Years-long plans began taking shape in the west portion of Orcutt Hills Open Space, which will eventually reduce the number of hiking trails available in the area.
In May, the developer behind the Rice Ranch master-planned community graded strips of land where chain fences are now in place, marking where the development of the first phase of the community’s Valley View neighborhood will be built.
The timing caught members of Santa Maria Valley Open Space—the nonprofit that maintains the open space—off guard. Dan Ardoin, who serves on the nonprofit’s board and as its director of trail maintenance, said the group wasn’t notified before this work began.
“We knew it was coming, but there was no notice,” Ardoin said. “A dozer showed up one day and started running over brush.”
Santa Barbara County officials first approved plans for the Rice Ranch development in 2003, with some changes subsequently approved since then, county planner Shannon Reese said in an email to the Sun. The development includes seven different neighborhoods, some of which are complete, under construction, or haven’t started yet.
Reese said that while the developer has placed fencing along work areas, the county hadn’t approved an application for the developer to begin grading the site as of May 26.
When the county approved the Rice Ranch development, it did so with the requirement that portions of the land be set aside for open space, a park, and hiking trails, 4th District Supervisor-elect Bob Nelson said.
“Without the development, those trails wouldn’t be there,” Nelson said. “That was a concession as part of the approval of the plan.”
This is in line with the Orcutt Community Plan, which states that the unincorporated community should have 40 miles of designated trails open to the public. The plan also identifies where these trails and parks could be located. But when these amenities open up is mostly dependent on the pace of development, during which public space is supposed to be set aside.
Currently there are only 8 miles of designated trails in Orcutt, Ardoin said. One of the main trails in the open space is the Valley View Trail, which encircles the Valley View neighborhood site. The development isn’t supposed to affect the open space’s designated trails, but it will remove about 20 miles worth of makeshift “social trails” that people have created on their own through the area, he said.
Nelson—who also serves as chief of staff to the district’s current supervisor, Peter Adam—said that the developer has agreed to develop the Valley View neighborhood in phases, meaning the entire area won’t be graded all at one time, which could prolong the life of some of these social trails.
Nonetheless, Nelson acknowledged there’s a level of dissatisfaction within the hiking community about the limited amount of local trails available. He said acquiring more open space for trails will be a priority of his when he takes over as supervisor next year.
Luis Escobar—one of the founding members of Santa Maria Valley Open Space, although his involvement with trail advocacy is now limited—said a lack of open space is what led to the nonprofit’s formation in 2011. Back then, with hardly any designated trails available, many people hiked throughout the Orcutt Hills Open Space area anyway, which was private property at the time.
To solve trespassing issues and find a dedicated space for people to hike and bike, Escobar and others formed the nonprofit and met with county officials and private landowners. This led to the creation of the open space, which is a county park that the nonprofit maintains. But as development continues and more people move to the area, the limited amount of open space available will grow even smaller in scale, he said.
“The problem is they are developing homes and inviting more people to live in the valley, but there’s not enough open space,” Escobar said. “The issues with trespassing are going to grow as homes are built and occupied.”
This article appears in Jun 11-18, 2020.