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Laetitia project: 102 homes, dude ranch

By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

The draft environmental impact report for a 102-unit subdivision on the Laetitia Vineyard & Winery property is now available for public review and comment.

Comments on the draft EIR must be submitted by 5 p.m. Nov. 8 in order to be included in the final EIR for the project located about halfway between Nipomo and Arroyo Grande.

A public hearing to approve the final EIR and the project is tentatively set for March 2009.

Known as the Laetitia Agricultural Cluster Subdivision, the project proposed by Janneck Limited would divide 1,910 acres into 106 parcels, four of them so-called open-space lots.

The open-space lots would be used for a homeowners association facility, a recreation center, an equestrian facility and a community center.

Plans for the project, to be constructed in three phases, call for drilling two new wells and constructing a water storage tank, private water service lines, a wastewater treatment plant, effluent storage ponds, an effluent disposal/irrigation system and entry gates.

A 7.7-acre dude ranch is proposed for one of the open-space parcels. Although it is a future project and not part of the three phases, it is analyzed in the draft EIR.

About 107 acres of the Laetitia vineyards would be removed for the project and buffer zones, but about 143 acres of grapes would be planted on-site to replace the lost vines.

According to the draft EIR summary, the project would prevent future residential development by placing more than 90 percent of the project site into permanent agriculture and open-space easements.

It would also allow the existing winery operations to be expanded and operated as a family vineyard.

Off-site improvements required by the county include traffic signals and left-turn pockets at the Los Berros Road and North Thompson Road ramps at Highway 101.

Improvements would also be made to Sheehy, North Dana Foothill and Upper Los Berros roads.

The draft EIR notes a number of Class 1 impacts — significant environmental impacts that can’t be avoided or fully mitigated.

Those include the removal of 300 coast live oak trees greater than 5 inches in diameter, impacts to 14.35 acres of native oak woodland habitat and reduced water quality and quantity within Los Berros Creek and critical steelhead trout habitat.

It is also expected to disturb significant subsurface archaeological sites and contribute to the loss of productive farmland, including vineyard and grazing land, some of it considered unique and important at local and state levels.

Additional traffic would be added to the already crowded lanes of Highway 101, the Los Berros/North Thompson Road on- and offramps and North Thompson Road.

The traffic is expected to cause direct, long-term impacts on air quality and to increase noise levels on North Thompson Road, according to the draft EIR.

Cuts in slopes, access roads, homes and other facilities would be visible from Highway 101, and some homes would be visible from Los Berros Road, reducing the rural visual character of the area.

As proposed, the access road exceeds Cal Fire requirements, which could increase fire hazards and hamper emergency responses even as the project increases the demand for service.

HOW TO REVIEW:

n The draft environmental impact report for the Laetitia Agricultural Cluster Subdivision is available for public review at the Nipomo Library, Arroyo Grande Library and San Luis Obispo City-County Library.

n The document is also available online at www.sloplanning.org.

n Written comments are due by 5 p.m. Nov. 8 and should be sent to Brian Pedrotti, project manager, County Planning & Building Department, County Government Center, Room 200, San Luis Obispo CA 93408-2040.

n For more information, contact Pedrotti at 788-2788 or

bpedrotti@co.slo.ca.us.

mhodgson@theadobepress.com