It’s no secret that housing has been a hot topic issue in California. Headlines repeatedly call out the skyrocketing prices, the frustration of the younger generations, and the need for more inventory. The answer to these challenges isn’t complicated: build more houses. However, as we’ve seen in multiple articles in New Times, a vocal group of not in my back yard (NIMBY) Central Coast residents seem intent on encouraging politicians to continue to exacerbate the problem.
If you’d like to see this in action, turn to the discussion surrounding the Dana Reserve. Ready yourself to hear the NIMBYs oppose a development offering many first-time homebuyers a chance to enter the market. They’ll claim numerous reasons they oppose the project (it’s not affordable enough, the mitigation plan isn’t enough, the millions of dollars in fees going back into the community isn’t enough, etc). But only the truly blunt will identify the real reason: They don’t want new neighbors. As we’ve seen with many projects, but especially this one, it’s often a group of homeowners in our community fighting against new housing that would offer others the opportunity to join the housing ladder. It is the haves versus the have-nots.
At Generation Build, we want to make sure the counter, and we believe popular opinion on the Dana Reserve is represented: We are excited by this project. The Dana Reserve is an ambitious project with the highest rate of affordability for a master planned community ever proposed in SLO County. It promises more than 1,300 homes, including 156 deed-restricted affordable units and 797 moderate, workforce, and missing-middle homes, and would provide some relief to our historic housing supply crisis. We believe this alone warrants support.
However, this project goes beyond housing. The Dana Reserve was designed to fix numerous existing infrastructure problems for Nipomo and provides multiple community benefits. These fixes include funding approximately $35 million in critical infrastructure improvements the county has planned for the future—$27 million of which is unfunded, and payment for such will revert to the Nipomo and county taxpayers if the project is denied. This includes completing the frontage road from Tefft Street to Willow Road, relieving congestion.
The project also includes a solution for the Nipomo Community Services District’s upcoming mandatory order to purchase and pay for increased amounts of imported Santa Maria water, for which it does not currently have users to use and pay. In fact, the Nipomo Community Services District, which serves the majority of Nipomo residents’ water and sewer services, estimates that existing ratepayers can expect their combined average sewer and water payments to increase $750 per year if the project does not go forward compared to if it does.
The Dana Reserve is also one of the friendliest developments for young families and new owners. It offers $3.2 million in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, and it will donate a dedicated and horizontally improved site for a standalone child care center and offer incentives for two other on-site in-home child care providers. Did the opposition opinions mention any of that? Did you know that their opposition to this project is akin to fighting for a $27 million tax bill and a $750/year combined water and sewer increase for Nipomo residents?
Read another way: Did you know how much this project will benefit our community (and you) from the information stated in those pieces? We are guessing not. What you probably learned about is the 3,000 oak trees proposed to be cut down. And while it’s true that environmental stewardship is important, we suspect you did not learn about the project’s proposed mitigation for this.
Through on-site conservation, replanting, and off-site conservation, the Dana Reserve permanently conserves 5.6 oak trees in Nipomo for every one it removes. The project will place a conservation easement on 388 acres—with more than 14,000 oaks—in Nipomo and donate the land to the Dana Adobe. The planned solar on every home will also offset the carbon footprint from removing trees and then some. There comes a time when we have to say mitigation efforts are enough—and they are more than enough here. We need these homes.
We hope you remember these facts when you see the “Stop the Dana Reserve” signs in the public rights of way throughout Nipomo. We also hope you remember the tax bill, rate increases, and loss of community benefits these signs will represent if the Dana Reserve is not approved.
The Dana Reserve has our support, and we know we aren’t alone. Our housing crisis can be addressed through projects like these. This is a thoughtful, comprehensive development with infrastructure and systems in place to allow more of our community access to housing.
Join us in advocating for more projects like the Dana Reserve on Instagram
@GenerationBuild. Δ
Michael Massey is the president of Generation Build, a 70-plus member pro-housing group in SLO County. Respond with your own opinion for publication by submitting it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 7-17, 2023.
I was extremely pleased to see that the New Times permitted an article like this to be published. Mike wrote a well thought out piece that allowed the readers to see how beneficial the Dana Reserve can (and will be). There has always been the dichotomy of needing more housing and preventing it; in order to make sure we preserve our beautiful central coast. To me, the Dana Reserve addresses both the housing issue we are encountering and keeps intact much of the natural beauty. As of now, the Dana Reserve is just a piece of land I pass by when I’m on the freeway. After the transformation it’ll be a place where I can partake in hiking, biking, and taking my kids to play. I honestly wouldn’t mind purchasing a place myself! If we are in such dire need for housing, why wouldn’t we approve housing that provides a well-planned out community for everyone to enjoy
How could anyone oppose this project?
This is another attempt at shoving this badly planned project down the throats of all who oppose it, by having a biased article written. The county needs housing, however the plan for this development could be reduced but the Developer Nick Thompkins (owner of Apio inc. in Santa maria, a Huge produce company) will not.Instead of pushing this $2.7 Billion development; derived from $27million in tax revenue from this article. The only thing Thompkins cares about is MONEY. Residential density is way to high and Nipomo would not be able to support this many people. Water,Sewage,Electrical, Retail, and most importantly Medical services could not be sustainable. The closest hospital is in Santa Maria. 11 minute, 9.4mile drive from the willow ramp. This is an important factor considering Nipomo is a predominantly older demographic. Local schools with thousands more entering the already overcrowded classrooms, where there are are already a +30:1, student teacher ratio is mind bogglingly stupid. Stop approving badly designed projects. This project needs to be scaled down, saying they will put a property that is already owned by the developer which cannot be developed anywhere close to this scale is stupid. Trying to buy/fake an image of goodwill to make millions with an non-developable property. Typical bad actor gesture. Greed at its finest
You are aware of the water crisis here in nipomo . The traffic here is enormous like on Taft Trying to get from Mary Ln., just to get to the freeway. Takes about 20 minutes just from the corner of Taft and Mary Ln I live a mile and 2 blocks. From the New tech high school my granddaughter attends no police are ever in the area people backed up blocking the intersections takes around 3 to 4 lights to wait ridiculous I just moved here a year and a half ago and the traffics worse here than it is in the whole city of Santa Maria that I lived nine years. Get the cops out there on top and Mary Lane every morning you’ll see what I’m talking about. Thank you, Trisha.
Hi David. Generation Build (the author) board member here. The $27m in tax savings was derived from an estimated $35m in costs to complete the Frontage Road and the Pomeroy rerouting. Per the Planning Commission hearings on the Dana Reserve, these are planned regardless of the project, but the project proposes to fund the construction of them. Only $8m is currently funded so the developer will need to pay the remaining $27m. If the project does not go forward, the County/Nipomo will be responsible for the costs of these improvements. The property tax income, like you mentioned in your comment, is another benefit of the project that we did not refer to in the article.
Regarding the capacity of Nipomo, I think we have all seen representatives from the local service district not only confirm they have the capacity but essentially beg for new users to prevent massive rate increases (see our note abut $750/Year in savings, which came from the Nipomo Community Service District’s analysis).
The facts of the project matter. The facts are that the tax and rate savings are real, Nipomo has the capacity, and the development is conforming with state law. The fact is that we need these homes.
Lastly, to address your comment about trying to garner support for the project through another article, please note that Generation Build will only write pro-project articles on specific projects if anti-housing advocates first write anti-project articles. This specific article was in response to numerous anti-project, or anti-project leaning articles in a row in the NewTimes. I ensure you that we have much better things to do with our lives than to write these articles, but if opposition continues to write anti-housing/anti-housing project articles, we will continue to write the pro-housing side. We would much rather be spending time with family, working, or even continuing our preparation to support Pro-Housing politicians and oppose anti-housing politicians throughout the County.
Oh, hello NIMBYs! How are you guys doing?
The Dana Reserve is a project that both our County and our State desperately need. The housing crisis in both our County and our State is at an all time high as inventory remains low and prices on SFH and rentals keep skyrocketing. The only way to resolve this issue is pretty simple, increase supply. Our City and County supervisors need to make the process easier for Developers to create projects like this. It’s the only way to resolve the many economic issues us Californians face today.
Sure those homes are going to be affordable- and throw in first time homeowners. That’s such BS and the author knows it but what the hell, say it anyway. It’s sounds good. Go look at what was promised when it came to “affordability” with San Luis Ranch, Avila Ranch, Righetti ranch. Should I go on. A sucker is truly born everyday.
Shea Homes, the same developers that built Trilogy and broke promises to the community along the way, will be building 34% of the Dana Reserve homes. How do we make sure that they keep their promises to Dana Reserve homebuyers?? We can’t rely on the Supervisors. They allowed the developers to turn Trilogy into a warren of high-density housing. Ask Santa to keep the Dana project on track!
T’was just before Christmas,
When on board the yacht,
Accountants divided the annual pot;
The profits they tallied and balanced with care,
In hopes that each Oligarch agreed on their share.
Karens in Gucci, the men in golf kink,
The partners were relaxing with long winter drinks.
Dinner was over; all were well-fed,
While visions of megabucks danced in their heads.
When out on the helipad, there arose such a clatter,
All sprang from the barstool – what was the matter?
Away to the windows, they flew in a flash,
Tore open the shutters and to the deck dashed.
The chopper from Newport hovered above,
Its brilliant blue tail adorned with a dove.
Archbishop Southland made his descent,
His errand the claiming of God’s ten percent.
Not ten minutes later, the yacht captain cried,
“Look aft on the port side – a sailboat has tied!”
“It’s pirates,” cried Karen, her hand on her bling,
Archie moved quickly to pocket his ring.
The oligarchs sailed with security crew,
Protecting their assets as billionaires do,
A team of crack golfers emerged from below,
They shouldered their drivers their power to show.
‘Neath flood lights as bright as a noon in July,
The intruder waved up with a twinkling eye,
A little old mariner, so lively and quick,
It seemed at that moment it must be St. Nick.
“Hoist him up,” said the Archie, now playing Pope,
“C’mon make it snappy; send down a rope”.
“Watch out,” cried Mary, MaryLiz and Marie,
“Since when does our Santa travel by sea?”
“Bring him up,” said The Karen, for she ran the show,
“I recognize Santa, and I ought to know.”
“I don’t see presents,” her son disagreed,
“It’s not yet your business,” the priest refereed.
Eyes twinkling and merry, Santa climbed to the deck,
To Karen he nodded, “I’ve come for my check.”
“Come, sit beside me,” matriarch was upset,
“Petie, the checkbook,” her sad eyes were wet.
“The rest of you, vanish!” They left in a rush.
“I’ll shay if you need me, was Archie a lush?
Karen ignored him, her eyes on St. Nick,
She waited a moment to hear the door click.
“I expected the visit,” her smile lacked its light.
“How much do they owe you?” she started to write.
“This time, forty million,” Santa looked sad.
“They’re geezers with lawyers, and they’re hopping mad.”
With wet eyes, she asked then, “Which laws did they break?”
His answer came quickly, “Their pledges were fake,”
“A family legacy, 100 years made,”
“Gone in an instant by salesmen shade.”
Karen was mad now, “I want all the deets,”
“The Geezers are saying your men were just cheats.
They promised a village to feed every need,
Then left the land empty, the lot gone to seed.”
“If you’d like more stories. I’ve read past a hundred,
It seems that your salesmen seriously blundered.
They thought that the Geezers would tire or just leave,
But searching for justice gave reason to breathe.”
Despondent Karen reminisced with her pearls,
“The children had plenty – both boys and girls,
Of crimes to remember, I think of just one,
They’d steal a hot cookie, then how they would run!”
Said Santa to Karen, “Remember the suit,
“Old folks near Seattle won much bigger loot,”
“We’re not talking cookies or dents in the car,
your Cookie Monsters took off with the jar!”
My husband and brothers worked hard as mentors,
They knew not of Geezers and their Village Centers,
Small projects like that had others in charge,
The brothers lost sight; we’d grown much too large.
My elves are my family, I know my reindeer,
When they make mistakes, the buck stops right here.
You can’t shift the blame, the family’s at fault,
Just write the check, Karen – pry open your vault.
That night, when the partners received each their share,
The millions for Geezers were hardly missed there,
When profits are billions not time to be haughty,
Those who break promises, Santa lists “Naughty”.
The development will result in the removal of 3,943 oak trees and impact 266.5 acres of plant and wildlife habitat (Final Environmental Impact Report, 342 and 352). The project will lead to a significant number of unmitigable negative effects, including but not limited to impacts on air quality, emissions, and wildlife (Kandel). The project will impact a substantial number of special status plants and animals such as federally endangered wildlife and flora and species endemic to California (Final Environmental Impact Report, 308, 311, 314, and 321). For instance, Cooper’s Hawk, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, the American Badger, the Burrowing Owl, and the Silver-haired bat. (Final Environmental Impact Report, 326-327 and 328-330). The project will result in a net loss in habitat and trees. It is tearing down close to 4,000 trees and trees being preserved in a different site just means that they will not be destroyed in that site. It is very misleading to say 5.6 oak trees will be preserved for every tree destroyed. Stating more habitat won’t be destroyed by your company or other developers isn’t a valid argument to suggest the project is an environmental win. Furthermore, while solar panels provide renewable energy and this is a positive, the development will not be built or run fully by solar energy so there will still be emissions and the usage of non-renewable energy. You said, “The planned solar on every home will also offset the carbon footprint from removing trees and then some” which is scientifically inaccurate and very manipulative when one of the major concerns about the project has been the damage it will cause to the environment. Those trees both release carbon and lose the ability to sequester carbon once cut down. Solar panels are not sequestering any carbon. This project has also been marketed as an affordable housing project that will help the housing crisis and the county. However, this is extremely misleading and disingenuous. According to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, San Luis Obispo County needs very low-income units, low income units, and moderate income units (Singewald 11). The low and very low income category is actually a very small portion of that number and only 30% of the housing provided by the project falls into the very low to moderate category required and missing in the county. 1,022 of the 1,470 units that will be built fall into the above moderate income category (Singewald, 10). The project does not meet the State of California’s requirements to qualify as a housing development affordable to lower or moderate income households (Cobb and Moskow 4 and 5). As a real estate agent you will profit from developments. Building houses is not a problem, however, lying, writing fallacies and strawmans, and slandering innocent people to push for a development project is seriously immoral and saddening.
Cobb, Janet, and Angela Moskow. Stop Dana Reserve, California Wildlife Foundation, stopdanareserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CA-oaks-program-of-CA-wildlife-foundation-ltr.pdf.
Dana Reserve Specific Plan Final Environmental Impact Report. SWCA Environmental
Consultants, Apr. 2024, https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/departments/planning-
building/forms-documents/planning-projects/dana-reserve-specific-plan/final-
environmental-impact-report/drsp-final-eir_april-2024_vol-1_feir_ch-1-8.
Kandel, Herb. “Opponents of Dana Reserve Have Filed a Lawsuit to Stop the Project | San Luis Obispo Tribune.” The Tribune, 2 June 2024, http://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article288913216.html.
Singewald, Airlin. COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA ITEM TRANSMITTAL, 2024. agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/iip/sanluisobispo/file/getfile/160646.
Corrected – The low and very low income category of housing provided by the project is a small portion of the total housing provided by the project – previous statement could be misinterpreted as saying the low and very low income category of housing is a small portion of the housing required by the county.
The development will result in the removal of 3,943 oak trees and impact 266.5 acres of plant and wildlife habitat (Final Environmental Impact Report, 342 and 352). The project will lead to a significant number of unmitigable negative effects, including but not limited to impacts on air quality, emissions, and wildlife (Kandel). The project will impact a substantial number of special status plants and animals such as federally endangered wildlife and flora and species endemic to California (Final Environmental Impact Report, 308, 311, 314, and 321). For instance, Coopers Hawk, Nuttalls Woodpecker, the American Badger, the Burrowing Owl, and the Silver-haired bat. (Final Environmental Impact Report, 326-327 and 328-330). The project will result in a net loss in habitat and trees. It is tearing down close to 4,000 trees and trees being preserved in a different site just means that they will not be destroyed in that site. It is very misleading to say 5.6 oak trees will be preserved for every tree destroyed. Stating more habitat wont be destroyed by your company or other developers isnt a valid argument to suggest the project is an environmental win. Furthermore, while solar panels provide renewable energy and this is a positive, the development will not be built or run fully by solar energy so there will still be emissions and the usage of non-renewable energy. You said, The planned solar on every home will also offset the carbon footprint from removing trees and then some which is scientifically inaccurate and very manipulative when one of the major concerns about the project has been the damage it will cause to the environment. Those trees both release carbon and lose the ability to sequester carbon once cut down. Solar panels are not sequestering any carbon. This project has also been marketed as an affordable housing project that will help the housing crisis and the county. However, this is extremely misleading and disingenuous. According to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, San Luis Obispo County needs very low-income units, low income units, and moderate income units (Singewald 11). The low and very low income category of housing provided by the Dana Reserve Project is actually a very small portion of the housing provided and only 30% of the housing provided by the project falls into the very low to moderate category required and missing in the county. 1,022 of the 1,470 units that will be built fall into the above moderate income category (Singewald, 10). The project does not meet the State of Californias requirements to qualify as a housing development affordable to lower or moderate income households (Cobb and Moskow 4 and 5). As a real estate agent you will profit from developments. Building houses is not a problem, however, lying, writing fallacies and strawmans, and slandering innocent people to push for a development project is seriously immoral and saddening.
Cobb, Janet, and Angela Moskow. Stop Dana Reserve, California Wildlife Foundation, stopdanareserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CA-oaks-program-of-CA-wildlife-foundation-ltr.pdf.
Dana Reserve Specific Plan Final Environmental Impact Report. SWCA Environmental
Consultants, Apr. 2024, https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/departments/planning-
building/forms-documents/planning-projects/dana-reserve-specific-plan/final-
environmental-impact-report/drsp-final-eir_april-2024_vol-1_feir_ch-1-8.
Kandel, Herb. Opponents of Dana Reserve Have Filed a Lawsuit to Stop the Project | San Luis Obispo Tribune. The Tribune, 2 June 2024, http://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article288913216.html.
Singewald, Airlin. COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA ITEM TRANSMITTAL, 2024. agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/iip/sanluisobispo/file/getfile/160646.