The Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District approved an agreement Monday to provide water services to the Golden Inn & Village, an affordable senior housing complex set to break ground in March. The facility, shown above, is spearheaded by Rona Barrett and is scheduled to open summer 2016.
January 20, 2015 10:47 am • Harold Pierce [email protected]
After more than an hour of debate, the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District approved an agreement Monday to provide water to the Golden Inn & Village, an affordable senior housing complex breaking ground in March.
The future of the $32 million project spearheaded by the Rona Barrett Foundation, which includes $23 million in federal tax credits, hinged upon the water board’s decision.
“If you can feel my heart, it’s beating rapidly,” Barrett said after the decision was made. “I’m very grateful that the water board approved this project. It’s so needed.”
Golden Inn & Village will be purchasing about 20 acre-feet of water annually for roughly 90 living units.
Developers needed to secure a “can and will serve” letter from the board before moving forward with the project. The letter guarantees that the water agency will supply water to the facility, said Chris Dahlstrom, the water board’s general manager.
Because of the state’s strict 180-day deadline for tax credits, if the developers did not receive the board’s approval, the Rona Barrett Foundation and the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County, which is partnering on the project, would risk forfeiting the $23 million tax credit they secured Sept. 24.
“What’s challenging is you start a 180 calendar day ticking clock to where you have to have everything ready to go … so for all intents and purposes we’re ready to start grading the site,” said John Polanskey, director of housing development for the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County. “It’s a very unforgiving deadline.”
Once an applicant misses the 180-day deadline, it is difficult to reapply, Polanskey said.
But the decision did not come as a rubber stamp.
Board members debated the agreement, questioning whether the water agency should be approving the project at a time when they are not only facing a historic drought but also contending with the fallout from the state Department of Public Health creating more stringent requirements for chromium levels allowed in drinking water.
The stricter requirements eliminated use of half the water agency’s ground water supply, and as a result the board declared a shortage emergency in June, the same month the board restricted issuing “can and will serve” letters based on water supply.
“Will you be here to handle the farmers when they come in here with their hanging ropes?” Trustee Harlan Burchardi, who represents Los Olivos, asked Polanskey. “Because we’ll have to tell the farmers to quit farming, quit irrigating. That’s pretty scary.”
Project developers reconsidered their plans last year because of the drought, and eliminated grassy areas, included low-flow toilets and water-saving technology, Polanskey said. The modifications dropped the planned usage from 31 acre-feet of water annually to about 19.
Burchardi said his concerns dealt more with fairness and protecting the water board than anything else.
“We’re going to get our butts sued,” Burchardi said, adding that it puts the board in a predicament, questioning what the agency would do if other developers request similar services. “You’re opening up a flood gate,” he said.
Some board members, however, saw the agreement as a development fee that could help keep the agency afloat.
“I don’t want to start developing something that might come back and haunt us,” Trustee Harry Poor said. “But the problem is the chromium six has created a shortage we can’t get out of, so this new development fee will allow us to get that water. Developers will come here and put more burden on us, so they pay their share.”
The developers are agreeing to pay and provide water for a year in advance of tenants moving into the property, scheduled sometime in the summer of 2016, said Chip Wullbrandt, an attorney representing the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County.
“This project won’t be a greater burden on needs and demands than you currently have,” Wullbrandt said.
Trustee Brad Joos questioned whether the board should be committing water to the project when the Rona Barrett Foundation is still working to fill an $800,000 fundraising gap. But Polanskey was quick to dismiss the concern that the project will go unfunded. Supporters have so far raised $200,000, according to the foundation website.
“I have no intention of ever quitting until I see this campus built out,” Barrett said.
http://syvnews.com/news/local/golden-inn-village-gets-critical-water-allocation/article_6c7c981b-8fb6-514b-8260-b5d04d5e0795.html
