Despite considerable sticker shock over a sudden rise in construction costs, the county supervisors voted to approve a $1.5 million loan needed to make a 49-unit affordable-supportive housing project slated for Mission Hills just outside of Lompoc possible. The county’s loan — of federal housing funds over 20 years at 3 percent interest — will help the County Housing Authority leverage the wide array of funding needed to make the $51.6 million construction project possible.
When the project was first proposed several years ago, it weighed in at $22.1 million. And it was bigger too — 70 units — indicating that what comes down also goes up at the same time. Even the developer’s representative, Frank Thompson, termed the increase — from $443,000 per unit to $765,000 — “outrageous.”
So too did County Supervisor Bob Nelson, who represents the district in which the development is slated to be built. “I would agree that’s outrageous,” Nelson said. He pressed Thompson to answer the question — “When does it become too expensive?“ The board’s most outspoken fiscal hawk, Nelson noted that at the end of the day, tax payer dollars are involved for which someone eventually has to pay.
Thompson gave the supervisors a crash course in the development history of a project first proposed in 2018, but by a different developer who clearly understated the true cost, Thompson suggested. Labor costs have gone up and materials have not gotten any cheaper. He noted that new technology is being tried out for the first time; all the interiors are being pre-built in Idaho and trucked to Lompoc. While that saves $100 a square foot, it’s not without additional costs of its own — like transportation. And then there’s the run-off basin that will look like a big pond or a small lake 364 days a year.
Thompson took issue with one critic, an especially opinionated board meeting regular, who complained the project is in the middle of nowhere where no one can get anywhere and widely hated by one and all. Besides, she added, there were no public hearings and all nearby residents hated it.
Thompson countered that there had been multiple hearings, one attended by 60 people, and that the project was scaled down considerably based on input received.
Thompson expressed special pride in the day care center that was included into the plan in 2022, even if it’s located on an adjoining property. Fifty-six parking spaces will be provided for residents who drive; the others can avail themselves to bus service that arrives every 50 minutes. “I don’t think we put too many nice things in this,” he said.
Supervisor Joan Hartmann said she thought he did “a stellar job.” With the exception of Nelson, all the supervisors voted in favor of the project, dubbed Brisa Encina, which in Spanish means “oak breeze.”
