1. What is San Miguel Ranch?
Answer: San Miguel Ranch is a new neighborhood being proposed in San Miguel at the northwestern edge of town consisting of 550 acres. The proposed plan includes 320 acres of residential with 345 single family lots (ranging in size from 6,000 square feet to 13 acres), 5 acres of commercial, 4 acres of multi-family, a 6 acre public park, and 170 acres of Open Space. Total open space is nearly 1/3 of the 550 acre site.
2. Why haven’t I heard about the project?
Answer: The applicant and the County of San Luis Obispo have made efforts to notify and involve interested parties about the project in a variety of ways. The applicant has attended nearly every San Miguel Advisory Council meeting since 2004 as well as many of the CSD meetings and San Miguel Resource Connection meetings where the project was discussed. The initial application was submitted to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in September of 2004. A public hearing to authorize the processing of the application was advertised and held by the County Board of Supervisors in June of 2005 where the public made comments. The County also advertised and held an EIR Scoping meeting with the public in San Miguel in April of 2005. Approximately 150 people attended. The applicant has sent invitations to residents and land owners in the CSD Boundary, and near the project, of a Family Field Day held on November 4, 2006, to get input on the project from the community. In addition, the applicant has offered and met with all interested neighbors and San Miguel residents that have expressed an interest in meeting or touring the site.
3. What sort of opportunity will I have to participate?
Answer: You can contact the applicant or RRM directly (contact info. below), attend an Advisory Council Meeting (typically the 4th Wed. of every month), contact the County of San Luis Obispo, or attend public hearings/meetings regarding the project. Be sure to ask the applicant and/or the County to put your name on the mailing list for future hearings and meetings.
4. How will water and sewer be provided?
Answer: Water and sewer services will be provided by the San Miguel Community Services District (CSD) for the majority of the lots (some larger lots will have wells and septic). The applicant and the CSD have submitted an application to the San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to annex the property into the CSD boundaries. The application was submitted in December of 2004. The application is “on hold” pending (1) approval of the project by the County of San Luis Obispo and (2) certification of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The property has an existing well that will be turned over to the CSD upon annexation.
5. What about impacts on my existing well?
Answer: The County of San Luis Obispo is in the process of hiring Fugro West to perform detailed water studies to determine if there will be any adverse impacts on existing wells due to the implementation of the project. Fugro previously prepared the water model for the Paso Robles basin. The applicant has also performed detailed pump tests to determine potential impacts to existing wells. The details of these water studies will be made available as part of the Environmental Impact Report. Any significant adverse impacts on existing wells will require mitigation.
6. What about traffic impacts?
Answer: All significant adverse traffic impacts will need to be adequately mitigated. The EIR will include a detailed traffic study as well as proposed mitigation measures. In addition, the applicant has hired Higgins and Associates to perform some preliminary traffic studies.
7. What about other environmental impacts?
Answer: All environmental impacts and impacts on services (such as Police, Schools or Fire) will be studied in detail in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The EIR consultant is hired by the County of San Luis Obispo to ensure that the report is impartial. The EIR process is just started and is estimated to take 12 to 18 months to complete. There will be ample opportunity to provide comments on all of the project’s environmental issues and mitigation measures in the Draft EIR. The Draft EIR will be published and made available for public comment and will also be discussed at public hearings.
8. Will the new commercial uses hurt downtown businesses?
Answer: The commercial uses will be primarily freeway-oriented businesses so they do not have an adverse impact on existing or proposed uses downtown. A thriving downtown will benefit the new neighborhood as well as the entire region. The new neighborhood will help support and use downtown businesses for shopping.
9. Is this the right time and place to expand San Miguel?
Answer: Yes. In the next few years, the inventory of existing lots will dwindle. Most of the currently vacant or infill parcels will be developed. The large, 550 acre property provides a unique opportunity to master plan a new neighborhood in San Miguel and preserve open space for future generations. Master Planning allows for a more detailed analysis of services and impacts. In addition, existing services and roads can easily be extended to serve the property. Expansion of San Miguel on the west side of the freeway has already occurred with County approval of the Midland Pacific Development on Cemetery Road a short distance from this property.
10. How will this project benefit San Miguel?
Answer: Benefits to San Miguel include:
- Construction of a new community park that is accessible to the public.
- Addition of new “rooftops” to facilitate the provision of a greater level of services in the existing downtown (shopping, restaurants, personal services)
- Provision of an extensive, publicly accessible, trail network through the preserved Open Space that allows for hiking, mountain biking, and nature walking.
- Protection of the existing Oak Tree groves.
- Expansion of the CSD water and sewer systems.
- Provision of a self-sustaining funding source for operations and maintenance of the parks, open space and other services.
11. How do I get additional information?
Answer: Contact any of the following persons.
Project Applicant
San Miguel Ranch, LLC
Brent Grizzle, Owner
P.O. Box 9530
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
brentgriz@cox.net
(760) 685-0660
Project Designer
RRM Design Group
John Knight, Principal Planner
3765 S. Higuera, Suite 102
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
jrknight@rrmdesign.com
(805) 543-1794
Project Coordinator
Rick Schellenberg
42718 Road 56
Reedley, CA 93654-9000
rick@schellenberg-farms.com
(559) 352-2261
County of San Luis Obispo
San Luis County Planning Department
Elizabeth Kavanaugh, Planner
County Government Center
San Luis Obispo, CA 93408
ekavanaugh@co.slo.ca.us
(805) 788-2010 |
