Planning Commission approves 67-home Los Alamos development, cites housing benefits and VMT concerns

The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission voted 5-0 on April 29 to approve the Los Alamos Investments housing project, a tentative tract map and development plan that would create 77 lots and build 67 new single-family and townhome units on roughly 30 acres north of Highway 101 in Los Alamos.

Staff presenter Tina Mitchell said the project relies on the certified housing-element programmatic EIR and the Los Alamos community plan EIR for environmental review and that the project includes seven deed-restricted very-low-income units made possible by state density-bonus law. The proposal also includes community amenities, about 10.9 acres of common open space, and a voluntary 25-foot-wide trail easement to be dedicated to the county.

Mitchell noted that after implementing required mitigation measures the project would still have one significant unavoidable impact: vehicle miles traveled (VMT). The transportation demand-management measures in the staff report—bike parking, pedestrian connections and a discounted public-transit-pass program—are expected to reduce VMT by roughly 11 percent but not eliminate the project’s substantial VMT above the county threshold. Because of that, the commission adopted a statement of overriding considerations as part of the approval.

Staff said the project includes 121 parking spaces assigned to dwelling units and 40 visitor/day-use spaces across the development, and that the proposal is consistent with state density-bonus rules that limit certain local requirements. The staff presentation noted floodplain constraints and that no new residences are proposed within the regulatory floodway; flood-control conditions will require raised foundations and FEMA-compliant design where applicable.

Applicant Tyler Remson, who described himself as a local resident and project owner, told the commission he grew up near the site and said the development is intended to expand housing supply locally: "I realized how hard it was to get young people to come to work in Santa Barbara... the best way to lower the price is to increase the supply," he said.

Resident Neil Goodman urged more community outreach and said the project felt “way too thick” for the neighborhood; staff and applicant replied that county noticing requirements were followed, Caltrans reviewed the traffic study with no required improvements, and the project proposes frontage and road-widening improvements for pedestrian connections.

The commission voted to approve the tract map, development plan, road-naming requests and related entitlements and directed staff to transmit the Government Code section 65402 conformity report to the real property division and the Board of Supervisors. Finding 1.4 in the staff report cited the statement of overriding considerations as required by the project’s environmental review path.