This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.
A builder’s remedy project in Solvang is seeing legal pushback. The S.Y. Valley Residents Association of California, a nonprofit formed in 2024, has alleged that a proposed housing project, Wildwood, is void due to incomplete preliminary and final applications.
Residents of Solvang and the larger Santa Ynez Valley area have voiced opposition against the project for several months and have raised concerns about the added density the project would bring.
“Wildwood will irrevocably damage Solvang’s small-town character,” wrote several residents in an opinion piece for the Santa Barbara Independent.
Wildwood would include 100 units total — one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments — and account for more than half of the 191 units the city needs to provide in the next six years to meet its housing element goals, including about 14 percent of its needed affordable units.
Wildwood’s developer, Josh Richman, grew up in Solvang. He said that the community has not seen significant multifamily development for about 30 years and that the project site is an ideal place for one due to its proximity to stores and town.
The court documents, filed on behalf of the Santa Ynez Valley Residents Association, allege that Richman failed to complete his preliminary application because he did not include signatures from all owners of the land. The alleged missing owner signatures come by way of an approximately 1.3 acre easement along the property’s western side. The residents of the Mission Oaks Owners Association, the HOA for the nearby gated community, own the land in question, while Richman owns the easement.
Richman said the easement grants him the ability to use the land as a driveway for utilities, and landscaping among other things, and that he plans to use the easement for this purpose for his project. Richman said that since the applicant owns the easement rights, he did not need to retrieve the signatures of Mission Oaks homeowners.
City documents state the easement in question is an appurtenant easement, meaning it is permanently attached to the property. The project description posted by the city says the easement allows for the applicant’s plans for the site, but does not mention ownership.
Along with an incomplete preliminary application, the Residents Association alleges that Richman did not include a title report in his complete application, despite the city requesting it multiple times. A title report would detail property ownership, vested interests and easement information.
Richman said that when submitting his application, he did include a title report for his land, which establishes his easement rights, and his original title insurance policy. He said he does not need a title report for the easement’s land, as he is using his land and his property rights in the project.
Finally, the complaint alleges that because the project reduced the number of affordable housing units from 20 to 13 in November, two months before California law allowed these projects to have fewer affordable units, the project should have become ineligible. It claims that Solvang City Planning Manager Rafael Castillo revised the project by increasing the number of affordable units back to 20 before approving it.
The City of Solvang declined to comment for this story.
Richman said that he had met with the Mission Oaks HOA, the owners of the easement, on two occasions and amended his project based on their concerns, but that it doesn’t seem like his efforts satisfied opponents of the project.
“In the end, the plaintiff is trying to defeat an affordable housing project,” Richamn said.
Some community members have raised money in an effort to fight the Wildwood project. A GoFundMe page from the council has raised nearly $6,000 from about 40 donations, and the Santa Ynez Valley Citizens Council hosted a fundraiser and silent auction last week to raise legal funds, with tickets costing $85.
Editor’s Note: The story was updated to include an assertion and clarification by Richman about the easement rights.
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