Project promises financial gain

Pacific Cascade Group, in conjunction with Colusa Heritage Partners, of Arbuckle, is not letting the housing slump stop them from their efforts to build a new community.

While most developers around the state have mothballed their projects, Pacific Cascade is forging ahead with the idea of developing 2,600 acres at County Line Road, in southern Colusa County.

The project calls for storefronts in a new downtown district east of Interstate 5, with an outer ring comprising of houses, condominiums and schools.

The project would absorb an existing 500-acre industrial development zone next to I-5 for offices, warehouses and travel services such as restaurants and gas stations.

Jim Resney, Pacific Cascade senior vise-president, said the Orange County group is riding out what is expected to be another two-year downturn in the housing market by putting the project through extensive environmental and economic review.

“We realize there is a recession,” Resney said. “But out project is still a long way off. We expect the housing market to eventually recover. By then, we hope to be ready to build.”

In the meantime, Pacific Cascade has released an economic impact report on developing agriculture land along the county’s southern border.

According to Applied Development Economics, who prepared the report, the economic potential of developing the project is staggering.

“The completion of the master planned community at County Line will add substantially to Colusa County’s economic output,” the report states. “At the build out of all residential, commercial and industrial lands at County Line, Colusa County’s total economic output will have increased by about $2.96 billion to $5 billion annually, increasing the county’s economic output by 250 percent.”

According to ADE, the project would support 9,000 new jobs over a 30-year phased build-out, of which existing residents in Colusa, Maxwell, Williams and Arbuckle would fill at least 1,000.

“These 9,000 new jobs will create an additional $2.8 billion in economic activity, the report states.

“For every dollar earned, it is spent over and over again,” said Kathryn Studwell, ADE senior associate. “We call this the economic multiplier effect. This project will take away some farming, but there will be a huge economic benefit to the county as a whole.”

The project for the master-planned community would, at completion, encompass approximately 2,600 acres, Resney said. Most of the acreage is zoned for agriculture and supports mostly almonds and seed crops.

According to the report, the current annual production of the parcel Pacific Cascade wants to develop is about $4.4 million, less than one percent of the county’s total agriculture economy. Indirect economic impacts include 12 jobs with about $307,000 in labor income.

“The county needs to weigh its options,” Studwell said. “By taking just a small amount of agriculture land and putting it into different kinds of jobs, such as a office park and shopping center surrounded by neighborhoods, the county would lose about $5 million from agriculture, but would gain $3 billion in other types of economic activity. That’s a pretty good investment.”

The current plan for the entire master-planned community includes about 6,600 new homes, a highway commercial retail center and neighborhood retail. The report states the commercial areas in Arbuckle, Williams, Colusa and Maxwell will capture about $114 million of the $181 million in household spending.

About $82 million will be spent on retail goods and $32 million will be spent on services, the report states.

Studwell said the project would be smarter than having scattered projects throughout the county.

“The project would provide a different range of jobs so people are not forced to work in agriculture or forced to leave Colusa County just to get a job,” she said.

Despite the economic output that would be generated by the project, the proposed community has tremendous opposition from various groups.

The Colusa County Farm Bureau, which represents numerous farmers in the area, believes a new town is more than just taking a small amount of agriculture land out of production, but a project that could destroy agriculture in Colusa County entirely.

Brian Fedora, CCFB president, said changing the voting base by adding 27,000 people from outside the county could significantly leave the county’s agriculture heritage at risk.

“A new community of people who travel to Sacramento or the Bay Area to work is not in the best interest of agriculture,” Fedora said. “Through redistricting, they could control the Board of Supervisors and have the ability to change the outcome of elections. They could strike change by the kinds of initiatives (they could bring before the voters).”

Fedora said Farm Bureau members will speak against the project when Pacific Cascade’s requested general plan amendment goes before the Colusa County Planning Commission on Sept. 8. Area farmers have also indicated they will speak out against the project as well as members of Stamp out Sprawl, a grassroots organization that opposes large development.

“The project is completely at odds with the General Plan,” Fedora added.

Fedora said he hopes the county will keep in mind the destruction of Orange County’s vast agriculture that was destroyed by urban sprawl from Los Angeles.

“In 1949, Orange County was number one in agriculture in the state,” Fedora said. “Now it is dead last. We don’t want to see Colusa County have the same problem. Once you pave over something, it is hard to get it back.”

Colusa Planning Director Steve Hackney also expressed concern with the project.

“We want jobs,” he said. We want lots of jobs. But a bedroom community has far too many hurdles.”

Studwell denied that the project would threaten rural agriculture in the entire county.

“Having development at the southern most part of the county is going to have the best success,” Studwell said. “If it’s planned well, it will have the least impact on the rest of the county’s agriculture.”

But Hackney said county staff will recommend the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors deny the application to amend the general plan from agriculture and industrial to a new community planning area designation.

“It goes against the general plan, which we are in the process of updating,” Hackney said.

If denied, Pacific Cascade could seek designation for their project in the new general plan.

Developers for the new Dunnigan community sought similar consideration when Yolo County updated its general plan. The Yolo County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote next year on that plan, which includes blueprints to add as many as 7,500 homes in Dunnigan, only five miles from the proposed Pacific Cascade project.

Despite opposition to the County Line project, many in Colusa County feel the county could sustain agriculture with a new community at its southern border, and that the county should have the same economic opportunity that Yolo County will receive from its new community, should it move forward.

Ben Felt of Colusa Heritage Partners, said the project would bring a greater tax base and more jobs that would not only enrich the county, but allow the existing communities to grow at their desired pace.

“This project will bring new life to this county,” said Felt. “Every community in Colusa County should see substantial benefits from the County Line project.”

Hackney said the Board of Supervisors could request additional information before making a decision, such as complete traffic and water analyses, which Pacific Cascade said they would provide.”