The most problematic property in Orcutt continues to be a thorn in the side of developer Michael Stoltey, who didn’t get his wish granted by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on April 7.
Supes declined to agree to the proposed tax exchange from the city of Santa Maria for annexing the Richards Ranch development property out of the county, essentially stalling Stoltey’s second option from moving forward. The county claimed it would be bilked out of more than $200,000 in property tax revenue per year with the proposed tax agreement.
So, it was a nonstarter.
Stoltey was pissed, obviously, because it means he won’t get access to Santa Maria’s water.
“This site has been in the county zoned as it is today since the 1990s,” Stoltey told supervisors during their April 7 meeting. “It does not have a viable water source, and for decades through prior ownership—including Walmart for nearly 20 years, now us for five—there has been no feasible path to development. During that entire time, the county has not solved water, has not initiated a project, has not rezoned the site.
“To now assume that the site might generate more if developed in the county and use it as a reason to deny annexation is not grounded in reality.”
Wait. Am I crazy? Didn’t supervisors already approve Stoltey’s application to develop Richards Ranch within the county last year?
That’s his first option. The project application included less commercial space and more affordable housing than the annexation plan does. Specifically because of the site’s current water issues, which restrict how much commercial development can take place.
So, the county does actually have some reality to base its assumption on, right?
I remember that meeting so fondly. The tense, terse exchanges. The complaining. It was so juicy, and it was almost exactly a year ago.
Richards Ranch’s attorney, Beth Collins, accused county staff of purposefully trying to make the project application fail and insinuated that 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson was directing staff to do just that.
It was a little shocking to hear the accusations coming out of Collins’ mouth, very similar to allegations she’d already leveled during a previous county Planning Commission meeting. At last year’s supervisors meeting, Nelson commented about the site’s water issues being something that Richards Ranch had yet to solve but added that it was a great place to develop much-needed housing.
“Walmart walked away from it because they decided it was too much of a headache,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said at the time. “This is not a slam-dunk development. This is going to be a very problematic development.”
After that approval, Richards Ranch sued the county over the way it processed the application and then, subsequently, asked the Local Agency Formation Commission to boot Nelson off the dais while it was discussing the annexation option.
The whole thing seems needlessly extra and overly dramatic.
I will never understand why Richards Ranch filed concurrent applications in two different jurisdictions. It seems like such a waste of money, as does the lawsuit against the county, which seeks to make the application’s approval retroactive to an earlier date. And still, no development.
The Canary is befuddled. Send reason to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in April 9 – April 16, 2026.