County Planning Commission recommends urban/rural boundary revision for Famcon’s Orcutt project

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A rodeo arena, dog groomer, and trade school surround the rural 4-acre parcel where Famcon Pipe and Supply hopes to build a new Orcutt facility.

Located outside of Santa Maria’s city limits near the Elks Event Center, the project’s proposed site raised “no objections from our immediate neighbors,” Famcon agent Gelare Macon told the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission during its June 11 meeting.

Macon and other representatives of Famcon attended the hearing to support the local company’s request for a rezone and to amend Orcutt’s urban/rural boundary—both necessary for the 11,000-square-foot project (which includes a 7,200-square-foot warehouse and a 3,800-square-foot office) to move forward, county planner Steve Conner explained.

“A rezone is needed because the proposed project includes an outdoor storage and sales use that is not allowed in the highway commercial zone district,” Conner said at the meeting. “An adjustment to the urban/rural boundary is also needed because the site [is] outside of the urban boundary.

“Rural lands are generally limited to agriculture and related uses,” Conner continued, “whereas wholesale and heavy commercial uses and services, such as the proposed project, are allowed within the urban boundary.”

If Famcon’s request meets the Board of Supervisors’ approval, Orcutt’s urban/rural boundary will be updated to allow urban extension in designated rural parcels “served by existing public water and sewer utilities,” according to the staff report. As part of the proposal, the project site would also be rezoned from highway commercial to general commercial.

A 5-0 vote secured the Planning Commission’s recommendation for the Board of Supervisors to grant Famcon’s request.

“This is a beautiful fit for that area,” 2nd District Planning Commissioner Laura Bridely said. “Long ago, … there was a rigid belief that your urban/rural boundary line never should change. I mean it was solid. It was a point at which environmentalists would lay down their life to protect.”

While reviewing Famcon’s request, Bridely said she had to remind herself that “the way the state and now the county and all the agencies therein is doing planning is 180 degrees different than what it was doing five years ago.”

Before the Planning Commission’s vote, both staff and Famcon’s representatives commented on the proposed pipe supply facility’s potential to benefit students of the Mark Richardson Career Technical Education Center and Agricultural Farm, which neighbors the project site, through future workshop offerings.

“This is a complementary use to the existing technical school because they’re likely synergistic opportunities for students to gain practical experience with a large supplier of irrigation materials and technology,” county planner Conner said.

This article appears in Jun 19-29, 2025.