Fight brewing over Colusa tract

Where almond orchards and alfalfa fields occupy a slice of Colusa County, a developer envisions offices, stores, a new downtown - and as many as 6,500 homes.

But the plan to build a new community almost from scratch is about more than stucco and asphalt. For its backers and foes alike, the South Colusa Gateway Community is about reshaping this Sacramento Valley farming area.

The development promises a much-needed revenue boost for Colusa County, which has struggled for years with budget crunches that have cut into such basic services as law enforcement.

But even such cash flow is too high a price for some area farmers fearful of farmland being paved over for an uncertain long-term return.

“Am I going to say OK, let’s sacrifice a chunk of our community just to pass our budget for the next five or 10 years?” said Tom Dafoe, owner of an almond farm in the area. “That’s significant? What are our children going to do when that money is gone? Just keep paving?”

Orange County group proposes project

Pacific Cascade Group, an Orange County development and investment firm, submitted an application to Colusa County last month to change the zoning of farmland to allow construction of the new town. South Colusa Gateway, first proposed in 2004, would occupy more than 3,500 acres south of Arbuckle.

The plans call for storefronts and apartments in a new downtown district east of Interstate 5, with an outer ring comprising houses, condominiums and five schools.

South Colusa Gateway would absorb an existing 500-acre industrial development zone next to I-5, where builders could erect offices, warehouses and travel services such as gas stations and restaurants.

James L. Resney, senior vice president of Pacific Cascade, estimated the county would collect property tax from about 300 homes to be built annually over 20 to 30 years. The community plan also allows for up to 9 million square feet of office and retail space.

A community on the Colusa-Yolo county line is an ideal distance from Sacramento to bring some of its economic strength to the rest of Colusa County, argued Resney, who sees South Colusa Gateway as both an ideal commuters’ base and a shopping hub for other county residents.

“Sacramento is its own economic engine, and we can pull some of that energy 30 miles north,” he said in an interview Friday.

But opposition has developed, with a collection of local farmers at its head.

An open house in December 2006 at the Arbuckle office of Pacific Cascade’s local branch, Colusa Heritage Partners, became a stage for more than 70 picketers who objected to the increased burden on roads, public utilities and the water supply. The campaign against South Colusa Gateway expanded in September with the creation of Colusa County Residents for Responsible Development, which is planning letter-writing campaigns to newspapers.

Elaine Rominger, a former Woodland mayor and Colusa supervisor candidate, predicted that a new community would pull customers away from existing merchants in the county. South Colusa Gateway’s very self-sufficiency also would lead residents to form a city, she added - and hold onto property and sales tax revenue that otherwise would flow to the county.

“And then by the time it’s built out, they will no longer be part of county,” she said Thursday. “They’ll incorporate long before it gets built out. Unless the county is very astute in negotiations over incorporation, the county will lose any and all benefits they plan to get with increases in property tax and sales tax revenue.”

“We’re not opposed to new kinds of industry, but to bring in thousands of new homes - it’s like opening up the floodgates,” said Dafoe, who belongs to the Responsible Development group. “It’s such a 180-degree turn from what has been the general plan for Colusa County: to remain agricultural, to preserve the existing communities we have and avoid leapfrog development.”

The opposition to South Colusa Gateway did not appear to faze Resney, who said the economic argument for approving a new town will persuade county lawmakers in the end.

“We’ll be at this two, three years,” he said. “There will be time to study this. The county may decide this isn’t the direction they want to go. But if you’re afraid to go through the study, then you’re afraid of facts. What’s to be afraid of?”

Long process to approval

The fate of South Colusa Gateway will take several years to play out. County planning officials can demand more information from Pacific Cascade, and both the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors must approve the project. Builders also must give the county environmental and traffic reports required by the state.

County officials are taking up the South Colusa Gateway issue during a slumping housing market. But if its planners can hold out for long enough, real estate analysts predicted, the project could find enough home buyers because of continued migration into the state.

“We’ll see prices starting to rise, and there will be lack of homes in the three- or four-year pipeline that it takes to take properties through the planning process,” said Lloyd Leighton, a Yuba City broker who publishes a monthly newsletter on the Mid-Valley real estate market. “If you have lots in hand to take advantage of the shortage in supply, you can do pretty well.

“This is the time to keep moving forward, knowing it’ll be several years before you’re able to build anyway. Hopefully the timing will be better when you’ve finished. My guess is by the time they get it through the planning process, we’ll see a vastly different housing market.”

Whether South Colusa Gateway rises from the fields, another community may appear over the county line in Dunnigan. A new general plan proposed for Yolo County includes blueprints to add as many as 7,500 homes in Dunnigan. (A Board of Supervisors vote on the plan is expected in early 2009, according to David Morrison, assistant planning director.)

Supporters say another planned community nearby can benefit Colusa County if it allows South Colusa Gateway to be built - or drain funds away if the county quashes it.

“If that happens, Colusa County is going to lose,” said Donna Phelan, an Arbuckle homebuilder who chairs a charitable foundation created by Pacific Cascade. “That will drain us. People will go (to Dunnigan) for their goods and services when they could have kept their money in Colusa County.”

As migration to California grows and the big coastal cities become ever pricier to live in, the lure of cheaper homes inland will remain - and cause debates over developments like South Colusa Gateway to repeat itself, according to Greg Paquin, a Folsom-based real estate analyst.

“This is a question being asked from Bakersfield to Redding,” said Paquin, president of The Gregory Group. “You’ve got cities with boundaries that are maxed out.

“A lot of that (available) land is farmland or open space, and there are real challenges out there. But frankly, people are not going to stop coming into those communities.”