Dana Reserve needs more input 

As we all await the final environmental impact report (EIR) on the Dana Reserve Project in Nipomo, it's valuable to look at how SLO County's process for the Dana Reserve has reduced community involvement.

Changes made in 2019 allow developers to work more closely with county staff in the planning process to assist the developer in avoiding snags or lawsuits that may impact or delay project approval. In practical terms, the change effectively limits public involvement in the planning process, especially in the formative stage. The project is closer to being "sewn up" before the public sees the details.

The worthy goal of getting affordable housing built sooner would be better served by engaging the community proactively throughout the planning process.

This is playing out now as the Dana Reserve developer and county staff work closely to tweak and modify the plan behind the scenes. The result is an uninformed public that is limited to making comments on the original and possibly outdated aspects of the draft EIR. When the final EIR comes out in just a few weeks, it will be a rush to the gate to catch up with changes as we will only have a few days to prepare for a long overdue public forum that will be held by the South County Advisory Council on July 24.

Such forums should happen at the outset, when community input can actually help shape a proposed development plan to fit the community's needs. At this stage, the forum becomes a referendum for or against the project. We can expect to hear from residents who have been disenfranchised from the process finally getting their say.

To add to frustration, the final EIR and forum are only a few weeks away from the Planning Commission's critical consideration, where well-informed stakeholder feedback could significantly help commissioners address the problems in the project, such as the six unmitigable impacts already identified in the draft EIR.

Rather than being community driven, this project could accurately be characterized as a dangerous developer-led shape-shifting process with a complicit county staff. Also at this stage, the developer and county planning are too enmeshed and invested in the final EIR and are more likely to push for approval than to consider constructive input from community members.

If this project does end up in a lawsuit, the Dana Reserve may be SLO County's first large test case for a new legal precedent. A recent decision, Save Civita Because Sudberry Won't v. City of San Diego, allows developers to work more closely with county planning staff on making changes to project plans and the draft EIR.

This is too big of a project with too many moving parts and too many changes behind the scenes with too little community involvement. With the imminent release of the final EIR and the upcoming July 24 meeting, now is the time to be heard.

Ultimately it will be citizens who fully confront the problematic elements of this project. We hope our county representatives are listening.

Cynthia Bodger

Nipomo Action Committee