be for 55+ years old and larger, move-up estate homes, and be situated in villages throughout the development.
           According to the project summary submitted to the County, a “fifteen-minute town” is envisioned where residents will have a 15-minute walk or bike ride to access school, work, shopping, healthcare, and various daily needs. The summary also indicates a 500,000-square-foot office campus is intended to serve as a centralized location for companies to grow their workforce.      
         Access on the east would be from an expanded existing interchange on Highway 101.Southwest access is also being studied, including critical access to Vandenberg Space Force Base from Highway 135 near San Antonio Road. There would be minimum visibility of the project from either of the highways as it is situated in a valley.
         Humphrey says, “It will be a new, unincorporated town, separated from Orcutt by Orcutt Ridge. Solomon Hills will be ts own community with its own services.” Of course, he says, “residents will still be going into Orcutt and Santa Maria for restaurant dining and shopping.”
           Humphrey explains Soltra Communities proposes building what he calls “a sustainable community.” All the homes and businesses would have solar power and each home would be fully electric. Car charging units would be installed in each home as well.
          Solstra is pursuing options to meet the proposed community’s water needs.  It has already secured an agreement with Cadiz Inc. under which a water supply will be made available to Solomon Hills via the Coastal Branch of the State Water Project through an exchange with one or more contractors of the California
State Water Project.
          County analysis for this development takes years. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission accepted the project for analysis last spring. According to County planners, the County is “clarifying development of a new, geographically separate community to meet North County’s housing and jobs needs.”
Humphrey hopes planners will have enough information this spring to accept the project for complete environmental review.
          Eventually, the project will make its way to the County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for consideration. To learn more, visit Solomonhillsca.com or https://www.countyofsb.org/3729/Solomon-Hills-Project.

Steve Southwick reporting