Planning commission backs development agreement to secure Mill Creek access, waives up to $120,000 in fees

The Tulare County Planning Commission recommended on Jan. 14 that the Board of Supervisors approve development agreement DEV25-002 with SME Homes to resolve access to Mill Creek for flood-control maintenance.

Planning Director Aaron Bach told commissioners the agreement arises from late-stage negotiations on Phase 3 of the TSM 19-003 subdivision in Goshen. The deal trades an access easement configuration and includes a county waiver “to help pay for some of the cost to SME at this late point,” Bach said. He described the arrangement as intended to preserve consistent access for the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District (KDWCD) to the channel.

The agreement covers Phase 3 of the subdivision, a development Bach said contains roughly 90 residential lots in the phase and is part of an overall 69-acre subdivision approved previously by the commission. Bach said KDWCD urged the county for a continuous 20-foot access along the channel and that negotiations required compromises from all parties.

Rob Robbins, chief development officer for SME Homes, described the outcome as “a great negotiation,” and said the $120,000 figure the county agreed to waive would likely be modestly less than SME’s actual implementation costs. “The $120,000 cost is gonna cost us more than that, but not a lot more than that to to implement this plan,” Robbins said.

Bach told the commission the county would waive up to $120,000 of the estimated $270,000 in building-side fees in exchange for the easement changes and commitments that preserve KDWCD maintenance access. He said the county and KDWCD will pursue a future ordinance on setbacks and a maintenance agreement to govern longer-term responsibilities.

Commissioner Matthew Stall moved to recommend approval of DEV25-002 to the Board of Supervisors; Commissioner Gil Aguilar seconded. After brief discussion about the negotiation timeline, commissioners voted 5-0 to forward the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.

The planning director said the development agreement and the subdivision phase will proceed next to the Board of Supervisors; Bach noted prior environmental review (mitigated negative declaration) for earlier phases. The commission did not adopt changes to the underlying tentative map on Jan. 14; the Board of Supervisors will consider the development agreement recommendation on a subsequent agenda.

Actions and next steps: The commission’s motion recommends the Board of Supervisors approve DEV25-002. The Board will set its own hearing schedule and is the decision authority for development agreements and final subdivision actions.