A pair of large projects could add almost 450 homes in SLO County. Here’s a look

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San Luis Obispo County’s southernmost community may see an influx of new housing in coming years following Thursday’s San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission meeting.

The Planning Commission opened the door for the construction of nearly 450 housing units in Nipomo at its Thursday meeting, unanimously approving conditional use permits for a pair of projects designed to add dense housing to the area.

Though both projects will be based in Nipomo, their goals — and projected timelines to complete construction — bear some key differences.

Mesa Trails Apartment Community will consist of more than 300 new homes, with the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo set to build and operate more than 70 units on the property.

Commissioner Anne Wyatt praised the multi-family project, pointing to its local support.

“Maybe I’m jaded in this business, but I do expect (opposition), and that we have not received a single letter of complaint or seen anyone opposing this project is, I think, a real testament to the good work that the applicants have done putting the project together,” Wyatt said during the meeting.

Meanwhile, Carefield Associates is working to get funding together for its newly-approved 134-unit assisted living facility located in the Monarch Dunes area.

Here’s what Nipomo residents can expect from the new developments.

New project features affordable, market-rate units

HASLO’s new project places 313 new residences on a 10.48-acre plot of land on Frontage Road near Hill Street.

Split across 17 buildings, Mesa Trails Apartment Community will consist of 240 market-rate units in 15 buildings and 73 affordable housing units in two buildings, according to agenda documentation.

The project’s market-rate housing will be made up of 10 buildings on the western half of the project site, including 20 studio units, 20 one-bedroom units, 40 two-bedroom units, 20 three-bedroom townhouses and 40 three-bedroom townhouses.

The remaining five market-rate buildings, located on the eastern side of the site, will include 15 studio units, 45 one-bedroom units and 60 two-bedroom units.

HASLO will build and own its two buildings on the lot, which are both much larger than the market-rate units buildings by individual square footage.

One of HASLO’s buildings will contain 22,557 square feet of low-income affordable housing spread across 31 units, while the other will hold 42 units of low-income affordable housing, spanning 26,247 square feet.

Each building will be fully electric and will be constructed with rooftop solar panels.

The affordable project includes designated outdoor activity spaces for children, a community garden, open space, seating, trees and walking paths.

Meanwhile, the market-rate housing community will include a clubhouse with a fitness center, pool, outdoor barbecue, library and workspaces.

The market-rate community features more outdoor amenities, including a dog park with a dog washing station, a neighborhood park, trees, landscaping, walking paths, electronic packaging services and mail courtyard and a maintenance shed.

Other shared outdoor spaces will include a pool, firepits, pickleball courts and outdoor grills.

The dense project takes advantages of California laws allowing such developments to be built in areas that are normally zoned for commercial retail use.

The density bonus law also allows the buildings to be taller — up to 49.5 feet — and to add a taller 8-foot noise wall on the southern part of the property.

While the amount of time needed to fund the project through grants and tax credits is unknown, developers Abbot Reed and HASLO are looking to complete work within the next three to five years.

Senior housing to get boost in South County

The infusion of housing in Nipomo proper won’t be the only large development ramping up construction in the area in coming years.

Carefield Living’s 134-unit assisted living and memory care facility will be situated in the Woodlands Village — now known as the Monarch Dunes Specific Plan area — after the Planning Commission voted 5-0 to approve its conditional use permit.

The 145,000-square foot, two-story project will sit on a 4.5 acre commercial service lot that was rezoned for office and professional use in 2017 to accommodate the assisted living facility.

Bordered by open space to the south, commercial space to the north and neighborhoods to the east, the project site also shares a border with a Monarch butterfly preserve to the west.

The project was delayed several times after gaining initial approval in 2017, according to agenda documents, until the initial entitlement eventually expired in early 2023.

According to the documents, the project will serve people over the age of 60 who need help with at least two minimum daily needs, such as meals and nutritional support, assistance with monitoring of medications, bathing and grooming, assistance with incontinence, housekeeping, laundry, wellness and fitness support, memory care, art therapy, social programs and transportation.

Staffed by around 65 full-time employees, the facility will have 24/7 care available to its residents, managing partner Steve Barklis said.

Now, Carefield Living is ready to move forward with the same design on the same lot, Barklis told The Tribune.

Barklis said the project still had a ways to go until its services would be available to prospective residents, as the company works to secure funding to get the project underway.

Barklis said while he couldn’t provide an exact price estimate on what it would cost to live at the facility, many California assisted living facilities cost around $6,000 a month, while memory care costs around $7,000 a month.

He said those costs are worth it, however, when accounting for all features and amenities offered by the facility — chief among which being connection and community late in life.

Barklis said it is hard to predict when the project might be fully built because of a “challenging financing environment for senior living.”

“But I’m optimistic about it,” Barklis said. “We think it’s a great project, and the demand is clearly there for additional assisted living and memory care in the area.”

The projects gained approval in a community that may be on track to become a development hot spot in San Luis Obispo County in coming years.

Nipomo residents could see the start of construction as many as 1,400 units on the Dana Reserve project in the coming decade if the project gains final approval from the Board of Supervisors. A date has not yet been set for Dana Reserve’s final hearing.