Some 20 years ago, there was an effort to enact an innovative but controversial program in San Luis Obispo County for open space conservation purposes. This program, called a transfer of development dredits (or TDC) program, had as its main goal the conservation of sites with important habitat or other conservation values.
The concept is interesting: development potential on a given piece of property is determined, and that value—usually measured in the form of permitted dwelling units—is transferred to another location of less value as open space.
The problem that arises is, where do you locate these dwelling units? And who wants them? They generally involve increases in density in the “receiving area,” and this may not sit well with the folks in that area. So it was with Nipomo back in the early 2000s. Nipomo was seen as the place where all this proposed development could be transferred to, and everyone would be happy.
Everyone, that is, except the folks in Nipomo.
The project eventually died out because neither Nipomo nor anyone else wanted to be the receiving area. The TDC idea, it seemed, was dead.
But wait, folks. There is now a new effort, driven apparently by state requirements and one local property owner, to bring a new version of transfer of development credits to Nipomo, which is evidently still seen as the likeliest place for such efforts. It is called Dana Reserve, a 1,300-unit residential development proposed on a 288-acre site on the Nipomo Mesa adjacent to Highway 101 and south of Willow Road. This project has been the subject of an environmental impact report, which has been completed and public comments on which are now being reviewed by a consultant, with the goal of proceeding with the proposal through the county’s approval process in late 2022 or early 2023.
It seems that the county needs to meet certain state-mandated housing goals (called the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA). The RHNA states that SLO County must allow for some 3,200 new development units between now and 2028, outside of existing city limits. To do this, the county is looking for a place to approve a bunch of housing, and guess where they are looking? Approving this large development in Nipomo should make everyone happy, including the good people of Nipomo. Sound familiar?
So, for Nipomo, it’s déjà vu all over again. Nipomo is going to be asked—or more likely told—to be the receiving area for this countywide housing problem.
Is Nipomo to be the main “receiving area” to “solve” the county’s housing “problem”? Conservationists have recommended a project half the size of the proposed one, which would, 1. preserve all or nearly all of the oak woodland and rare Burton Mesa chaparral at the site; 2. allow for on-site mitigation for those impacts that cannot be avoided; 3. greatly reduce the water demand of the project; and 4. place the emphasis on more reasonably priced units, which is the kind of housing the county really needs.
Neil Havlik
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Nov 17-24, 2022.