The city of Santa Maria has reached a settlement with local nonprofit Orcutt Citizens for Better Environment over a lawsuit contesting the extension of Union Valley Parkway through the Orcutt area.
Santa Maria’s Senior Assistant City Attorney Wendy Stockton told the Sun the settlement has been “completed from the city’s end” and approved by Mayor Larry Lavagnino.
Once members of the citizens group agree to the terms and file the settlement, Stockton said, “the lawsuit will be dismissed.”
In the settlement, the city proposes building an 8-foot sound wall between Union Valley Parkway and the Foxenwood community. The wall is expected to provide residents a greater degree of privacy, though its ability to act as a sound barrier is questionable.
“In order to serve as a functional sound wall—to the point that the ear could detect—it would have to be 16 feet. That’s just not feasible to build because of the grade,” Stockton explained. “It would be a prison-type and extremely expensive.”
But that reasoning doesn’t seem to suffice for some people.
“A lot of people contributed to this case. We raised a lot of money,” Orcutt Citizens for Better Environment treasurer Pat Culley said. “And there are a lot of people who are not happy and feel the city could have done a better job handling this [development].”
Earlier this year, a law firm representing the citizens group submitted a legal complaint alleging documents related to the proposed project were “seriously flawed” and violated California Environmental Quality Act guidelines. The group also alleged the city didn’t allow the public enough time to respond to the report, and failed to properly publish public comments it received concerning the project.
The City Council went on to vote 4-1, with Councilwoman Hilda Zacarías dissenting, to approve the final Environmental Impact Report and a handful of other resolutions clearing the way for an extension of Union Valley Parkway across Highway 135 to Blosser Road. In response, Orcutt Citizens for Better Environment filed a lawsuit.
Now that the suit is in the settlement phase, the city is in the process of requesting bids for the project’s two phases. The cost of the multi-jurisdictional wall is estimated at more than $30 million and will be paid for with federal, state, and local funds. Construction of the project is slated to begin in spring 2010.
This article appears in Oct 15-22, 2009.
