A 4,000-Unit Housing Project Between Orcutt and Los Alamos Is Moving Forward

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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.

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Twenty years from now, if you drive from Orcutt to Los Alamos, you may see what looks like an entirely new town. The development group Solstra Communities California is proposing a new urban area in northern Santa Barbara County that if built would have up to 4,000 units of housing, including single-family homes, apartments, and townhomes. The area would also include new roads, shops, offices, parks, fire and police stations, a school, and hiking trails through undeveloped country.

The project site, known as Solomon Hills, is a few miles south of Orcutt and spans 4,200 acres of rural land zoned for commercial agriculture. Oak woodland, chaparral coast sage, and non-native grasses grow on the land, which includes the hillsides, bluffs, valleys, and canyons, according to a county report. For more than a century, county documents state, portions of the acreage have been used for oil and gas production. 

Currently, the project site includes 66 known oil and gas wells, as well as other oil infrastructure. The site’s active oilfield is operated by Pacific Coast Energy Company. Solstra Communities California purchased this company in 2019. 

In March 2023, Solstra Communities California brought the project before Santa Barbara County’s Planning Commission. The commission unanimously approved the project’s application to start the required environmental studies. That approval actually went against staff’s recommendation, which suggested commissioners refer the project to the Board of Supervisors so they could weigh in on it.   

Since that approval three years ago, the developers have conducted a series of studies focused on the environment, including a hazardous waste study, an agricultural resources study, and a fire protection report. Now, the project moves toward starting environmental review, which is required under California law. 

This week, county staff members held a public meeting in Santa Maria to introduce the project to the wider community and hear comments on what environmental impacts the county should consider in its review. Staff members said that the meeting was for the environmental review process only, and that more general comments could be made at later dates; the Planning Commission is yet to approve the actual project.

At the meeting, Klaus Hasbo identified himself as representing the property owners at Solstra Communities California and as the Solomon Hills project’s chief executive officer. Hasbo is also listed as Pacific Coast Energy Company’s CEO.

Hasbo said when Solstra started this housing project, it invested in two things. 

“First of all, the enormous growing demand on the housing needs in North County, and also, maybe more controversial being an oil company, the transitioning away from fossil fuel dependence,” he said. 

Solstra Communities California has connections to the Danish private equity firm Solstra Capital Partners.

According to the county’s environmental scoping document,  a document that outlines what will be addressed in environmental review of a project, Solstra would permanently close the 66 oil and gas wells near the project area. It would also decommission old oilfield infrastructure, such as pipelines and storage tanks. 

At Wednesday’s meeting, executives from local housing and economic development organizations, including the Home Builders Association for the Central Coast, the nonprofit Town Alliance and the nonprofit Reach, asked that the project’s environmental impact report take into account the role the housing will play in the community. Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County’s largest city, is expected to have the highest population increase by 2050, according to Santa Barbara County’s Association of Governments. 

Other public commenters asked about the suitability of the land, the fire risk and water supply, the maintenance of open space and development of trails, and how the project would impact views of open space from Orcutt. 

Solstra proposes four phases of building over a 14-year period. It estimates that 10 percent of the housing units will be affordable. 

Members of the public can comment on the scope of the environmental review (note that is not the review itself but what the review will address) until Friday, April 17, at 5 p.m. Comments can be sent to PADSolomonHills@countyofsb.org.