Map by Mary Koenig / SBN

The commissioners said they liked the “village center” concept of the North Hills project, including the proposed mix of affordable, middle-class and luxury homes; pedestrian-friendly streets, open space preserves and energy-efficient construction.

What they didn’t like, they said, was the proximity of oil rigs to the future homes.

There are about 170  active oil wells on the 4,000-acre North Hills property, including wells inside the “village centers” where hundreds of homes are planned. And the three oil companies onsite — including BreitBurn Energy, a subsidiary of the property owner, Orcutt Fee LLC — have recently been given permits to expand their drilling operations.

Portions of the North Hills property are on an oilfield. Photo by Alexios Monopolis

Also problematic, Chairman Mike Cooney said, was the opposition to the North Hills project by two of the three oil companies on the property, a dispute which was publicly aired on Tuesday for the first time.

“That should all be resolved before the county is presented with an application,” Cooney said.

The North Hills property is presently zoned for agricultural and commercial uses and 40 homes. A final decision on whether to study the impacts of a future rezone for 7,500 homes and a population of more than 17,000 now rests with the county Board of Supervisors. The board will meet on July 10 to consider the matter.

The study of a rezone to allow 7,500 homes and a population of more than 17,000 now rests with the county Board of Supervisors. Photo by Alexios Monopolis

“It’s easy to go against housing if you already have a home,” he said. “What about all these kids? We have to build some homes and apartments.”

About 100 people attended the standing-room-only hearing at the county’s Betteravia Government Center, many of them wearing bright green “North Hills = Jobs” buttons. Speakers on both sides, for and against the project, invoked the need to stop sprawl, reduce commuting and build more housing. But they disagreed dramatically over whether building a new city from the ground up was the way to do it.

Members of the building trades, including Walt Mankins, right, support North Hills. Photo by Melinda Burns

“That land is primarily oil fields,” he said. “ Lord knows we need more housing. I think it’s the right area.”

But Brian Trautwein, a spokesman for the Environmental Defense Center, a public-interest law firm in Santa Barbara, called North Hills “the antithesis of everything that makes Santa Barbara County special and beautiful.”

“It will create 80,000 traffic trips a day,” he said. “We all know the people of North Hills will commute to Santa Barbara, Goleta, Lompoc and Santa Maria.”

The developer, Randy Wheeler, began his presentation by telling the commission, “This is probably the best site in this county to build this project.” Wheeler then introduced Jack Washburn, an agent for Orcutt Fee LLC, who put up slides of a drilling operation a block from Beverly Hills, outfitted with soundproofing so that it could not be heard.

“We can drill 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and our neighbors don’t realize we’re drilling,” Washburn said. “Some of them are 60 feet away.”

Peter Calthorpe, a nationally-known urban planner, said North Hills could help the county avoid sprawling onto farmland. Photo by Melinda Burns

“People can walk and they have front porches where they can speak to their neighbors,” he said.

Peter Calthorpe, a nationally-known urban planner who is part of the North Hills team, talked about why it was important to stop building suburbs, which segregate people from each other, and start building the “historic village.” North Hills, Calthorpe said, could make the county grow in ways that were “more compact and walkable.”

“California started in the bungalow tradition,” he said. “The economics of affordability are moving us back to that. We need to sit gently on the land.”

Several Orcutt residents agreed, saying they did not want high-density housing in their community.

“People will continue to come to the Central Coast,” said Rose Standard, a 23-year resident. “It’s a very appealing place to raise a family. Piggybacking new subdivisions is the usual way. The time has come to look at alternatives and consider the concept of a master planned community.” 

But speakers from the Audubon Society, Sierra Club and Santa Barbara County Action Network, while endorsing Calthorpe’s philosophy, said the North Hills project would increase fire danger, overburden local water supplies and cost county residents more in new roads and services than developer fees could cover.

A number of neighboring property owners also spoke on Tuesday against the project, including Lindsey Reed and Jimmy Dominguez. They said that if one landowner were allowed to rezone agricultural land for a new city, others would surely follow.

“The dominos will begin to fall around it,” Reed said. “You cannot do it for North Hills and not do it for everybody else.”

Finally, David Pratt, the manager for Santa Maria Pacific LLC and Phoenix Energy LLC, the two oil companies who are quarrelling with the property owner, told the commission that a rezone to residential use would hurt the companies’ business. Santa Maria Pacific and Phoenix Energy own the mineral rights underlying a portion of land where one of five proposed “village centers” with hundreds of homes is proposed.

 “We’re concerned about the impairment it represents,” Pratt said.

In the end, the commissioners said the North Hills property was simply the wrong place for the “master community” concept.

“This is not Los Angeles, where there’s no land left,” said Commissioner David Smyser, who represents the Santa Ynez Valley. “Let’s go to the towns that already exist in rural communities, like Cuyama, and talk to them about growing.”

At the hearing’s end, Randy Wheeler shook hands briefly with Valencia, who wished him better luck at the Board of Supervisors.

“It’s disappointing that they didn’t see the vision,” Wheeler said.

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