Santa Barbara County has started the environmental review process for the proposed Solomon Hills development, a project that would transform thousands of acres between Orcutt and Los Alamos.
This week, the county began studying potential impacts on traffic, water, and the environment. Public comments are open through mid-April, with final approval still needed.
Developers say hundreds of homes would go up every year for more than a decade on land that has historically been used for oil and gas operations. The community is being designed with working families in mind, including smaller lots and attainable home prices.
"We believe in the need for housing and we believe in the growth of Vandenberg. We've seen SBCAG's data on growth projections and things like that for population in North County and so we really do believe something like Solomon Hills needs to be built," Ben Humphrey, Director of Community Development for Solomon Hills, said.
"We're really trying to build homes for sale that working families in North County can afford to buy. When we look at Santa Maria, Orcutt, Los Alamos even down to Buellton, we think you know probably in the low $400 looking at dollars per square foot," Humphrey said.
For at least one nearby resident, the project brings both optimism and concern.
"That sounds amazing except for taking away all that beautiful scenery and I would be concerned about the water and the other environmental things that would pop up," said Orcutt resident Martha Silva.
"It's just getting crowded over here and it used to be so easy to go from one place to another and now there's so much traffic," Silva said.
Housing pressures continue to build across the Central Coast.
"It's certainly expensive to live in California and very expensive to live on the Central Coast. We're consistently rated as the lowest in the nation when it comes to median home price and median wage," said Michael Foote, Director at REACH Central Coast.
Foote said projects like this are critical for keeping up with demand.
"Looking at options like this as a really positive sign for you know projects that don't come around like this very frequently," Foote said.
